Kickoff! Read Online Free PDF Page B

crowd of boys scattered. As Ronde and Tiki made their way to station 3, Ronde waved to Matt Clayton, sitting in the bleachers. Matt waved back—but he didn’t smile.
    Ronde thought he knew why. It had to be tough sitting on the bench after having been a star last year. He felt sorry for Matt—but right now Ronde had a job to do—he had to make the team!
    At station 3, blocking dummies were set up in a row. One by one, the boys had to get into set position, rush the dummies, and hit them. On Ronde’s first turn, he hit the dummy going full speed. It bent back a little, but it was so hard to move that it wound up throwing Ronde backward! He landed on his rear end, and had to dust himself off as the other boys laughed.
    Pretty much the same thing happened to Tiki—the Barber boys were among the shortest, skinniest kids trying out for the team. Ronde couldn’t help thinking they weren’t cut out to be linemen. Their blocking techniquewas good, but they weren’t as big and strong as the other boys.
    Next, the boys lined up in rows opposite each other. “Okay, boys,” said the coach who was manning the station, “we’re going to take turns being defensive and offensive linemen. This row will start on defense. Your job is to get around the offense. Offense, try to block them.”
    Ronde looked up to see Boomer staring at him, grinning. “Get ready, little guy,” he told Ronde. “Here I come.”
    Twice in a row, Boomer flattened Ronde as he plowed right through him. Then Ronde had an idea. On the third rush, when Boomer came at him, Ronde used Boomer’s own momentum against him, throwing him forward instead of trying to stop him. This time, it was Boomer who landed flat on the ground!
    Boomer got up slowly, looking angrily at Ronde. “Think you’re pretty smart, huh?” he said. “Try that again, and see what happens.”
    Luckily, the coach had them switch sides then. On offense, Ronde was fast and tricky enough to get around Boomer.
    â€œNot bad, kid,” Boomer nodded when they were done. “You’ve got pretty good moves there. Maybe you ought to be running back punts and kickoffs instead.”
    The next station was for agility drills. There were rope squares laid out in a grid, and you had to use fancyfootwork to get through the grid fast, without hitting the ropes or missing a box.
    Ronde had done this drill before, and he loved it. He got through the squares in the blink of an eye, and he could tell he had made a good impression on the coach who was timing them.
    Then Tiki did the drill even faster! “Hey, we’ve got a pair of studs here!” the coach said, staring at his stopwatch. Tiki and Ronde exchanged a thumbs-up. Things were starting to look better.
    They threw passes, ran routes, took handoffs, punted, and performed on special teams. They were timed on sprints, and had their weight and height measured.
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    â€œCan you believe all this?” Tiki whispered while they waited their turn for the forty-yard dash.
    â€œI know,” said Ronde. “It’s awesome!”
    While waiting, Ronde had been taking a good look around the field, to see what some of the other kids were doing. He watched excitedly as Paco put a ninth-grade defender on his rear end with a ferocious headfirst tackle, then rushed the quarterback and touched him for a sack.
    Go, Paco! Ronde said to himself. Show ’em who’s boss!
    Looking over to station 1, he winced as Jason overthrew two straight passes. What is the matter with him? Ronde wondered. Why can’t he hit the mark like he has in Peewee League, or even on Mews Hill Drive?
    Jason looked like he’d been punched in the gut. His shoulders slumped as he trudged over to his next station.
    Ronde felt awful for him. Quarterback was Jason’s only position! If he didn’t make it there, would he even make the team at