Fiona, Gina, and Tommy had just finished their third period at Woods High. The class was Basic Human Sexuality and it was definitely interesting to say the least. It's not every day that you go to school and end one of your classes with everyone, including the teacher, being bottomless. But as far-fetched as it sounded, that's the truth of what happened. The three friends were now on their way to their physical education period. When signing up for classes, all of them had elected to take basketball as their sport of choice.
"What do you think will happen in this class?" Tommy asked his two friends.
"I don't know now," Fiona said, "My guess is we should be ready for anything."
"I expect we'll be dribbling balls and shooting hoops but who knows." Gina joked.
The three friends entered the basket gym with their other classmates. There was about twenty or so other students who had elected to play basketball as well. They exchanged pleasantries amongst themselves as they waited for the coach to arrive.
After a few minutes the coach appeared from one of the other gym entrances. He was a very tall man in his late forties with a crew cut. He clearly worked out as he was cut and buff and filled out his polo shirt and cargo shorts very snugly. He had a mustache and carried a clip board.
"Welcome, newbies," He said, "I'm Coach Peterson and as you probably guessed, I'm the head basketball coach here at Woods High. It may take me a while but I do intend to learn all your names in under a month at most. Now who here has experience playing basketball before?" Most of the students raised their hands except for 2 or 3. Coach Peterson nodded approvingly.
"Good, good," He said, "That experience will be useful. We're going to have our first game televised for the first time ever in a few months. The founder of Woods High believes that broadcasting our games will bring more awareness and prestige to the school and I can't say I disagree."
"Wow, were gonna be televised during our first game?" Tommy said, "That's pretty neat."
"You bet it is," Coach agreed, "And believe me, folks are going to want to tune in to watch you play so we're going to focus hard on making sure we give it our best." As he was talking, another student wheeled out a cart that appeared to have folded jerseys on it.
"Ahh, good," the coach said as he saw the cart, "Our jerseys are unisex so they work for both guys and girls. I'll call you up and you pick one that's your size and I'll jot down the number. Before our first game we'll get your last names printed on the backs." One by one, students were given a choice of jersey and after a few minutes every player had one. Fiona was luckily able to get her favorite number, 23.
Next, Coach Peterson wheeled out a large TV. "Okay, before we warm up I'm gonna show you a clip from a game last year against one of our rival schools. I want you to pay close attention to these guys in particular because they play downright dirty." The students huddled together to get a good view of the TV.
The clip started at a basketball game in progress. One team, in the red Woods High jerseys was against a team in black jerseys, South Central High. A Woods player was dribbling and preparing to make a three-point shot when a SCH player came up from behind him and pants him; yanking his shorts down and causing him to trip and fumble the ball.
The next clip showed a similar scenario against the same team. A Woods High player was going in for a layup and another SCH player yanked their shorts down as they dribbled past. This time not only did Woods player's shorts get yanked, but their boxer came down a bit too and the player nosedived into the hardwood floor. Everyone watching the clip winced as they saw it.
"There you have it," Coach Peterson said, "That's the kind of unnecessary horse play South Central High likes to engage in."
"Uh coach?" Fiona said, "Isn't that against the rules of good sportsmanship?"
"Well ordinarily, yes," the coach agreed, "But that's in a normal league. THIS league is its own thing and hazing and pranking are allowed during games. I don't like it myself, but those are the rules we gotta work with."
Coach Peterson folded his arms as he paced back and forth in front of his new group of players. "Your goal is play a good game, my goal is to show you how and to keep you safe as best I can. While I cannot foresee every rotten trick that SCH might throw at us, Coach Langdon and I have come up with a strategy that will at the very least prevent what you just saw. And South Central High is not aware of it." The students looked at one another, confused as to what Coach Peterson might be getting at.
"First thing's first though, team," Peterson said, "Locker room is under renovations for a few more weeks due to a pipe bursting so you'll have to change into your jerseys for practice right here or over by the bleachers in the meantime. When it comes time to shower, Coach Haverford of the Baseball team was nice enough to allow us to use the community shower room in the adjacent building. It's not ideal but it's only for a few more weeks."
"Hey coach?" Gina asked, "Where do we grab the shorts that go with our jerseys?"
"That's the neat part," coach said, "There isn't going to be any shorts." The students looked around in disbelief at what their coach had just said.
"No shorts?" Fiona clarified.
"None," Coach Peterson responded firmly, "South Central High is going to have a real hard time pants-ing our players if we aren't wearing any in the first place."
"Yeah but can't they just yank our drawers down too?" Tommy asked.
"They're aren't going to be 'drawers' either." Coach said, "You got your jerseys, your gym socks, and your athletic shoes. Ladies, you have your sports bras if you so choose to wear one; your call on that."