Chapter 40
The Tournament
Cooper and Jackson arrived at the tournament site on time and set about getting ready for their match. The first thing was the check in process. They were no long Team Rico, they were now Lawson/Stewart. The format of the tournament was double elimination. That meant that after the first lost, they would go to the losers bracket. After the second lost they would be out of the tournament. Jackson looked at the numbers given to him and Coop. Jackson's number was 444 and Coop's was 443. Four for the fourth bracket. Four for the fourth pairing in that bracket and four for the fourth player in that pairing. There was four brackets in the tournament and each bracket had four pairings. That came out to thirty-two teams or five matches if you didn't lose any. Jackson started to attach his number to his tank top. That brought a smile to his face. Miley picked out and bought the tank tops and shorts herself. Jackson finished attaching his number and but his tank top on. He was ready. He was nervous. He was scared.
"Ready?" Cooper asked.
"Ready? Yeah."
"Nervous?"
"Scared to death."
"Why? This is just another tournament just like all the others."
"Yeah, but if we win, then we go to Colorado Springs."
"If we win J-man, we get to play another tournament."
"But its my dream. Ever since we got the invite. That's all I've been thinking about." Jackson put on the wrist sweat bands his mamow give him to wear for good luck.
"My mamow wear these when she was in the Olympics."
"Then we'll just have to see that they go back then. You think Miley and the others are here yet?" Coop tried to get Jackson's mind off of being nervous.
"You know, I asked Miley how she does it all the time. How she can get up there in front of all those people or in front of the cameras and not be nervous or scared. You know what she told me."
"No."
"She said that she is always nervous and scared before starting. But instead of being afraid of it, she uses it as a springboard. Thanks Coop. You really helped."
"Lawson and Stewart to warm up court twelve."
"Lets do this."
"Oh yeah…who…who…who…" The did their hand shake.
"Let's go win." They said together.
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Dr. Ryan came in early. She wanted to check on Maggie. She knew it was still to early to check the red blood cell count, but she did it anyways. Now she had to do what she hated to do the most. Wait.
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"Come on daddy! We have to find the court where Jackson's first match is at!"
"Settle down bud. We'll get there."
"Yeah I know, but we have to get a front row seat so he can see me."
"There's still a half hour before the start honey, we'll get there."
"Can we run ahead? Please?"
"Fine. Run ahead."
Miley grabbed Lilly and took off at a near run. Oliver, Zack and Cody looked at each other and quicken their pace. Robbie, Carey and Maddie kept on walking at a normal pace. They got to the court that Jackson and Cooper were to play at. They spotted Miley and the others easily. There was no one around them. The bleachers were just open to the public. Miley had picked seats out at center court. She made sure to be on the other side of the referee. Miley was looking at her watch when Robbie and the others were sitting down.
"Okay daddy, there's twenty-five minutes to the start of the match."
"I know. I told you we had plenty of time."
Miley just stared at him like he was crazy. Robbie just shook his head as he sat down.
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Cooper and Jackson started out by stretching. Once they were done with loosing up, they started working on their hitting. They started by serving back and forth to each other over the net. This was followed by working on sets and spikes. They finished with bumping the ball over the net to each other. Ten minutes before the start of the first match, an escort came and got them from the warm-up court. Cooper and Jackson quickly gathered up their equipment and walked behind the escort to the court where they were to play their first match. The crowd that was in the court started clapping when Cooper and Jackson, along with the other team, came into the court area and took their seats. Cooper and Jackson started looking for Miley and the others. Cooper found them first and pointed Jackson in the right direction. They both wave. Miley held up the sign that she had made in secret from Jackson. The butterflies turned into dragonflies.
"The Los Angeles Parks Department would like to welcome you to the U.S. Olympic Team Qualifier Tournament sponsored by the U.S. Olympic Committee. The winner of today's tournament will be qualified to compete for a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team in Colorado Springs in two months. This is a double elimination tournament with the championship match to be played at seven tonight. If a second match is needed, it will start one half hour after the complication of the first match. Everyone please raise for the playing of the National Anthem."
Everyone stood up and faced the flag as the music started to come from the speakers. People in the stands started to sing along with the National Anthem. Jackson did too. It only took a few seconds before Jackson could hear Miley's voice loud and clear as she sang out to the anthem. Hearing Miley's voice did what nothing else seem to do, his nerves finally relaxed.
Cooper and Jackson, Clark and Jones walked to the referee's stand at the net. Their the referee introduced the teams to each other and the line judges to the teams. Then he showed them a coin and asked Clark or Jones to call the toss. They called heads. It was heads. They choose to serve. As Miley watched, Cooper and Jackson chose the side of the court that was on Miley's right. The teams took the positions and the ball given to Clark to serve. The referee signal to the line judge on the right, then on the left. Next he checked with Cooper and Jackson and finally he checked with Clark and Jones. Satisfied, he blow his whistle and signaled for the serve.
Cooper and Jackson steadied their selves for the serve. Clark backed up, tossed the ball into the air and forward. He took several steps to catch up to the ball, jumped into the air and smashed his hand into the ball. The ball sailed speedily over the net. Cooper shifted to his left and took the serve. Jackson, moving from his right to left, followed the ball to the net and forward set the ball for Cooper. Meanwhile, after bumping the ball, Cooper, moving left to right, followed the ball to the net. Jackson give him the signal for a forward set. As the ball came down to Jackson, Cooper set his footing and cut back to the left at the last minute to take the set. After the serve, Jones moved towards Cooper's side of the court as the ball was bumped by Cooper. Clark moved up and covered the other side of the court. Clark and Jones responded to the movement of Cooper. As Cooper moved left to right, Jones dropped back to cover the backcourt and Clark move up to block the coming spike. Clark and Jones were caught in mid shift as Cooper cut strongly back to take the set from Jackson. Checking the position of the other players, Cooper saw his opening and dinked the ball over the net in front of Jones. Jones tried to change direction and dived at the ball. He got enough of the ball to send it sailing under the net at Cooper. Miley, Lilly, Helen and Maddie were up in an instant, cheering wildly. Lawson/Stewart – 1, Clark/Jones – 0. Game on.
The first game of the match was a game of settling in. Once all the nerves were worked out, Cooper and Jackson won 25 to 20. The second game of the match was more of a normal Cooper/Jackson game. They won that one 25 to 18. With that win, the first match was under their belt. The second match was also won in two games. The third match went three games. All three games were close. But in the end, Cooper and Jackson put the ball on the sand when it was needed. It wasn't that way for the fourth match. They lost a close first game 26-24. The second game they won 25-23. But the last game went into overtime. Overtime in volleyball meant you had to win by two points. Plus given the fact the third game is played to 15, made the final score amazing. But in the end, Cooper and Jackson lost 28-26.
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"It's okay guys. You play a great match." Miley told them as they came over to the stands.
"The good news is you get a forty-five minute break before your next match." Maddie told them.
"I'm exhausted." Cooper observed.
"Me too." Jackson agreed.
"Well, we have oranges, sports drinks and energy bars." Lilly offered.
"That sounds great!" Cooper answered.
"We'll meet you at the gate."
"Okay Jackson." Miley confirmed.
Cooper and Jackson went to finish gathering their gear. And our friends gathered their stuff up. Everyone meet at the gate and then headed for a picnic area where they could eat and rest.
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The morning test showed that the red blood cell count was dropping again.
Dr. Ryan check the time. It was at the extreme outside range to tell if the bone marrow transplant was working, but she ran the test again anyways.
"Dr. Ryan."
"Yes Sharon."
"I have the results of the tests."
"Lets see them."
Sharon walked over and handed the results to Dr. Ryan and returned to the lab. Dr. Ryan took a deep breath and open the folder and started to read. As she read, she let the breath out a small smile started to spread on her face. It may have not been the news she was looking for, but this held promise. The drop in the red blood cell count stopped. The count was basically the same as it this morning.
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The rest and food, but mostly the rest, had turned the trick for Cooper and Jackson. They were playing just as strong as they had in the earlier matches. Jackson took the ball, tossed it into the air and smashed his fist into it. The ball sailed over the net. Bell took the served and sent the ball towards the left side of the net. Bates got under the ball and made a middle set. Bell followed his bump to the net and slammed his fist into the ball. The ball split Cooper's out stretched arms. Jackson moved left, fall to his knees and dug the ball inches before the sand. The arch of the ball sent it into the net and Cooper dove at the ball and caught it on his fist sending it up into the air. Jackson was back on his feet after the dig and followed the ball after Cooper caught it from the net. At the same time, Bell position his self in front of where the ball was in the air and waited to jump up for the block. As Jackson near the spot of where the ball was in the air, he glanced at the positioning of Bell and Bates. Bell was taking the down the line shot and Bates had the back far corner. This left down the line of the net or a dink over the top of Bell's block. Jackson made his decision and jumped to meet the ball. Bell jumped at the same time too. Jackson twisted in the air and slammed the ball down and along the net. As the ball speeded its way down the line of the hit, it passed inches from the out stretched arms of Bell. The ball continued along its flight path and just cleared the net. Bates reacted to the hit as Jackson started to come down at a weird angle because of the shot he took. Bates dove for the ball as it flew for the sand and the out-of-bounds line. As Jackson came down, he was out of position and made first contact with the side of his foot. The weight of his body buckled his ankle and his foot rolled under his leg as he continued coming down onto the sand. The spike of pain escaped his mouth. The ball landed in the sand. They won the match and advanced to the championship game.