Description of Main Character 2nd Entry

At the end of Danger Zone, Jim was a dynamic character. He was beside himself near the beginning when some basketball scouts introduced themselves to Jim and asked Jim if he would like to represent the U.S.A in a basketball world tournament for players 17 and under. He told them he couldn’t, and he tried to keep his mom from finding out because she would tell him he had to go, and she would operate the store all on her own.

His mom found out about it and told Jim he should definitely go. Jim reluctantly listened to his mom and told the scouts he would go. The U.S.A team consisted of ten players, and Jim was surprised to see that there are only 3 white players and 7 black players. At his first game with the team, Jim was very nervous because he had never played against or with anyone as good as him.

Later on in the story, Jim is terrified of someone coming to kill him and his team, because Augustus (One of the teammates of the U.S.A Teen Dream Team) picked a fight with a neo-Nazi during one of their games. The country of Rome (The location where the tournament was held) received threats of someone coming to kill the U.S.A team. Rome took every precaution to ensure the safety of the U.S.A team. The leader of Rome took the team to a safe location for them to stay. Jim was so paranoid he slept with the door locked, and made sure the window was locked, even though there were guards guarding the building where the team was sleeping.

As the book progresses, Jim became more comfortable playing basketball with his team and wasn’t so intimidated by other teams, though he was still paranoid about someone coming to kill him. One game when the police leap into the crowd, Jim freezes while he was in possession of the ball. The cops were just breaking up a fight, but it really spooked Jim. He played poorly for the rest of the game, but they still won that round. At the end, Jim and Augustus finally became friendly toward each other. (They hated each other at the beginning of the story)