Age range 10+ From the mind of basketball legend and Academy Award-winning storytellerKobe Bryant comes this radically original portrait of five young basketballplayers, one enlightening coach, and the awesome transformative power ofthe game. Filled with insights about the mental stamina and emotional claritythat peak performance requires, this is an indispensable story for youngathletes, coaches, educators, and anyone interested in the astonishingpotential of team sports to unlock individual growth. THE GAME WILL NEVER BE THE SAME. Magic doesn't seem possible for the West Bottom Badgers. They're the lowest-rankedbasketball team in their league, and they live in the poorest neighborhood in Dren.Nobody expects them to succeed at anything. Plus, every kid on the team has secretstruggles of his own.When a new coach named Professor Wizenard arrives on the first day of trainingcamp, the Badgers can't explain the magical-seeming things they see and hear.

Everyplayer experiences unique and strange visions -- visions that challenge everything theythought they knew about basketball, and about their lives and their secrets off thecourt. To survive the increasingly intense ordeals of training, the Badgers will need totake unimaginable risks, learn to trust their teammates, and confront the darknesswithin themselves. 'The novel is unusual in structure and plot as readers experience the same incidents portrayed through different perspectives, each revealing another layer of the story.Solid, authentic basketball action with plenty of food for thought, coloured with elements of fantasy.' -- Kirkus.