Season One
Season One
But, as it turned out, the free throws were just the beginning of a very long practice.
The professor stayed close to him during the drills, pointing out Reggie’s errors. On defense, he sent Reggie to guard Rain off of screen plays, or Cash in the low post, or Peño in the open floor, and Reggie was outmatched in every position and beat again and again.
Reggie was crossed over and bodied hard and scored on. He fumed but said nothing. Whenever Reggie turned the ball over, Rolabi had them run. When Reggie missed a shot, Rolabi had them run. When Reggie didn’t collect a rebound or make a stop on defense, he had them all run.
Two hours later – Reggie was thoroughly humiliated by then – Rolabi called them in.
“I am your coach,” he said, “not your motivator. My job is not to tell you how hard to work. Or why you should. That is your job. Take a good look at yourselves this week. Either you want to be the best player you can be . . . or you don’t. It’s your choice. You alone know if you have the desire and the strength to reach your full potential. Be honest. Because only you can motivate yourself.”
He gestured to the bench, dismissing them.
“I’ll see you Monday night.”
Reggie stalked right past Rolabi, pointedly not making eye contact with him.
“Make your choice, Reggie,” the professor said. “And do it soon.”
Season One, a sports and fantasy blend, is the second volume in “The Wizenard Series”, and, while it can likely work as a stand-alone read, those who have previously read Training Camp will enjoy a richer reading experience. Reginald “Reggie” Mathers is featured in Season One, and since the death of his reporter parents some six years ago, he and his younger sister, Patricia aka P, have lived in an apartment in the “Bottom of the Bottom” with their paternal grandmother who works at a diner six days a week, 10 hours a day, to support them. Reggie truly loves basketball, or, as he puts it, “It’s the one place I feel happy.” However, the game doesn’t seem to love him in return, and so Reggie is not a starter for the West Bottom Badgers but a bench player. As in Training Camp, the plot of Season One is a vehicle for the central character’s discovery of self, a process that is facilitated by the team’s new coach, Professor Rolabi Wizenard (pronounced Role–ah–bee Whiz– an–Ard). In describing his job as a coach, Rolabi says:
“My job is to bring out the best from everyone. For some, facing your fear is the way to improvement. For others, it is winning a battle against the limitations we impose on ourselves.”
Those who have read Training Camp will find a seemingly different Coach Rolabi in Season One, a mean, almost nasty, Rolabi who seems to increasingly pick on Reggie, even criticizing him in front of his teammates. Although the Badgers lose their first five games in the league’s 12-game season, the team can still make the four-team playoffs by winning out, with the conference’s defending champions, the Mauraders, being the Badgers’ next opponent. Fortunately, Reggie comes to realize that it has been his own self-doubt about his basketball abilities that has been holding him back, and, with that recognition, he then leads his team to victory over the Mauraders. The plot then jumps forward six weeks to the end of the season, and readers learn that the Badgers did win their remaining games and, in two weeks, will be on their way to the nationals in the nation’s capital.
As in Training Camp, every chapter in Season One is introduced by a numbered Wizenard Proverb, such as “Every human is born to change the world. Unfortunately, some are changed by the world first” or “Self-doubt is the beginning of defeat”. The subplot introduced in Training Camp involving Reggie’s suspicion that the nation’s longtime leader, President Talin, may have been involved in his parents’ deaths because of their speaking out against his rule is only slightly advanced in Season One.
Season One contains enough basketball game/practice action to keep that sport’s fans engaged while still offering sufficient magic for those who enjoy fantasy. With the death of Kobe Bryant, the series’ creator, it remains to be seen if “The Wizenard Series” will continue and if readers will learn how the West Bottom Badgers fared in the national championship.
Dave Jenkinson, CM’s editor, lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba.