Netball Dreams Read Online Free Page B

choices. Who next? Lots of faces looked up at me. Some kids were sitting straight and hopeful. Others were staring at the ground, looking bored. One boy was scratching a mozzie bite on his arm.
    Then I saw another face. He was sitting up the back, ready to wait until the end.
    ‘Tony!’ I called out.
    Slowly, Tony stood up. He looked surprised to have been chosen so soon. As Tony walked over to us, I glanced back at the gang. Would they be upset that I chose someone so bad at sport?
    But Brad and the girls were smiling. Mickey was giving Tony the thumbs-up. Best of all, Tony was beaming.
    ‘I’m not so bad at tunnel ball,’ he said, grinning.
    And he was right. Tony actually wasn’t the worst on our team. To my surprise, Callum was!
    In tunnel ball, the team stands in a long line and forms a tunnel. Everyone has to lean down and push the ball through their legs.
    But Callum’s really tall. He had trouble folding his long body and reaching way down to the ground. His big feet kept getting in the way, too.
    At one point Callum lost his balance and fell backwards onto Mickey. As they fell, they pushed everyone behind them over, like dominoes.
    ‘Argh!’ Poor Becky was squished at the end.
    ‘Up you get!’ called Mr Dwyer.
    But everyone had the giggles. Claire was laughing so much that she fell down and knocked us over again. I think she did it on purpose.
    It was pretty silly, but loads of fun.
    By now, the other teams had finished and were shaking their heads at us – a laughing, groaning line of bodies.
    We had no chance of winning now! I rolled out from under Angie and stood in front of my team. ‘Right! Good warm-up, everyone,’ I called. ‘Now let’s play the game.’
    My team stood up straight, with beaming faces and weak giggly legs.
    Mr Dwyer smiled at me and winked. He seemed proud of me as captain.
    I smiled back. I was proud of myself. And I was proud of my team, too.

Netball Dreams
first published in 2007
this edition published in 2013 by
Hardie Grant Egmont
Ground Floor, Building 1, 658 Church Street
Richmond, Victoria 3121, Australia
www.hardiegrantegmont.com.au
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    All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers and copyright holders.
    A CiP record for this title is available from the National Library of Australia
    9781743580899
    Text copyright © 2007 Thalia Kalkipsakis
Illustration and design copyright © 2013 Hardie Grant Egmont
    Illustration by Aki Fukuoka
Design by Michelle Mackintosh
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