Full Court Fever

"Full Court Fever" tells the story of Michael Mancino and his friends on the seventh-grade basketball team, who are facing a dismal season because although these are good shooters, they are also short. Their coach teaches them how to box out to get rebounds, but the teams they play have kids tall enough to just reach over and grab the missed shots. Then Michael and his friends discover some old issues of "Sports Illustrated" that explain the full-court press than U.C.L.A. used to win back-to-back N.C.A.A. championships in 1964-1965, the first in the storied career of the Wizard of Westwood, John Wooden. The Bruins did not have a player taller that 6-5, but by working a full-court press and being in better condition, they won. Michael and his friends decide to practice the U.C.L.A. press and see if it can help them.Consequently, "Full Court Fever" is exactly the type of juvenile sports story we have come to expect from Fred Bowen, where the point is to teach the kids who read this book a lesson about a particular sport, in this case basketball. If there is a sport where kids need to learn the right way to play the game, then that is basketball, when dunking the ball is more important than playing defense, learning to shoot, knowing how to block out, and all the other things that win games put together. Bowen always accomplishes this by using real world examples, with "The Real Story" provided in the back of the book with accompanying photographs. Of course, if you are trying to teach a lesson about basketball, there is nobody better to learn from than John Wooden (the first man to be in the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach), and this particular lesson can certainly provide results, although obviously a coach who understands the principles of this or any other press would be helpful. A subplot in this book involves Dikembe Obiku, a new seventh-grader from Nigeria who is taller than most of the teachers and who could be the "big man" the teams so desperately wants. But while Dikembe likes to play ball and played forward or center on his team back home, he is, of course, talking about soccer and not basketball. It reminds me of a short story I read a long time ago about a high school basketball team that lacked a big man when a 7-foot student suddenly showed up at the school. The joke was that he was from France, and was a very good skier, but he joins the team and sits on the bench for the big game. The other team keeps looking at him and in the final minute of a close game he comes on the court and the other team falls apart. But Bowen has a more realistic goal for Dikembe to play in the climax this story. However, I was surprised the Bowen did not point out that some of NBA basketball stars at center who started out in life playing lots of soccer (e.g., Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon), developed the hand-foot coordination that helped them become great shot blockers, because that is another less worth learning (esp

Full Court Fever was a good book. I did it for a book report, so that kind of ruined it. I'm here because I was looking for a summary and I saw this. The plot is good. The Falcons seventh grade basketball team can't win a game becuase of a lack of big men. Then Mike, a Falcons player, discoveriers the Full Court Press used by UCLA, who won a championship with it! The 7-grade Falcons beat thier biggest rivals in the end, the eigth-graders.