Secret Weapon (2 page)

Mr. Gaddy showed Ted and Lisa how to use the trampoline safely. Soon all three were taking turns bouncing up and down, doing
the splits, and landing on their backsides. They looked like they were having so much fun that their mother tried it, too.
When she came off laughing, the twins knew the tramp was there to stay.

Ted was taking a turn first tonight. He stepped into the middle and started to bounce.

“I’m going to try a three-sixty!” he called. Lisa watched her brother bounce high and spin like a top, trying to make it all
the way around before he touched down. As usual, he lost his balance and collapsed in a heap.

Lisa laughed.

“Oh, sure, laugh all you want,” Ted grumbled good-naturedly. “But I’d like to see you do it!”

“I will, when it’s my turn,” Lisa replied, eyes twinkling. Thanks to her gymnastics classes, she had better balance on the
trampoline. Both she and Ted knew it.

“Yeah, well …” Ted bounced some more, flailing his arms and legs in such a crazy way that Lisa couldn’t stop laughing.

“Okay, your turn,” Ted said, carefully lowering himself over the side.

Lisa stepped to the center. On her third bounce, she did a perfect three-sixty. Before Ted could say a word, she was up doing
another, this time in the opposite direction.

“Show-off!” Ted yelled. Lisa knew he didn’t mean it. She just kept doing three-sixties, first one way, then the other so she
wouldn’t get dizzy. She did the splits, too, and a couple of
pikes, with her legs ramrod straight out in front of her and her fingers reaching for her toes.

While she was taking her turn, their father joined them. He watched Lisa for a moment, then called, “Have you ever done a
somersault?”

“Not yet!” she yelled back.

“Aw, no way you’ve got the guts to do one of those!” Ted jeered.

“Oh, yeah?” Lisa retorted. She bounced a few more times. Then, taking a deep breath, she launched herself into the air, tucked
into a ball, and flipped over. She didn’t land on her feet, but she didn’t care. She had done a somersault on her first try,
and that was more than Ted could do!

“What do you think of that?” she crowed as she slid down off the trampoline.

Ted huffed. “Huh, bet if I spent all my free time tumbling around on gym mats, I’d be able to do one, too.”

Mr. Gaddy laid a hand on Ted’s shoulder. “Son,” he said gravely, “until you can do a three-sixty without landing on your backside,
stick to doing the splits. Now step aside, kids, and let a pro show you how things are done! Yee-ha!”

The fun on the trampoline had taken Lisa’s mind off her soccer worries for a while. But when she crawled into bed that night,
they all came crashing back.

How can I improve
? she thought over and over. But she couldn’t come up with any ideas. She could only hope that Coach Bradley would know what
to do.

P
ractice started at three o’clock sharp the next day. First drill of the day, Coach Bradley had them work on throw-ins.

“I need five players to spread out on the field.” Lou Barnes, Jerry Dinh, Dale Tuget, Edith “Eddie” Sweeny, and Dewey London
volunteered. “The rest of you get behind the touchline. You’ll be taking turns doing throw-ins. I’m going to call the name
of one of the players on the field. I want you to try your hardest to get the ball to that player.”

Brant Davis was up first. The coach handed him the ball and called out, “Eddie!”

Eddie was about ten feet away from Brant. Brant fired the ball from behind his head directly to her. She caught it against
her chest and let it fall to the ground. At a motion from the coach, she booted the ball back to him.

“Not bad, Brant. Next!” Alan Minter stepped forward.

“Dale!”

Dale was a good twenty feet away. Alan took a few steps back, paused, then trotted forward, lunged, and threw two-handed from
behind his head. The ball landed near Dale’s feet.

“Okay, good aim, but look down,” Coach Bradley said. Alan did—and blushed. One foot was completely inside the touchline.

“If this had been a game, the ball would have been handed to the other side,” Coach Bradley reminded Alan and the others.
“Be sure to watch that.”

Now it was Lisa’s turn. Nervous about what had just happened to Alan, she decided not to run toward the line but to take the
throw standing still.

Coach Bradley seemed to guess what she meant to do.

“Lou!” he called. Lou was standing the farthest away!

Lisa tried her best, but the ball fell far short of its goal. Lou hurried forward to retrieve it.

“Oh, brother,” Lisa heard Stookie Norris mutter.

Miserable, Lisa waited for the coach to point out her mistake.

Instead, all he said was “Good try.” For some reason, that made Lisa feel even worse.

Isn’t he going to help me get better
? she wondered unhappily.

Lisa did her best during the rest of the drill. Sometimes she hit her mark, other times she goofed up. Each time she messed
up, Stookie had something to say. He was careful not to
let the coach hear him, but Lisa was sure the other ’Cats could. No one said anything, though—not even Ted.

“Let’s gather ‘round,” Coach Bradley called at the end of practice. “Good efforts by everyone today. Friday, we play a game
against the Tadpoles. See you then!”

The ’Cats all cheered, then broke to head for home. Ted and Lisa started off together.

“Let’s see if any of the ’Cats want to use the trampoline with us tomorrow,” Ted suggested. Brant Davis was walking with the
coach right in front of them.

“Hey, Brant, want to come by our house and check out our trampoline tomorrow?” Ted called.

“I’ll show you which Gaddy twin can do a somersault,” Lisa added.

Brant gave them the thumbs up, then hurried off to where his father was waiting. Coach Bradley turned around and stared thoughtfully
at Lisa.

“You can do a somersault?” he asked. “You’re not afraid?”

Lisa shook her head. “I do that sort of stuff in gymnastics a lot—you know, flips and things. Want to see me do one?”

The coach nodded. Lisa handed Ted her gym bag. She took a few quick steps, then launched herself forward and planted her hands
on the ground. Seconds later, she had pushed herself up and over and was standing on her feet again.

Coach Bradley clapped. “Beautiful!” he cried.

Lisa shrugged. “That was a front handspring. Learning to do that was much scarier than trying a somersault on the trampoline.”

“Really? That’s very interesting,” the coach replied. He stroked his chin.

Lisa shot Ted a look.
What’s going on
? the look said. Ted raised his eyebrows, as puzzled by the coach’s sudden interest in Lisa’s gymnastics as Lisa was.

T
hat night, Lisa and Ted were cleaning up the kitchen after dinner when there came a knock at the door. It was Coach Bradley.
He was carrying a thin book under his arm. When he, Lisa, Ted, and their parents were all sitting at the kitchen table, he
showed them the book. The tattered cover had a picture of a soccer player on it.

“I haven’t used this rule book in a while because most of what I need to know is up here.” Coach Bradley tapped his forehead.
“But when you talked about doing flips
today, it reminded me of something I’d read.”

He thumbed through the pages until he found the one he wanted. “Here, read this part.” He handed the book to Lisa.

Lisa read out loud. “‘As long as the person taking the throw-in follows all the rules, there’s no reason why he or she can’t
do a flip throw rather than a standing throw. But coaches should be sure the throw-in is okay with the referees before letting
players attempt such a move.’ ” Lisa looked up at the coach.

“What does this mean?” she asked in puzzlement.

Coach Bradley took the book from her. “What it means,” he said with a smile, “is that if you can learn to do a flip while
holding a soccer ball, your throw-in problems are solved—and the Soccer ’Cats could have a new secret weapon!”

Ted frowned. “I don’t get it, Coach,” he said.

The coach laughed. “Picture this: Lisa retrieves the ball after it goes over the touchline. She takes a running start, then
at just the right distance from the line, she flips herself over, still holding the ball. Just as she lands —her feet and
body in proper position, of course—she releases the ball from behind her head and catapults it over the defense! The speed
of her spinning body adds momentum to the ball and
zoom
! it goes higher, farther, and faster than she, or just about anyone, could ever throw it from a standing position.”

“But if that’s true,” Mr. Gaddy said, “why doesn’t everybody do flip throw-ins?”

Coach Bradley nodded. “Good question. Ted, name two other ’Cats who know how to do flips like Lisa.”

Ted shook his head. “No one can.”

“There’s your answer. Not everyone does it
because not everyone
can
do it.” The coach laid a hand on Lisa’s shoulder. “And Lisa won’t do it either, unless she wants to. It’s up to her.”

Lisa swallowed. Doing a somersault on the trampoline or a regular front handspring on the ground was one thing. But doing
a handspring while holding a soccer ball, with everybody watching her …?