Chapter 13
Chapter
Thirteen
Paisley spent most of Saturday at school, going over the UIL handbook.
The University Interscholastic League governed all sports in Texas public schools, dictating everything from when practices started and how long they could last to the dates and location of the state’s tournament, where a state champion would be crowned in every division.
Divisions were based upon student enrollment at each high school, with schools being placed into a district every two years.
Updated enrollment figures were then submitted to the state, and the UIL would assign new districts based upon those numbers, trying to place schools with a similar enrollment and in close proximity of one another in the same district.
She printed out the upcoming year’s UIL manual, highlighted dates, and then placed those in her cell phone and on a personal desk calendar.
While her JV team would meet the first period of the day and varsity would be last period, she could extend practice outside the school day starting in mid-October.
Ten days later, she could begin scrimmaging with other teams. Less than a week after that, non-district play would begin.
She brought up the Lady Hawks basketball schedule now, inputting all non-district games into her calendars.
District play started in mid-December, and she also placed those games onto her calendars.
Putting dates for the playoffs into her calendar seemed pointless.
Already, she knew she had an uphill battle with the team she had inherited.
Maybe making the playoffs would be a goal for next year’s varsity team.
Right now, she was merely hoping they wouldn’t embarrass themselves and have to forfeit any games because of the size of their squad.
Hope had drawn up the requested list of returning players, listing the girls by the jersey numbers.
The profiles included height and weight, along with their position.
Hope had then added the skills each girl possessed and the things that particular player needed to work on.
While she had also listed the number of points and assists each player averaged, Hope had also provided a box score for each game last year.
Paisley poured over all this information, determining that free throws was an area which needed special attention.
West popped his head in. “You look like you’re busy.”
“Just familiarizing myself with UIL rules and dates,” she replied. “I don’t want to be in violation of any of them. I’ve always been a stickler for details, and so every date is going into my calendar.”
“The Sunday Prohibition is a big one,” her AD said, referring to the rule in which schools couldn’t participate in athletic contests or conduct any practices or meetings on a Sunday.
It was prohibited to have players gather and teach them any plays, formations, or skills, much less review any tape of previous games.
“Of course,” West continued, “I’m sure you know that rule doesn’t apply to coaches meeting on a Sunday.
The unofficial rule in Hawthorne is to let your staff go to church and have lunch with their families, then call a meeting for one o’clock on a Sunday.
It’s the best time for you and your staff to review film, both of your team and your upcoming opponents.
You can plan practices for the upcoming week based upon what you see. ”
“Got it.” Paisley made a note. “Any more advice?”
“Not really.” West studied her a moment. “I know you’ve already met with Hope and Marsha. I talked to both of them, and they really think you’ll be great for the program.”
“You didn’t tell me in my interview how bad things were.” She said this neutrally, not wanting to accuse her new boss of hiding anything.
“Each team is different, especially under the leadership of a new coach. Were there problems last year? Absolutely. I didn’t think Coach Finnerty was getting the job done and was going to let her go.
She’s lucky she had some connections and was able to move to a new school.
But this team is yours, Paisley, all the way.
I didn’t want to influence you one way or the other.
I wanted you to make the decision to coach here because you wanted to be here. ”
West leaned against the doorway. “I’m not expecting miracles. I know it takes time to create a new program. Form a new culture—and have kids buy into it. Yes, you’ve got challenges ahead, but nothing I didn’t think you couldn’t handle.”
“Thank you for your faith in me. That means a lot.” She paused. “And for giving Sawyer my phone number.”
Her AD looked innocently at her. “He told you I did that?”
“He did. And I’m really glad you did, West.”
He gave into a smile. “I’m happy to hear that.
Sawyer is the oldest of the five cousins.
I always looked up to him. He was the best athlete I’d ever seen before I went to A&M.
Yes, he had some physical gifts, but Sawyer wasn’t just all talent.
He had a tremendous work ethic. That’s what I came to admire most about him.
He transferred that work ethic to law school and then his career as an attorney.
You won’t find a more solid, steadfast guy than my cousin. ”
“We’ll see you tonight,” she said.
West gave her a lopsided grin. “Sounds good.”
He left, and Paisley continued reviewing all the UIL rules and regulations until she thought she could repeat them in her sleep.
Then she returned to drawing up plays based upon the team she would put out on the court this year.
They were thin, but Hope had indicated that several had solid ball handling skills.
She only hoped she could convince a few of the players who had left to come back.
Paisley had gone online and pulled up stats from last year’s district games.
Hope had given her current player and team stats, but she wanted to review information about some of the players who had left the team.
Four players had refused to enroll in basketball again.
One, who had run cross country in the fall, chose to run track in the spring.
She had been a track star her first two years at HHS and had only played basketball last year.
Paisley doubted she could convince the girl to return for her senior year.
Another had decided to stick solely with softball. Hope told her the athlete was an adequate forward on the basketball court, but she really shone as a center fielder, so Paisley wouldn’t try to talk her into returning to the team.
Instead, she would see if she could persuade Desiree Sonato and Sheila Briggs to change their minds about not playing their senior year.
Both had been starters their sophomore and junior years.
The team needed their experience. Hope said Sheila was a born follower and did whatever Desi told her to do.
Desi would be the one Paisley would need to approach.
If she could talk the former point guard into returning to the team, Sheila would most likely join in again, as well.
Her phone rang, and she saw it was Sawyer calling. She felt her face flush, immediately thrown back to those heady kisses from last night. Paisley was glad he wasn’t FaceTiming her because she could feel the heat filling her cheeks.
“Hey, Sawyer,” she answered, hoping he didn’t hear the quiver in her voice.
“Hey. Hope you don’t mind a call instead of a text.”
Actually, she thought it was sweet. Her cell rarely rang since she silenced unknown callers and had a spam call filter on her number. She liked the fact that he called her. It was thrilling to hear his deep, rumbling voice.
“I didn’t know phones could do this,” she flirted, realizing for the first time that she was flirting.
He laughed. “Yeah. They’re not just for texting and scrolling through Instagram. You can actually talk to real people. Pretty old-fashioned, right?”
“I like talking to you,” she responded. “That’s the truth. Texting is great. Quick and easy. But I like the sound of your voice.”
“I like the sound of yours. What are you doing?”
“I’m at school. In my office. Working.”
She told him how she’d spent her day, and he asked her a few questions which let her know he was truly listening to her.
That was a wonderful feeling. She’d held so few conversations that didn’t revolve around basketball.
It was nice talking to a real person. Even if she was talking basketball.
This just felt different. He was different.
Even though she had very limited experience around guys, Paisley’s gut told her Sawyer was a rare man.
She didn’t want to blow her chance with him.
“Think you can break away for dinner with the gang?” he reminded.
She glanced at her watch. “I’m done here. For now, at least. I’ll head home and change.”
“Why?”
“I’m wearing school issued shorts and T-shirts. I don’t want to be dressed like West and twin with him,” she retorted, causing him to laugh again. Paisley loved the sound of his laughter. It was rich. Vibrant. And he laughed as if he thought something was really funny.
“Keep it casual, Coach,” Sawyer said. “Kelby had said something about having people wear red, white, and blue. Probably in honor of the Olympics. Do you have something in that color scheme?”
“An old Team USA jersey. Or something from the past.”
“Then you’ll be a celebrity tonight. People will line up for your autograph.”
“I should charge. Then again, that probably would violate some obscure UIL rule. Maybe you can represent me when I go on trial.”
He laughed again, and her heart sang.
“Go home, Coach. I’ll pick you up in half an hour.”
She said goodbye and headed to her SUV. When she got home, she passed Jen, who wore a dress and heels, something Paisley had never seen Jen in.
“Going somewhere?”