The Hitting Zone

After playing at the arcade, we all went back home to enjoy Mrs. Atkins home cooked Sunday dinner. None of the boys went in specifics about our day or about me talking more than normal. I'm slightly glad since I'm sure it would be blown up into a bigger deal than it should be.

After dinner, showers, and homework, I started to go through the notes I took over the weekend. I wanted to review before tomorrow's practice so I wouldn't be unprepared if Zeke wanted to quiz me again.

Noah came back to our room as I was looking at my notes on the floor. He laid down on his bed. "Are you nervous?"

I nodded. Extremely nervous. This tournament will hold my first game memory. I don't want it to be a bad one. If I make a mistake, we could lose and drop out just after game one.

"Is it because of this upcoming weekend?" Noah read my mind. I nodded, giving him my full attention now. "What about it makes you nervous?"

"Losing." I mumbled under my breath.

"Oh. That's not a big deal. It's normal for teams to lose. No one wins all the time. Don't get me wrong, it's not enjoyable. Think of it as a learning experience."

"But then we can't play anymore." I whispered, bowing my head.

Noah laughed outright. "That's not entirely true. At least, we still have the season." He moved to the floor so we were eye level. "I told you I would explain How league play works, right?" I vaguely remembered him saying something about it before. "So this tournament is considered a single game elimination format. Which means you lose and you're out. That's normal for tournaments. League play is different."

I grabbed my notebook and flipped to an empty page, jotting down what he was saying.

"I know you didn't really play in middle school, but you knew they had games against other middle schools, right? High school is similar. We're in a league with seven other schools. Throughout the season, you'll play each team twice. At the end of the season you'll compare conference records, and the best one will be crown as league champs for that season. That's when losing starts to matter because every league champ from other leagues will play in C.I.F."

What's that? I paused a moment from taking notes to look up at Noah. His eyes were shining and he seemed excited.

"CIF stands for California Interscholastic Federation. All California schools are a part of CIF, but within the CIF is different sections, and within them different divisions. Each division will collect a group of league champions and then find a division champion." He sighed. "But this is all far off. The season doesn't even start till next week after the tournament. Just know we want to win conference games in order to become league champs." He said with enthusiasm.

I wrote down the basics: win games. That seemed to be the theme with everything he said. If we win, we get to play more games.

Noah peeked over and then burst out laughing. He rolled to his side and started to laugh so hard, he was wheezing.

Mrs. Atkins stepped in the doorframe. "What's going on in here? We can hear Noah's laugh from down the hall."

I shrugged. I have no idea what set him off.

"Mom. His notes!" He kept on laughing, holding his stomach. I looked at my notes, trying to see what was so funny. My handwriting was neat and I didn't think I had any misspellings.

Mrs. Atkins looked on as her son rolled around the floor. "Noah. It's almost bed time. Please stop causing a ruckus."

Noah snatched my notebook and stood up. He showed her whatever made him laugh. "I was explaining to Jake what the season looks like and how it's supposed to go. This is all he wrote in the end."

Mrs. Atkins cracked a smile. "I hope you boys can win as much as you can then. It'll be the only time all my boys play together on the same team. Win it all!" She cheered and then left.

I stood up and looked at my notes in Noah's hand, trying to find the humor.

Noah saw my confusion and started laughing once more. "You wrote win games. That's all. You're so simple-minded that it's hilarious. You don't even know how we stack against other teams and you're all set on winning everything."

I guess it sounded naive once it's said aloud. Noah did say that it's normal for teams to lose and not everyone can be unbeaten.