The Ice Cream Shooter — Frank Rodgers

The story deals with a seven-year-old kid -- Ice Cream -- who has a marvelous talent. He fantasized about becoming a professional basketball free throw shooter when he becomes older in life. When young Ice Cream attended first grade elementary school, he could not stay focused on his schoolwork because his mind was always on shooting free throws all the time. While in class, he decided to use some of his clean notebook paper and ball it up to a paper ball, and he started shooting it into the trash can that was near his desk. While class was going on, three of his classmates (Fats, Range, and Deep) who were sitting near him saw Ice Cream shooting the paper balls, and they were very amazed how young Ice Cream was making those shots in the trash can. Fats, Range, and Deep decided to follow Ice Cream and did the same thing -- shooting paper balls in the same trash can. They all were shooting together in class, trying not to let their teacher, Mrs. Hoops, catch them shooting the paper balls. At the same time, there were four girls in the class -- Good Pass, Block, Dunk, and Set Shot -- who saw Ice Cream, Fats, Range, and Deep, and the four girls loved the way the boys were shooting the paper balls, making shot after shot in the trash can. As the years went by, all eight of them became close friends, and the four girls followed Ice Cream, Fats, Range, and Deep all the time, through good times and bad times, going to practices, shooting at events, and going to local basketball courts. They all attended the same high school and college together. When Ice Cream, Fats, Range, and Deep became older adults, their dream of becoming the top four professional free throw shooters to represent the United States Olympic Free Throw Shooting tournament team came true, and they advanced to the national championship title free throw shooting game to represent their country.