Patty Takes Charge

by Patty Mills

  Matthew won the tip-off, tapping it down to Luke. As soon as Luke passed the ball to Tyson he ran his hand across his head, signalling he was going to shoot a three-pointer.

  His shot bounced off the ring, but just as we’d practised, everyone positioned themselves for the rebounds, and Matthew tipped the ball in the basket for two points.

  Close to the end of the first half everyone was trying as hard as they could, but also having a lot more fun, even me on the bench, congratulating my teammates when things went right and encouraging them when they needed a boost.

  Tyson shot two three-pointers in a row at the beginning of the second half and Luke brought down a whole heap of rebounds to help us easily beat Newcastle.

  ‘Coach Clarke, please let me play this next game,’ I said, opening up my backpack and showing him that I’d brought my gear.

  ‘I’m sorry, Patty, you can’t risk your ankle,’ he replied, and I could see that he wouldn’t budge.

  Luckily our team’s confidence continued to grow, and we beat Gosford by twenty-three points. Every time the guys pulled off one of the plays that I’d showed them, Tyson gave me the thumbs-up.

  COACH CLARKE WAS the most excited I’d ever seen him after we won that game. ‘If you guys keep playing like that, you’ll win the next game and get through to the tournament grand final. Canberra has never done that in the thirty years we’ve competed!’

  I had no idea that Canberra had never made it to the grand final before. I knew that my teammates were as excited as I was to become the first Canberra team to get there.

  That night I sat right in front of Coach Clarke with an icepack on my ankle, hoping he’d let me play in the next game.

  THE GIRLS PLAYED their first game before ours. Watching them really pumped us up. Their opponents, Sydney, were strong, but Josie and Riley kept running hard and getting in some amazing shots. They were on fire.

  When the buzzer went and Canberra won, all the boys and I stood up on the benches and started yelling out ‘Canberra, Canberra, Canberra!’

  Coach Clarke turned to us. ‘That’s the way to do it, boys. Come on, let’s get ready.’

  ‘What about me, can I get ready too?’ I asked.

  Coach had been watching me all day, I could tell. ‘Change into your gear, Patty,’ he said. ‘But there’s no guarantee of any court time.’ His face was stern, but my hopes shot up.

  I warmed up with the team and couldn’t feel any pain in my ankle at all. Everyone was a lot more relaxed than usual, even though Northern Beaches were warming up at the other end of the court.

  I didn’t know if it was because we were trying to preserve our energy, or if my team was feeling a lot more confident.

  I spoke to every player, reminding them of how much stronger we’d grown as a team since Northern Beaches thrashed us at the start of the tournament.

  Ten minutes into the first half of our game it was clear how much our team had changed. At half-time, Canberra was winning by twelve points. I was cheering so hard from the bench that my voice went hoarse.

  But Northern Beaches started catching up in the second half. Before we knew it, they were leading by four points with only five minutes left.

  Coach Clarke called a timeout, turned to me and asked, ‘Are you sure your ankle is okay, Patty?’

  ‘Good as new,’ I told him honestly. I hadn’t felt so much as a twinge in it.

  ‘I’m sending you on,’ he said, and I was flooded with excitement.

  When the team was huddled around, Coach said, ‘You guys were leading by twelve points earlier. Yes, Northern Beaches are playing hard, but you know you have it in you to fight back. Go back out there and find that confidence again.’

  I knew I needed to try something to lift my team straight away. I dribbled the ball down the court and signalled to my teammates that I was lining up for a three-pointer. When I made the shot, they all yelled and punched the air.

  After that, my teammates, especially Manu and Bruce, began to take more risks and our game started to flow again.

  Josie, Riley and the other Canberra girls were on the edge of the court in the dying minutes of the game, cheering us on. When the buzzer sounded, we were ahead by six.

  I breathed a sigh of relief. The girls came onto the court and slapped us all on the back. Coach Clarke shook our hands. I wanted to let go and celebrate with my team, but knew that it wasn’t time to relax yet. I needed to focus on the tournament grand final against Sydney tomorrow.

  AFTER WE’D HAD SHOWERS, we gathered at the bus and asked Coach Clarke what the plan was for the rest of the day. I figured we’d return to the boarding school for drills in the gym.

  ‘We’re going sightseeing,’ Coach said.

  ‘What? Really?’

  ‘If you think about the game too much for the next twenty-four hours you’ll be too wound up to play well,’ Mr Jones explained. ‘It’s time to take your minds off it.’

  The bus took us to a huge old building set among gardens. As soon as I could make out the writing above the entrance I realised it was the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

  ‘Awesome!’ Josie said, but I could see that Tyson and Bruce weren’t so impressed. They’d been eyeing off the ferris wheel at Luna Park on the other side of the harbour for days.

  We’d all been to the art gallery in Canberra, but this place was massive. Coach Clarke led us through the Australian galleries, giving us time to look before moving on to the European galleries. The paintings were like windows looking back to earlier times.

  After that, we walked into a gallery full of the biggest and most colourful Aboriginal dot paintings I’d ever seen.

  ‘What do the dots mean, Patty?’ Tyson asked.

  ‘Who cares?’ Manu said. ‘They look amazing.’

  I answered, ‘Mum told me they’re like maps that represent the land and places that are important to people and their families.’

  ‘Oh,’ said Tyson. ‘That’s cool. Are there any paintings that tell you where to find good bush tucker?’

  I laughed and said, ‘Yeah, there are!’

  We walked into another room full of Aboriginal art. At the end I could see something in a glass case that looked familiar. I walked over to the object, realising it was something from the Torres Strait, but I couldn’t work out what. Then I saw the label – it was a Torres Strait hammerhead shark headdress, bigger than any I’d ever seen.

  I could see where a dancer places their head between the fins and behind the mouth of the shark. On top of that piece was another hammerhead shark.

  I read the information about the artwork, which told me the object was a Beizam (shark) headdress, made by a man called Ken Thaiday from Erub Island in the Torres Strait.

  As I admired the artwork, I started missing Mum and Dad and my family.

  It was a good thing that my teammates gathered around me then. Bruce asked, ‘Are they like the sharks that chased your uncle and cousin when you were fishing?’

  ‘They’re from the Torres Strait but a bit different from the reef sharks.’

  ‘Well, they’re cool anyway,’ Bruce said.

  After the gallery we went to a fancy dinner on the wharf, right near the water’s edge. As I ate some spaghetti marinara and wondered if there were sharks swimming in the harbour, I thought about how we’d have to play better than we had in any game during the tournament to give ourselves a chance of winning the grand final.

  ‘PATTY, I CAN’T EVEN EAT I’m so nervous,’ Manu told me at breakfast.

  ‘Make sure you at least drink water,’ I told him as I grabbed a banana from the breakfast bar.

  I was excited. My happiness over being fit to play in the grand final overcame any jitters I might have felt otherwise. The only bad thing was that the girls’ team was playing their grand final at the same time as us. That meant that we wouldn’t get to see each other’s games.

  I sat next to Josie on the way to the stadium. ‘One more game and then we fly to the Torres Strait,’ she sai
d.

  ‘It’d be better to arrive as champions,’ I told Josie.

  She held her fist up, smiling. ‘Let’s do it then!’

  All the other teams we’d competed against during the tournament filled the stands of Olympic Park Stadium. I could feel energy charging through my body as soon as I hit the court.

  Coach Clarke instructed us to keep things relaxed during our warm-up, but when he spoke to us before the game he bent down to our level, looked us all in the eye and said, ‘You’ve come so far during the tournament. It’s your great teamwork that made it possible. All I ask now is that you keep working together as a team and try your best.’

  ‘Go Canberra!’ we all called out. Tyson slapped me on the back as I walked out to the centre.

  As I waited for the tip-off I tried to tell myself it was just an ordinary game. But then I looked up at the shot clock and saw the words Canberra and Sydney. I knew it was the biggest game of my life. The crowd was already the loudest I had ever heard.

  As the ball was tossed up by the ref to start the game, one of the Sydney players elbowed Manu in the side of the head and the referee called a foul.

  We didn’t waste any time. Manu passed the ball to me and I passed to Matthew, who ran in for an easy layup and scored, getting us off to a great start. But when Sydney had possession of the ball, the crowd’s cheering was deafening.

  It was only when we were well into the first half and leading by ten points that the cheering for Sydney died down.

  BY HALF-TIME, we were still ten points in front. I didn’t know if I should say anything to my team – we were playing so well and I didn’t want to mess things up.

  I looked across towards the girls’ game and was excited to see them winning, even if it was only by three points. I waited for Josie and Riley to see me and gave them the thumbs-up.

  Coach Clarke and Mr Jones led us away from the court and sat us down, making sure that we were getting plenty to drink. When Coach spoke to us, it was only to highlight the things we’d done well.

  But just before the second half began, Coach Clarke said, ‘Sydney will fight like crazy to get back into the game. If they do, their supporters are going to scream the roof off. Stay confident and don’t let them intimidate you.’

  I walked back onto the court knowing I’d have to step things up.

  COACH CLARKE WAS RIGHT. Sydney started coming back against us and the more they scored, the louder their fans cheered.

  Then Sydney hit the front and despite what Coach Clarke had told us about staying confident, I could see that my team was anxious – and this was causing us to make mistakes.

  When Sydney snuck in front by another two points, Coach Clarke called a timeout. He subbed me off, when I wanted to be on the court more than anything, trying my heart out. ‘Catch your breath, Patty,’ was all that Coach Clarke said.

  It was almost impossible to stay still. The only positive of sitting on the bench was that I was able to check the score of the girls’ game and see that they were leading by six.

  Finally, Coach Clarke turned to me and said, ‘Patty, go back out there and rev everyone up.’

  When I got my hands on the ball I kept hold of it for as long as I could, dribbling around players and waiting for an opportunity to make something happen.

  Finally I found some space deep on the side of the court. I took a shot from the three-point line and punched the air as I watched the ball swish through the net.

  ‘Come on Canberra, let’s take them on,’ I yelled.

  After we hit the lead again I thought that if we just kept up our intensity we would win.

  But suddenly Sydney were two points ahead. There were only a few minutes left on the clock.

  I passed the ball to Manu and he sprinted down the court and passed to Tyson, who scored with a sneaky shot from under the basket.

  ‘Yes,’ I thought, ‘we’ve got it!’ But somehow Sydney wove the ball through our defence in a flash and scored another two points. I looked at the clock as the Sydney players rushed back. I passed the ball to Matthew but, desperate to get to it, he pushed a player. The referee called the foul and turned the ball over to Sydney.

  The Sydney supporters went nuts. I ordered my team into defence and told myself that we could still win.

  As the Sydney player passed the ball in to one of their forwards, I saw Tyson racing to intercept the ball. I started running towards our basket. Tyson leapt through the air then passed the ball to me in one quick motion.

  I caught the ball and dribbled as fast as I could towards the basket with all the Sydney players chasing me.

  I knew I could make a layup and score two points to tie the game. Instead, I attempted a transition jump shot from the three-point line.

  I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth as I watched the ball sail through the air.

  It swished through the basket.

  ‘Yes!’ I yelled, punching the air, just as the buzzer sounded.

  I turned to see my teammates running towards me, grinning like maniacs, hands raised in the air.

  ON THE BUS to Sydney Airport, Riley and Josie told me about the highlights of their grand final. They had won by eight points. Luke and Manu grimaced as they told the girls how our grand final had almost slipped away from us.

  Manu told them how I’d won the game with my jump shot and I said, ‘But I could only do it because of Tyson’s amazing intercept.’

  Mr Jones parked the bus in one of the big airport parking bays, and took my bag and Josie’s out from the compartment below.

  When we were called to board the plane Coach Clarke said, ‘Thank you, Patty. We won the tournament not only because you’re a great player, but because you helped us become a great team.’ He shook my hand and said, ‘Have a terrific holiday, mate, you deserve it!’

  All our friends gave us hugs and when we were almost through the gate, Tyson called out, ‘Bring me back some bush tucker, Patty.’

  ‘And watch out for the sharks!’ added Bruce.

  Josie and I only took off our tournament medals when we walked through the security scanner.

  I FELT SO GROWN UP when I was in the air with Josie. It was so much fun looking down at the clouds.

  We changed onto a smaller plane in Cairns and when we were back in the air again, Josie asked, ‘Patty, what do you want to do when you’re older?’

  After winning the tournament, I didn’t even have to think about it. ‘I want to train at the Australian Institute of Sport like my uncle,’ I said. ‘And I want to play basketball in the NBA and for Australia at the Olympics.’

  ‘That sounds awesome, Patty,’ Josie said. ‘I think you will.’

  The plane started to descend. ‘Check it out, Patty,’ Josie said, and we pushed our faces up against the window to see the waters and reefs of the Torres Strait shining blue and green beneath the sun.

  I couldn’t wait to land, to see Mum and Dad, to celebrate Athe’s birthday with my family, to go swimming with my cousins, and to have a milkshake or two at Uncle Frankie’s Café, ‘The Best Shakes in the Straits’.

  PATTY MILLS was born in Canberra. His father is from the Torres Strait Islands, and his mother is originally from the Kokatha people in South Australia. Patty plays with the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA and is a triple Olympian with the Australian Boomers (Beijing ’08, London ’12, Rio de Janeiro ’16).

  JARED THOMAS is a Nukunu person of the Southern Flinders Ranges. His novels include Dallas Davis, the Scientist and the City Kids for children, and Sweet Guy, Calypso Summer and Songs that Sound Like Blood for young adults. Jared’s writing explores the power of belonging and culture.

 

 

 
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