Chapter 9 — Throwing the Ball Through the Rain

Thu Ha called at eight o'clock in the evening. Ms. Hanh placed the phone in the middle of the table and turned on the speakerphone after Ha agreed. The woman's voice was a bit hoarse, and there was the sound of a kettle boiling in the background. Nhien introduced each person, not mentioning achievements, just talking about tasks in the team. Bap was about to add that he was the only filmmaker, but An lightly kicked his leg.

Ha said that year's final took place in the rain. The floor is slippery, the electronic scoreboard flickers. At the last minute, she stole the ball cleanly, but the referee blew a technical foul. No one explained what the error was. The captain asked to see the minutes, but the organizers said the match was over. A point is added to the opponent, then the number on the board jumps again. Ha was kicked off the field when he asked again.

“Do you have proof?” Mai Chi asked, her voice tense.

"I have a recording of the whistle and a photo of the scoreboard. But the evidence doesn't speak for itself."

Ha does not want to make her photos public. She allowed the team to view it to understand the context, but did not allow copies to be saved. She said after the match, the school chose to say that the women's team lacked discipline. That story was repeated until everyone forgot her name. Ha stopped playing, went to work, got married, but every rainy season still remembers the smell of wet rubber.

An asked if the current team could keep the field, what would Ha want? Ha laughed on the phone. "Don't keep it to build a statue for the old one. Let the new ones throw the ball without apologizing because they're girls."

The call ended in silence. Bap wiped his eyes and said dust flew in. Mai Chi asked An if she could use Ha's sentences in the video. An said she had to ask again about the scope. Ms. Hanh texted Ha and received consent to use anonymous statements in internal records and not post online. Nhien wrote that sentence into the team's rules and did not put it on the poster.

The practice session after the call, An made ten free throws. She missed four. Every time she failed, Mai Chi forced her to say what she saw. The first time it was "basket rim", the next time it was "Nien's hand", then "Vy's space". On the tenth ball, An threw it in. No one clapped too loudly. Bap just held up a small sign: "This one doesn't need to apologize." An smiled, for the first time she didn't find that sentence serious.

The team started practicing with the "three-layered look" exercise. The first layer is the person who is marking, the second layer is the space, the third layer is the person who can receive the ball after one beat. Ms. Hanh did not let An throw it until she could say all three. At first, An said the wrong thing, Mai Chi dropped the ball, and Vy ran in the wrong direction. Bap stood outside to score the ability to see, then was forced to try it by the whole team.

During one turn, An saw the defender in front of her but did not see Phong standing behind the touchline. He wasn't the one receiving the ball, but his call reported a pulled wire. Ms. Hanh stopped the lesson and reminded that no strategy is more important than safety. An realized that looking at the field included people who weren't holding the ball and things that weren't part of the game.

Ha resubmitted the edited summary. She allowed the team to use the phrase "don't let them narrate the match for us" in internal records, but not in public videos. Bap expressed regret, but he respected. Tran created two folders: limited version and public version. An sets access rights by name, does not post in groups.

A tenth grader asked why the girls' team needed its own rules. Mai Chi replied every team needs rules, but the women's team often has to explain more because others see their play as temporary. You ask what if your son wants to participate. Nhien said it's okay, as long as it respects the goal and doesn't take someone else's place. Bap added that whoever eats all the sponsored bread must keep a record.

At the end of the session, Ms. Hanh announced that someone would independently check the scoreboard. An felt relieved, but did not want to depend on the new device. The team sets up a manual scorebook, assigning two people to record and one person to compare after each round. Phong made a table model, adding a box to record the time of change. The table is simple, but enough so that no one has to believe a number that appears unexpectedly.

An looked at the captain's armband in Nhien's hand. She wasn't ready to accept it yet, but knew one day she would have to. Fear does not go away; it just has more ways to be named.

The team spent the afternoon trying out the disclosure process. Bap wrote a short article about the opening day of the yard, Tran checked the data, An checked the language, Nhien checked the image range. The article does not mention Thu Ha, does not call the scoreboard fraudulent, only says the team is learning how to score points by hand and how to report equipment errors. Ms. Hanh read and changed the sentence "the yard is at risk of being deleted" to "the yard is being considered by the council".

One person commented that the article was too cautious and did not attract attention. An replied that the team chose clarity instead of sensationalism. What if no one cares, you ask. Mai Chi writes that interest is not only measured by likes; People coming to clean the yard are also a form of concern. Bap plans to release the smiley icon, then select the hand icon.

Phong showed the team the scoreboard after changing the circuit. He tried entering fake scores, creating a situation where one person read it wrong and the other person corrected it. The score notebook must be kept with the electronic copy. Tran requested to add a column of people for comparison, Phong added a column of time. An asked if it was necessary to record shirt numbers if it was student data. Ms. Hanh said you can use the numbers in the game, but don't make them public outside of the report unless necessary.

Nhien met a female student in her junior class who wanted to participate but her parents wouldn't let her because they were afraid of injury. Nhien invited parents to watch the kick-off session, gave safety rules and a list of people on duty. She did not promise that their child would never be hurt, only that the team had a stop-and-report procedure. The parents didn't decide right away, but said it was the first time they saw a team respond with a plan, not with the words "just believe it."

An practices free throws while Bap reads fake noises. She missed the first five shots, then asked herself to stop to adjust her rhythm. She didn't try to redo it right away to make it look better. Nhien asked what she saw. An said that Mai Chi's hand was ready to receive, but she did not pass it. Ms. Hanh said so, try passing it next time.

At the end of the day, An writes down the names of those who will be present in the first match: the team, the referee, the technician, the operator, the scorekeeper and the unknown audience. She couldn't remember them all, but the roster reminded her that each game had more than six players.

Tran suggested adding the section "people who do not want their names recorded". The list became longer, but An agreed. They need to know the number of participants without turning it all into identifiable data. Bap makes two versions: the internal version has the code, the public version only has the total number of turns. Ms. Hanh checked, then told her not to use the internal version for the poster.

The school reporter asked An if she could take a picture of the captain's armband. An asked Nhien, Nhien agreed with the close-up photo but did not want to show her knees. Capture the right angle, send a preview. Nhien asked to fix the lighting because the ice color was redder than it actually was. Bap made it again without using a filter. An saw that a photo may take three times to ask, but each time asking makes the story more believable.

Mai Chi practices how to talk to the referee. She used to stay silent because she was afraid of being called argumentative, but Ms. Hanh taught her to keep her questions short, not to point fingers, and not to interrupt when the ball was alive. An plays the referee, Bap plays the jammer. Mai Chi clearly stated her mistake, waiting for a reply. The first time she spoke too softly, the next time it was loud enough to hear. Nhien commented that voice is also a sports skill.

Phong checked the basket net and saw a broken thread. He changed it before the match, recorded the materials and repair time. Mr. Vinh asked if he could use a cheaper one. Phong gave two samples, explaining durability and cost. The decision rests with the school, but your data helps make the decision not based on gut feeling.

An stood in the middle of the field, practicing looking at the marker, the space and the pass. She reminded herself that she doesn't need to throw every time. The ball was in her hand for a few seconds, then she passed it to Vy. Vy scored and turned around to say thank you. An replied, don't thank me for the pass; Please continue passing when someone is free.

Vy nodded and ran back to defend. An heard the sound of her friend's shoes hitting the field and knew the match had started before the whistle blew.

Bap wrote that sentence in his notebook but did not use it as a title. Bap said that a good sentence did not always need to be posted online. An agreed; There are sentences that just need to help the writer understand where he or she stands.

The training session ends with a no-look pass. Each person must call the recipient's name before the ball leaves their hands. The first time An made a wrong call, the ball rolled out to the boundary line. The whole team didn't laugh, just picked up the ball and did it again. On the third turn, she heard Vy call out very softly but at the right time, then pass into the open space. An caught, the feeling of trust in each other was not as loud as a shout; It's like a person daring to leave his position because he knows there's someone behind to fill it.

She called Vy's name again, this time just loud enough to hear.

Vy responded immediately.

An exhaled, then retreated to the correct position.