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 ”Abel it’s time for basketball practice!” my mom and dad said as they woke me up from my power nap. 

“Yes!” I shouted, “I can’t wait until we get there.” 

As we arrived at Burges High School I was so excited about practicing and getting better that I couldn’t keep still. 

Beeeeep! went our coach’s whistle.  “Hi my name is coach Frank and this is your assistant coach, coach Paco,” he said as he introduced himself and his assistant.  “Now! Enough small talk.  Ten laps around the court!” coach Frank said. 

“What!” Joe, a new eleven year old teammate, complained. 

“Make that twenty laps Joe!” coach said. 

“Wow!” Frankie mouthed to me. 

When we finished our ten laps, coach introduced Frankie, Esteban and I to the team.  “This is Frankie, Esteban and Abel.  You will have to know their names by the end of the day or I will make you run!” 

For the first hour he made us do our lay-ups and if we missed one, guess what…we ran! 

“Finally it’s the last hour of the day!” Esteban said to me.  For the last hour they made us do foot fire, which is a what they call the popcorn exercises that we do at school, except we have to do it nonstop. 

Beeeeep! “It’s the end of practice, you may go home!”  coach Frank said. 

“Thank God!” all three of us said together. 

Then came Wednesday of the following week. “Abel, practice!” my mom said. 

“Uugghh!”  I groaned, “not again!”