Secret Weapon
Authors: Matt Christopher
To Tracy van Straaten
Text copyright © 2000 by Catherine M. Christopher
Illustrations copyright © 2000 by Daniel Vasconcellos
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including
information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may
quote brief passages in a review.
First eBook Edition: December 2009
Hachette Book Group
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New York, NY 10017
Visit our website at
www.HachetteBookGroup.com
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental
and not intended by the author.
ISBN: 978-0-316-09431-3
| Lou Barnes | Striker |
| Jerry Dinh | Striker |
| Stookie Norris | Striker |
| Dewey London | Halfback |
| Bundy Neel | Halfback |
| Amanda Caler | Halfback |
| Brant Davis | Fullback |
| Lisa Gaddy | Fullback |
| Ted Gaddy | Fullback |
| Alan Minter | Fullback |
| Bucky Pinter | Goalie |
| Subs: | |
| Jason Shearer | |
| Dale Tuget | |
| Roy Boswick | |
| Edith “Eddie” Sweeny |
Contents
L
isa Gaddy glanced at the scoreboard. 4–0. That would be a great score—if it were in favor of the Soccer ’Cats. But it wasn’t.
The Panthers were ahead and there were only ten minutes left in the game.
Lisa was miserable. At least one of those goals was her fault. As a fullback, she usually took the throw-ins after an opponent
sent the ball over the side touchline near her. But Lisa wasn’t very tall, and her throw-ins often fell short of their mark.
One time, the Panther center striker had easily snagged the ball and
sent it rocketing past Bucky Pinter into the goal. Now, anytime Lisa got ready for a throw-in, the Panther striker yelled
to his teammates to crowd around her as close as they could.
For the moment, she was safe. The ball was at the other end of the field. She tried to concentrate on what was happening.
“Come on, Jerry! Come on, Lou!” she yelled to the ’Cats strikers. “Send it into the net!”
But neither Jerry Dinh nor Lou Barnes did that. Instead, a Panther fullback kicked the ball long and high, sending it back
to midfield.
Halfback Dewey London charged forward to meet it. So did a tall Panther striker. The two battled for the ball. The striker
won. With a swift kick she sent it to a teammate, who dribbled quickly down the sideline.
Bundy Neel tried to steal the ball away, but the Panther dodged him and headed straight toward the goal.
“Okay, let’s stop ‘em!” shouted Brant Davis, another fullback. He rushed the ball handler. The Panther panicked and made a
lousy kick across the field. Lisa and another Panther tried to stop the ball, but it bounced harmlessly over the sideline.
“Lisa, take the throw-in!” Ted called to his sister. Lisa started toward the ball.
“No, let Alan take it!” a voice interrupted. Lisa stopped short. It was Stookie Norris, the third ’Cats striker. “Go on, Alan!”
“But Lisa’s closest —,” Alan started to say.
“Just take it, Alan!” Stookie shouted. Alan gave Lisa an apologetic look, then hurried to the sideline to accept the ball
from the referee. With a swift over-the-head throw, he hurled the ball as far as he could. Stookie caught it cleanly against
his chest and dribbled furiously toward the Panthers’ goal.
Lisa took a few steps down the field, then stopped. Alan stopped alongside her.
“Uh, sorry about that, Lisa,” Alan said, pushing his glasses higher up on his nose.
Lisa forced a grin. “Don’t worry about it.” Without another word, she ran back into position as play shifted away from the
Panthers’ goal.
Darn that Stookie
! she thought.
Just because my throw-ins don’t go as far as Alan’s, that’s no reason for me not to take them
!
Or was it? How would she have felt if her throw-in had been captured by a Panther instead of a ’Cat? Though she was quick
and wiry, she was a few inches shorter than most of her teammates, even her twin brother, Ted. Unless she could add two inches
to her height overnight, her throw-ins would never go very far.
And suddenly that seemed to be a very big problem.
T
he game ended a few minutes later. Weary and disappointed at the loss, the ’Cats were quiet as they gathered their gear. All
Coach Bradley said was that they had a lot to work on at practice the next afternoon.
Ted and Lisa walked home together. Lisa was silent until Ted jabbed her in the ribs.
“Give you a dollar if you tell me what you’re thinking about,” Ted said.
Lisa snorted. “As if you didn’t know.”
She was right. Most of the time, her twin brother knew exactly what she was thinking.
“Okay,” Ted said, “so a couple of your throw-ins weren’t that good. Big deal. You weren’t the only one who made mistakes today.”
Lisa kicked a pebble. “I know. But what if the other teams learn I’m lousy at throw-ins?” She kicked the pebble again. “Maybe
I should just stop taking them. Stookie sure thinks I should.”
Ted shook his head. “Stookie’s wrong. If you’re nearest to the ball when the other team sends it over the touchline, it’s
up to you to take the throw-in. Otherwise, the referee might think we’re trying to delay the game for some reason.”
Lisa knew Ted was right. In soccer, unlike most other sports, the time clock was never stopped, not even when the ball went
out of bounds. When the ball did go over the side boundary, it had to be put back into play as soon as possible, or else time
was wasted. The person taking the throw-in had to move fast.
That wasn’t all. There were rules about how the ball was thrown. The player had to face the field when throwing, and his or
her feet couldn’t cross the touchline. At least part of each foot had to be planted on the ground when the ball was being
thrown —no jumping up or running back and forth. And the ball had to be thrown with both hands from behind and over the head.
You couldn’t chuck it one-handed like a baseball, or toss it up underhanded.
Sometimes, Lisa worried that she wasn’t going to do the throw-in right. That’s when her throw-ins were the weakest. But how
could she help that?
Once again, Ted seemed to read her mind.
“Coach Bradley said we’ve got a lot to work on tomorrow. Maybe throw-ins will be on the list. We’ll probably do them over
and over until we know just where and how to position ourselves perfectly.” He grinned at his
sister. “So quit your worrying and get ready to race me home! On your mark, get set, GO!”
With a peal of laughter, Ted took off. Lisa pounded after him. All thoughts left her mind except one: winning!
D
inner that night was lasagna with buttered bread and crunchy salad. Lisa and Ted devoured everything on their plates, then
helped their parents clean the kitchen. Since it was summer, they were allowed to either play outside for an hour or watch
television until bedtime.
Unless it was raining out, they always played outside. At the start of summer, their father had brought home a big surprise—a
huge trampoline! When Mrs. Gaddy raised her eyebrows, Mr. Gaddy had just shrugged.
“I always wanted one when I was a kid,” he confessed. “And Lisa is so good at gymnastics I bet she’ll love it.” He was right
about that. Lisa had been taking tumbling and gymnastics since she was four.