"Ten seconds!" shouted Coach Hall as Cynthia shuffled line to line during conditioning drills. Cynthia rolled her eyes when her half-hearted effort failed to get her across the end line in time.

Coach Hall blew her whistle and yelled, "Okay, EVERYONE on the line. RIGHT now."

"Come on Coach," whined several of the other players. "Why do we have to line up? We made OUR time."

"Ladies, basketball is a team sport. We WIN together and we LOSE together. Now give me two line drills under sixty seconds - Ready, Set, GO!"

Cynthia trotted down the court, oblivious to her teammates' moaning when she failed again to beat the whistle. "AGAIN," shouted Coach Hall. Finally, Cynthia put her long lanky legs in gear, finishing the drill with time to spare.  She bent over with her hands resting on her knees.  She could feel Coach Hall's piercing glare when she blew her whistle and barked, "Water break - five minutes."

During the break, Becca walked over and socked Cynthia's shoulder.

"Ouch!" replied Cynthia. "What was that for?"

Becca tugged on her t-shirt sleeve and wiped the sweat from her face. "Cee Cee, I know we're friends, but sometimes I'd like to knock your ever-loving head off."

"Ha! I'd like to see you try it. I don't know what the big deal is. I'm working as hard as everyone else. Besides, you know Coach Hall is always picking on me."

Becca pushed loose strands of her light-brown hair back away from her face as she leaned over and got a drink from the water fountain. "All I really know, girlfriend, is that Coach will bench your butt in a New York minute if you don't get real."

Cynthia picked up a ball and launched a three pointer from the corner, hitting nothing but net. "Bench me? Yeah, right. You know I'm the only one that can break the full-court press."

Becca leaned over and stretched out her hamstrings, "Well, in the words of my wise mama, 'Be humble, lest you stumble!'"

The shrill sound of the  whistle signaled  the end of their break. After Coach Hall gave out the  scrimmage  instructions, Cynthia was left leaning against the end wall.  She was too busy stewing over Becca's comments to worry about the fact that Coach Hall had not put her in with the first string.  It's not bragging if it's true, and it is true; I am good.  I've had a basketball in my hands ever since I could walk, and my dad coached me for years at the Boys and Girls Club. He taught me confidence is a must if I wanted to ever play at the next level. Yeah, they're just jealous. Watch out WNBA - here I come!

The loud buzzer sounded to end the scrimmage game, jolting her back to reality. She jogged over to join everyone already huddled up for the end of practice cheer. Sprinting to the dressing room with the rest of the team, she pushed by the others and bumped her teammate Jill  in the process. "Now you're in a hurry," said Jill. "Wish you would've used some of that energy on the court!"

"Yeah," Holly agreed as she threw her towel down on the floor. "We're really getting tired of having to run extra because of your laziness."

"Give it a rest," snapped Cynthia. "I carry my share of the load out there. You don't see me slacking off when it's game time, do you?"  Everyone but Becca had turned their backs to her. Becca just shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. Cynthia tossed her practice clothes in the laundry basket and slammed her locker shut. "I'm outta here."