SuitabookStarting Eleven
Bali Rai
- Reading
- Use the transition from selection to matches to compare the characters’ changing circumstances. Discuss what the coach’s new players might add to the team, while keeping the outcome of the matches open.
- Themes
- Selection and belonging: Dal, Chris, Abs and Jason want places in the local under-elevens squad. Dal’s concern highlights the personal effect that different selection outcomes could have on the friends. The situation gives room to consider how selection affects belonging, but the story’s judgement about the process is not clear.
- Teamwork and sporting success: Once the team is picked, the players have to perform on the pitch and try to win. The coach’s surprise new players mean that the team’s membership changes again. Sporting achievement is an explicit goal, but the balance between winning, cooperation and personal growth remains open.
- Worth knowing
- Consider how the team’s changing membership might affect its preparations and matches.