Playing without the Ball

Some might think Jay was cheated. By his mother, who walked out when he was 9. By his dad, who took a job a couple thousand miles away and let him stay above a bar in a one-room apartment. By the basketball coach, who saw his talent but chose youth over determination. And even Jay's not sure whether this last year of high school in the small town of Sturbridge, Pennsylvania, will add up to anything. But just when senioryear seems a waste-kissing the wrong girls, offending the right ones, playing basketball on a church league with other rejects-life begins to click again. The church league giveshim some of the best basketball he's ever played, and the right girl gives him a second chance. Jay may not know what he wants next out of life, but he's beginning to get a clue about how to play thegame.

From the Paperback edition.

With his mother gone from his life and his father off working far away, Jay gets little guidance and so stumbles greatly through his last year of high school, but an encounter with the church basketball league helps him channel his talents where he soon finds himself on the right track once again. An ALA Best Book for Young Adults. Reissue.

"There are only a few contemporary writers who can hit the mark with teenage boys, and Rich Wallace seems likely to join that group.” –Chicago Tribune

From the Paperback edition.

Rich Wallace is the author of two other books set in Sturbridge: Wrestling Sturbridge and Shots on Goal.

Against the sky — Basketball reality — What's missing — Restless nights — Visions and revisions — Tendinitis — Tryouts — Salt — Sprawling on a pin — Nine-and-a-half — "L.A. woman" — Various Protestants — Introspection — Gatorade — Sort of pulsating — Laundry — Noel — Weasel — Community service — Lockers — New Bishop — Not totally paranoid — Ground zero — New sneaker — "Days later" — Common thread — Buying pretzels — Leftover rice — Sound in my head — Riding seaward.