by Theo Walcott
TJ took a couple of steps. His thigh hurt, but it wasn’t too bad. ‘I’ll carry on,’ he said. ‘But I don’t think I can run very far. Or very fast.’
‘We can beat them anyway,’ Rafi said. ‘Even if they do cheat.’
‘Are you sure you’re OK, TJ?’ his mum called anxiously from the touchline. TJ nodded.
‘Don’t worry,’ said Marshall, who had come to stand beside TJ’s dad. ‘If Johnny says he’s OK, then he is.’
Marshall had taken his hat off and some of the Hillside supporters had recognized him and were waving and pointing from the opposite touchline.
Krissy Barton was staring at Marshall with her mouth open. ‘That’s Marshall Jones,’ she said to Tulsi. ‘Has he been helping you?’
‘He’s Mr Wood’s friend, that’s all,’ Tulsi said. ‘And he’s one of our supporters,’ she added proudly.
‘Johnny?’ said TJ’s dad. ‘Johnny Wood? It’s been bothering me. I’ve seen him somewhere before, but I just don’t know where.’
‘Are you a Wanderers fan?’ Marshall asked him. ‘Well . . .’
TJ didn’t hear the rest because the whistle blew and the game restarted. Rafi was right. Even without TJ’s runs, Parkview began to overpower the Hillside team. The ball flew from player to player so fast that the Hillside players were left chasing shadows. They couldn’t get near the ball, and now it was the Parkview supporters who began to chant ‘Olé’. But all the passing wasn’t getting them any nearer to the Hillside goal because all of the Hillside players had fallen back, blocking the way, determined not to be beaten.
Then Rodrigo passed the ball out to TJ. He hobbled towards it, and touched it forward with his left foot. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Mrs Singh looking at her watch. He had to do something quickly, or it would be all over. And then he saw his chance. Tulsi had pulled away to the right, taking a defender with her, but now she was running in again, towards the goal.
TJ took one more touch. He had to hit it now, but he was going to have to use his left foot. His right leg wasn’t much use for anything but standing on. He remembered practising in the garden and he pictured to himself just how he wanted to strike the ball. He used the outside of his foot to make it curl past the defenders – and it was a perfect pass! He held his breath as Tulsi raced forward and blasted the ball into the net.
The crowd went wild. Tulsi turned with her arms high in the air and a huge smile on her face. Then she ran to TJ and whacked him on the back so hard it almost made him forget the pain in his leg.
‘That was just brilliant, TJ! It was the best goal I’ve ever scored.’
The Hillside players looked miserable as they kicked off. They knew there was no time left for them to come back and sure enough, just seconds later, Mrs Singh blew the whistle for the end of the game.
TJ shook hands with Slim, as the Parkview supporters cheered and the dinner ladies threw their pom-poms into the air. Mr Coggins was doing a crazy dance with Miss Berry and TJ hoped he wouldn’t hurt himself.
Slim gave a rueful grin. ‘Great hat-trick,’ he said. ‘But next time, we’ll be ready for you.’
TJ’s dad ran onto the pitch and clapped him on the back. ‘Brilliant,’ he said. ‘That was even better than watching Wanderers! It was amazing!’
TJ’s mum pushed his dad out of the way and gave TJ a big, embarrassing kiss, but he was too excited to care. ‘Look!’ he said. ‘The whole school must be here. Even Mr Burrows looks pleased.’
‘So he should,’ Tulsi’s mum said. ‘Lots of people are congratulating him but none of this would have happened without Mr Wood. Why, Mr Burrows wanted to ban football a couple of weeks ago.’
‘I want to see Mr Wood,’ TJ’s dad said. ‘Where is he?’
‘Over there,’ TJ said.
On the other side of the pitch, Mr Wood was talking to Mrs Singh and the Hillside team while Marshall chatted to them, and their mums and dads took photos with their phones. Mr Wood waved goodbye and walked back towards them.
‘It’s a bit sad,’ Tulsi said. ‘Getting all excited like that just because Marshall is famous.’
TJ stared at her. ‘You were exactly the same,’ he said.
‘No I wasn’t.’
‘Hey,’ said Mr Wood. ‘No more arguments! Not after a performance like that. They’re a nice bunch,’ he said, waving again as the minibus pulled away. ‘But they’re not used to losing.’
‘You used to play for Wanderers,’ TJ’s dad said to him. ‘Why didn’t you tell us? I knew I’d seen you before.’
‘I was just a kid,’ Mr Wood said. ‘Marshall was my best mate. We weren’t much older that this lot here when we first met. And if you saw me play for the first team, you were one of the only ones. I only ever played two games before I got injured and decided to be a teacher.’
‘And it’s a good job for you lot that he did,’ Marshall said, putting an arm around Mr Wood. ‘Now you have a football team at last. Not to mention a pitch and a whole load of happy supporters.’
All the people who were standing nearby cheered, and Janice the dinner lady planted a wet kiss on Mr Wood’s cheek.
‘If only the school wasn’t falling to bits,’ said TJ’s mum. ‘It’s a real shame. It doesn’t seem fair.’
‘We can fix it,’ said Rafi’s dad, ‘just like we fixed the pitch.’
‘He’s right!’
‘It’s true!’
‘Listen,’ Marshall said. ‘You know the best thing about today? It was great that TJ came from nowhere and scored a terrific hat-trick . . .’ Everyone applauded and TJ felt hot and pleased at the same time. ‘And Tulsi’s winner was spectacular. But the best thing was the way you played like a real team. Rodrigo was a great captain. He always stayed calm. Tommy and Jamie stopped almost everything in the second half, and when someone did get past, Danny made that fantastic save. And Rafi was everywhere!’
Everyone laughed again when he said that, and suddenly TJ heard Rob’s voice. ‘I think Rafi ran nearly two kilometres,’ he said. ‘I can’t be exact. There was a lot going on.’
‘Ah, Rob,’ said Mr Wood. ‘Our chief scout and master tactician! Come out here, Rob.’
Rob emerged from the crowd with his dad. His dad was just like him, small, with glasses and the same curly hair.
‘It was Rob who said I should bring TJ out of goal,’ Mr Wood said. ‘Every great manager needs a great assistant!’
Rob turned bright red.
‘Thanks, Rob,’ TJ whispered.
‘You see what I mean?’ continued Marshall. ‘You’ve got a great team here. Look at the work you all did to get this pitch ready to play on. If you can do that together, then I reckon there’s nothing you can’t do!’
There was an enormous cheer. Even Mr Burrows was clapping, and TJ suddenly realized that he looked a lot younger. He wasn’t actually old at all. It was just the lines of worry on his face that made him look that way. Even Mrs Logan seemed a little less scary as she gazed admiringly at Marshall.
Maybe they could make the school better, TJ thought. It was funny how it seemed like a different place already, now that they all had something to celebrate together. And this was just the beginning. Marshall and Mr Wood had been like him once. There must have been a time when they’d played for the first time, maybe on a pitch just like this one. And, for both of them, a day had come when they had run out in front of forty thousand cheering fans to play for Wanderers for the first time . . .
It could be me, he thought.
One day, it could be me.
A NOTE FROM THEO
When I was younger my nickname was TJ and like the character in my book I didn’t begin playing football seriously until I was ten years old. Just seven years later when I was 17 I was called up for the England squad for the World Cup in Germany!
Me and my friends were really lucky at school. We had a PE teacher who always helped us and was always on our side. He was a bit like Mr Wood in the story. There are bits of me in the story too . . .
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Keep playing and practising!
Who knows what might happen to you – maybe you will get the chance to play for your country some day!
Theo Walcott
A special thanks to Caroline McAteer and Pippa Hancock from The Sports PR Company and Jonathan Harris from Luxton Harris Ltd
About the Author
THEO WALCOTT was born on 16th March 1989 and grew up near Newbury. After joining the youth scheme at Southampton, he became the Saints’ youngest ever player, before joining Arsenal in January 2006.
Following Theo’s surprise selection in Sven-Göran Eriksson’s World Cup squad, Theo set another record in making his England debut at the age of just 17 years and 75 days, and was named the BBC’s Young Sports Personality of the Year in 2006.
Theo is now a star player for both Arsenal and England and in September 2008 became the youngest player to score a hat-trick for England.
Also by Theo Walcott
T.J. AND THE PENALTY
T.J. AND THE CUP RUN
T.J. AND THE WINNING GOAL
T.J. AND THE HAT-TRICK
AN RHCP DIGITAL EBOOK 978 1 407 07794 9
Published in Great Britain by RHCP Digital,
an imprint of Random House Children’s Publishers UK
A Random House Group Company
This ebook edition published 2012
Copyright © Theo Walcott, 2010
Illustrations copyright © Jerry Paris, 2010
First Published in Great Britain
Corgi Childrens 9780552562454 2010
The right of Theo Walcott to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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