Double Teamed

**Double Teamed**is a 2002 Disney Channel Original Movie based on the life stories of professional basketball players Heather and Heidi Burge. The film aired on the Disney Channel on January 18, 2002 and was released on VHS, but is now out of print.

## Plot

In 1985, twins Heather and Heidi Burge are forced by their overly-pushu father to leave their former school and attend a different school to have better chances at college scholarships. Heidi, however, tended to think that she was athletically inferior to Heather, and in an attempt to get out of Heather's shadow, she joined in a school play.

Heather and Heidi are both attending the school to play volleyball rather than basketball, but the girls' basketball coach notices Heather because of her height. She seizes this opportunity to play basketball to help her train for the coming volleyball season. Heather meets Nicky Williams, the star of the Palos Verdes High School Sea Kings. Heidi in the meantime, learns that her father told the coach that both of the girls would play on the basketball team, despite the fact that Heidi had already committed to performing in a school play.

Heather and Heidi are both furious over the situation - Heather because she didn't want Heidi on the team and Heidi because she thought Heather put their father up to it. Heidi wanted to be independent of Heather and pursue her own interests.

When the twins first start playing for the Sea Kings, they leave a bad impression on the team by lying and implying that they are rich like many of their teammates. Heather and Nicky form a serious rivalry and Nicky even tries to run the Burge twins out of school by telling the school about the Burges' living situation.

They both eventually befriend Nicky when they see that her father is too pre-occupied with business to attend her basketball games. At their first tournament in New York, they win second, and Heather wins MVP. However, in another game, Heidi is selected to take the game winning free throws. This makes Heather, the usual star, extremely jealous, so she later plays a late-night one-on-one game with Galen, a senior basketball star who lives in their apartment complex. While playing, Heather falls and severely twists her ankle, which prevents her from playing their next game. During that next game, while she's sitting out, Heather sees the need for teamwork rather than the need to be the "superstar" and decides to play again despite being injured. Her effort is rewarded, and with some clever teamwork, they win the game.

After the game, their coach approaches the twins and their parents, Mary and Larry Burge, and tells Mr. and Mrs. Burge they should consider putting the girls in summer basketball camps, saying they have a very bright future. Mr. Burge proudly says that his girls are going to play college ball - but the coach says, "Maybe more. There's talk of a women's pro-league." Mr. Burge also apologises for putting so much pressure on Heather and for forcing Heidi to play basketball in the first place. They forgive him. Mr. Burge says that Heidi has plans for a summer at a drama camp, which pleases her and reveals how important it is to be well-rounded.

A clip of the future is then shown, and both Burge twins are playing on professional WNBA teams. Heidi plays for the Los Angeles Sparks and Heather plays for the Sacramento Monarchs. Heather and Heidi talk before the game, and Heather says "Once second best, always second best." The game begins with a tipoff and they both jump for the ball.

In reality, the sisters' time in the WNBA did not overlap and they never faced each other in a WNBA game.

## Cast

* Poppi Monroe as Heather Burge
* Annie McElwain as Heidi Burge
* Teal Redmann as Nicky Williams
* Nick Searcy as Larry Burge
* Tanya Goott as Madison Stricklin
* Joey Miyashima as Wendall Yoshida
* Mackenzie Phillips as Mary Burge
* Chris Olivero as Galen Alderman
* Tammi Reiss as Volleyball Coach (Reiss was the Burge twins' teammate at University of Virginia)

## Reception

A reviewer for the Sun-Sentinel gave a mixed review for Double Teamed, saying it was "paint-by-the-numbers" but that the "happy, Disney-style ending is a slam-dunk."