Atlantis United

by Gerard Siggins

  He was bored by the testing and measuring, and while he was prepared to give the gymnastics a go, what he wanted more than anything was to kick a football again. And kick it hard.

  Chapter 20

  Joe got his wish a lot quicker even than he had hoped. The gymnastics session was brilliant, once you got used to balancing on a narrow wooden plank in a moving submarine island. But the floor was cushioned so nobody did themselves any harm.

  The coach, Anna, told them that some of the toughest sports-people she had ever met were gymnasts, and that they trained their bodies to be both hard and flexible – able to withstand enormous pressures, but also able to move quickly and gracefully.

  ‘This is the very best sport for boys and girls who want to be good at other sports,’ she explained. ‘Every day you are on this island, and for long after you leave it, you should practise some of the drills I am going to show you. It will stand to you.’

  Anna was always encouraging and positive, and the morning flew by as they stretched, tumbled, balanced and cavorted. She taught them the safest way to fall, and how to roll head over heels and spring back instantly into action. Every drill was accompanied with a suggestion how each could be worked into other sports.

  ‘That was fantastic,’ said Craig as he towelled the sweat out of his hair. ‘I didn’t think gymnastics could be so tough.’

  After lunch Luce introduced them to another new coach, although this one looked nothing like a sportsman. He was much older than the other adults on the island, with long grey hair tied in a ponytail, and small, round glasses. He wasn’t wearing one of the brightly-coloured tracksuits either, instead he wore a tweed suit, which clashed horrendously with a pair of expensive gold trainers he wore on his feet.

  ‘My name is Professor Kossuth,’ he started, ‘and I am going to coach you in football, particularly in one important aspect of football. My speciality is association football, although you will find application for my theories in rugby, Australian, Gaelic, Canadian and American types of football too.

  ‘My life’s work has been on the mechanics of kicking a ball. There are fascinating physical forces at work and my theories will help you kick the ball harder and faster, thus giving you those extra micro-seconds needed to beat even the best goalkeepers.’

  He started to explain the forces that were involved in just kicking a ball, but Joe’s brain just fogged over as the professor started to draw equations on the whiteboard. He listened out for the words, choosing to ignore the numbers, and learned that the surface of a soccer ball goes flat for one-hundredth of a second when a foot connects with it.

  The professor posed the students a question: ‘Right, who kicks the ball faster, a person who is big and tall, or a small, short person?’

  Jess’s hand shot up. ‘The tall person. Their legs are longer, so they would get a bigger swing.’

  The professor smiled and wiped the whiteboard clean. He scribbled away for a minute or so before addressing the class.

  ‘This formula shows the velocity of a 20 metres-per second kick by an adult who weighs 100kg, and this shows that for a 60kg person. The bigger person’s kick results in the ball travelling at a velocity of 32.7 metres per second, while the shorter player’s kick is 31.9.’

  ‘But in the real world those two players would not kick at the same velocity as their legs would weigh differently. So the smaller player, putting in the same effort, would have a higher leg velocity.

  ‘However, if the short player’s leg velocity were to get up to 28 metres per second, the ball would shoot off at 45 metres per second, a huge increase over the taller player.

  ‘And that is why, rather than trying to bulk you up, we will be working on increasing your leg speed…’

  The students were a bit stunned by the professor’s conclusions – at least those who could understand them – but he continued with his theories.

  ‘One thing that always irritates me watching football is the player who kicks with a huge follow-through. What you must remember is that the follow-through adds nothing to the velocity of the kick – the ball has already gone so that energy is wasted.

  ‘We must concentrate on getting you into a position so you use as much energy as you can on that one-hundredth of a second when you actually make contact with the ball, not on what comes after. Although kicking without some follow-through is impossible, of course.’

  The professor explained a few more of his theories, but said he would save the explanations for another day.

  ‘I can see a lot of this is very difficult for you to understand, as you don’t begin to study physics in school until you are two or three years older. But I will try to keep it simple and show you how to put these ideas into practice.’

  He brought the group down the corridor to a room covered with an artificial grass surface. He took a sack of footballs out of the cupboard and tossed one to each of the kids.

  ‘Joe, you are the one who came here as the soccer player. You show us all how best to kick the ball.’

  Joe gulped. He placed the ball on ground and steadied himself into a comfortable position. He swung his left leg back and smacked the ball as best he could.

  ‘Not bad at all,’ said the Professor. ‘You have kicked with the correct part of your foot and made contact with the correct area of the ball, and they are two of the most important points. But your head position was all wrong, and the angle with which you swung your leg. If that were a match and you were standing on the penalty spot, that shot would go approximately one-point-three metres wide…’

  Chapter 21

  Joe was fascinated by what Professor Kossuth had taught them, and after lessons were over for the day he returned to the practice room to test out everything he had learned.

  He liked the feel of kicking a soccer ball again, and it reminded him of home, and the countless hours he spent doing the same thing against the back wall. He thought about his mum and dad and how much he missed them. The house would be a quieter place now, especially with no-one smacking a ball off the wall.

  He was disturbed from his daydream by a knock on the door, followed by Luce popped her head inside.

  ‘Great to see you putting the Professor’s theories into practice,’ she grinned. ‘But you really need to come to the canteen for dinner. We’re going on an adventure as soon as you’ve eaten.’

  Joe followed Luce to where the rest of his friends were already tucking into a tasty pasta dish.

  ‘Hurry up, Joe,’ urged Ajit. ‘The captain says we can come to join him on the bridge as soon as dinner is over.’

  Joe hated rushing food, but his friends all stared at him as he chewed every morsel. When he had eaten about half his meal he pushed the plate away, saying he wasn’t hungry.

  The four others rushed out the door, followed by Joe who had detoured to the buffet to pocket an energy bar for later.

  ‘I wonder are we under water or on the surface?’ mused Kim as they waited outside the door of the bridge, from where the submarine was run.

  ‘I think we’re submerged,’ said Craig. ‘It’s always runs a tiny bit smoother when we’re under water.’

  Joe shrugged. ‘I never notice either way. It’s amazing how little you can feel the island moving.’

  As soon as Luce joined them the door opened and a man in a uniform answered.

  ‘Ah, the students. Come in, come in, you’re just in time to see the really fun part of this job.’

  ‘I hope it’s more fun than his efforts at dinner last night,’ whispered Kim.

  Joe and Jess struggled to fight back their sniggers, and Luce gave them a dirty look.

  ‘Right,’ she snapped. ‘Please sit down on this bench here and remain quiet. The captain and his team have an important job to do and need to devote their full concentration. He will talk to you when he decides it is necessary, so no questions until the end.’

  And with that she sat down, and the five children followed her. It was only then that Joe got a chance to take i
n what was in the room – mostly screens and control panels – but he suddenly felt over-powered by the giant window that covered one wall. Joe stared at it, and realised they were definitely underwater and the island was moving past a shoal of fish.

  ‘Whoooa!’ he gasped. ‘It looks like a giant fish tank!’

  ‘Except we’re the tiny things looking out, and that’s the vast ocean looking in at us,’ smiled the captain.

  The students were transfixed by the mysterious world outside the window and pointed out the different sea creatures to each other as they drifted past.

  ‘We are now approximately fifteen kilometres off the north coast of Barbados, which is in the Caribbean Sea, and we intend to surface shortly. We will stay a good distance off-shore, but we have several good friends on Barbados who will ensure our stay is safe and we can restock supplies. We will also be taking on a new member of staff, who Luce can tell you about.’

  ‘Yes, I suppose this is as good a time as any to tell you. We’ve been studying Ajit’s numbers and we reckon he could be as good a bowler as a batsman in cricket. And as an all-rounder is a particularly valuable member of a team we have decided to recruit a coaching specialist from the home of the great West Indies batsmen and fast-bowlers. You may not recognise this gentleman, Ajit, but your father surely will.

  ‘We won’t be concentrating on your cricket for a while yet Ajit, maybe not till next year, but the rest of you will get a chance to learn the game and work on some skills. And there’s no better place to do that than under a Caribbean sun.’

  The captain raised his arm. ‘Thank you, Luce. And now I will ask you all to resume your seats and hold on to the arm rests in case you get thrown about on surfacing.’

  The children all sat back down and held on as the island rose through the water.

  ‘Here we are, we’re fifty metres from the surface,’ said the captain, pointing at a counter upon which the number was getting smaller by the second.

  The water was rushing past the window, and a couple of fish came up close to the glass as Joe watched the counter race past 25… 20… 15….

  ‘Hold tight!’ called the captain, as the island began to lurch in the waves. The top of the cliffs broke the surface first, and those looking out the window just below it got a good view of the dramatic scene as the water rushed away and the cliffs shot into the air above the blue Caribbean.

  Joe waited until the island had stopped surfacing before stepping over to view their new location. The cliffs were facing north, away from Barbados, but he was able to see the island on the screens thanks to cameras which were pointed in its direction.

  He was astonished at how blue the sea looked; the sky was an even more vivid shade of the colour.

  ‘How long are we staying here?’ Craig asked Luce.

  ‘Perhaps three or four days. We have maintenance to do, and we need to restock our larder. But as it is such a beautiful place it would be good for you to get outdoors and recharge your own batteries and stocks of Vitamin D.’

  ‘Cool,’ grinned Jess. ‘When we were on the boat in the middle of the night in Clew Bay last week, the last place I thought we were going was a Caribbean sun holiday.’

  ‘The bad news, however, is that it is almost sundown and you won’t have time for a swim before night falls. So, dig your swimsuits out of the wardrobe and have them all set for tomorrow. You will have classes as normal in the morning, but you can take the afternoon off…’

  The kids cheered wildly as they left the room.

  ‘This is like when it snows at home and they give us a day off school,’ grinned Joe.

  ‘Only now we don’t have to sit indoors shivering and watching cartoons on TV,’ laughed Jess.

  Chapter 22

  ‘I know we’re getting a half-day, but it’s a real pain to be stuck in here listening to Professor Kossuth when the sun is beating down outside,’ grumped Craig over breakfast.

  ‘He sent a message saying we were to wear game kit, so I suppose we’re in the practice room?’ said Kim.

  Joe shrugged, finished off his carrot juice, and stood up.

  ‘Well I’m going to be first in line to test the speed gun on my kick. I reckon I have upped it by a couple of extra metres,’ he grinned.

  But there would be no speed gun for Joe this morning, as the Professor was standing outside the practice room wearing an even more outlandish costume than before. His tweed suit had been replaced by a loud check shirt with the sleeves cut off, and orange shorts which stretched down to his knees, while his golden sneakers had been discarded in favour of old-style football ankle boots, which had also been painted gold.

  ‘Well boys and girls,’ he smiled, ‘while the astroturf in the practice room is a perfectly acceptable surface to play on while we are whizzing about the oceans, there is no real substitute for a kick-about outdoors. So, we are going to take this morning’s practical on the grass pitch on the roof of Atlantis, which means you will need your outdoor boots.’

  The five cheered and rushed off to change their footwear. They were starting to get irritated at having to spend all their time cooped up indoors, so the chance to get some fresh air, especially in a nice climate, was exciting.

  ‘I can’t wait to see the sky again,’ grinned Jess as they waited.

  Kalvin came and hauled back the enormous bolts on two sets of doors to enter the cottage before twisting his key in the lock and pushing the final door open. In flooded the brightest sunlight Joe had ever seen.

  ‘Oh yes, before you go anywhere you will have to wear these sunglasses,’ called out Luce, who handed them each a pair of wraparound shades, which had an elastic strap to hold them in place on their head. ‘You’ve been indoors for so long that your eyes will need to get used to the glare.’

  The five took slow, careful steps out on to the island, which was now surrounded by a beautiful blue ocean.

  ‘It’s completely dry, too,’ announced Kim. ‘The sun must have burnt off the water after we surfaced.’

  Joe knelt to test the grass, which felt just like ordinary grass although a lighter colour than he remembered from Clew Bay. The ground, too, felt the same as on the pitches back home.

  ‘Yes, Joe,’ grinned the Professor. ‘It’s also artificial – it would be impossible to grow ordinary grass when we spend so much time underwater. But this is a far more advanced version than the astroturf you are used to, or indeed than we have inside.

  ‘This is the only place on earth – outside Victor’s laboratories – that you will find this surface. Not only does it have to be suitable to play on, but it must also blend in with the colour of grass in whatever region of the world we drop anchor. And, of course, it must be resistant to the salty water of the deep ocean.’

  Kalvin stepped out from behind them. ‘I almost forgot,’ he said, before pushing a button on his console at which a cluster of palm trees shot up from the ground beside the cottage. ‘All part of the camouflage,’ he chuckled.

  ‘Off you run,’ the friendly giant suggested. ‘But stay away from the goalmouths for a minute.’

  Joe picked up one of the balls that Professor Kossuth had dropped, and began to dribble with it out towards the lower shore of the island.

  ‘What does he mean by “goalmouths”?’ wondered Kim.

  ‘I suppose this bit of the island is roughly the shape of a pitch,’ suggested Ajit.

  ‘Look…’ called Craig, as the distinctive shape of a football goal slowly emerged from the ground, sliding into the air until it reached the appropriate height.

  ‘There’s one at the other end too,’ pointed out Jess.

  Kalvin grinned and waved his console. ‘It’s all here in my magic box of tricks,’ he laughed, before flicking another switch which saw strips of grass change colour so that the full pitch markings were set out in white.

  The Professor led the astonished students towards the penalty spot closest to the cottage. Again, Kalvin fiddled with his magic box and a netting fence emerged from the g
round, behind the goal, and climbed into the air until it towered over them from a height of fifteen metres.

  ‘That’s just in case any of you don’t hit the target,’ chuckled the professor.

  ‘What happens if the ball rebounds off the bar and goes out over the side,’ asked Craig.

  ‘Well… we’ll have to wait and see if that happens,’ replied Kalvin. ‘I may decide to throw you overboard to get the ball back.’

  The Professor asked the five to take three shots at goal each – Kalvin stood in as goalkeeper and even though he moved slowly it still wasn’t easy to get the ball past him.

  Professor Kossuth took note of where their shots ended up, and then went step by step through his theory of kicking a football, asking the kids to copy them very slowly.

  It was a bit like playing soccer in slow-motion, thought Joe, although the drill forced you to think about every movement you made. Once they had mastered the steps, they were asked to speed it up slightly, and later still to do it at normal speed.

  The students weren’t new to football, as they all played a little in parks or gardens at home, but they still found that they were much more accurate and powerful than they had been when they took their first kicks, and most of their shots were now on target. Jess surprised even herself by never once missing the goal.

  As the morning wound down, the Professor had a suggestion.

  ‘All right, let us finish off the session with a little match…’

  ‘We could have the three boys playing against Kalvin and the girls, with you as referee,’ suggested Ajit.

  ‘No, no, no,’ grinned the Professor. ‘That would be very unfair, and besides, I want a game too.’

  ‘Then you could join the girls and Kalvin could ref?’ offered Craig.

  ‘No. Kalvin and I will take on the rest of you. We will try our best in the first half and, as I expect us to be at least 5-0 up, we will take it easy for the second…’