Toby Wheeler 8th Grade Benchwarmer

  One important conflict in the book is friendship. In the beginning of the book Toby was really close to his best friend JJ. Then JJ started hanging out with his new friends, Stephen and Valerie, and started spending less time with Toby.Whenever JJ was with Stephen and Valerie, he would act like a jerk to Toby. Soon JJ barely hung out with Toby. Since JJ barely spent any time with him, Toby decided to join the school basketball team since JJ was already on it. When Toby joined the team, JJ hardly ever spoke to Toby during practices and games. At the end of the book Toby and JJ became friends again. 

  Another important conflict in the book is parents pressuring kids to do good in sports. In the book JJ's dad pressures him to do good in basketball. He made JJ practice all the time and watch tapes of games when he was not practicing. Whenever JJ had a bad game, his father would yell at him and make him watch tapes of old games. The pressure eventually led to JJ quitting basketball and leaving the team. At the end of the book JJ came back to the team and helped them win the championship.