football practice

On the first day of football practice Coach Davis introduces the kids to Mr. Alex. Most of them just want to be in the basketball clinic that Coach Kibbe is running but Kibbe and Davis say that no one can be in the basketball clinic if they're not playing flag football too. Davis says the kids won't do anything but play basketball if someone doesn't push them to do it. It's about not being one-dimensional. He'll teach them golf and badminton, too.
He lectures them all about sportsmanship and preparation and not calling each other weak. The teams are going to be balanced so no one wins all the time.
The field is huge and sits a good 5 feet above the streets on either side. Mr. Davis and Mr. Alex keep telling the kids, anywhere from 7-11 years old, to stay behind the line until it's time to run the drill. They listen, most of the time, but lines like these lines in the grass must not have the same significance for kids as they do for adults.
Maybe that's what they're learning - or not - moreso than passing or catching. Everyone is watching or ignoring whoever's running next. No one's paying attention to the teenager smoking a Newport and watching practice, or to the kids hanging out on the jungle gym they've well grown out of. Every time the whistle blows the lines still creep forward a step or two.