Goalkeeper in Charge

by Matt Christopher

“No, I’m not,” Tina said. “What happened?”

  Meg shook her head and spoke slowly to Tina, as if she was talking to someone who was not too bright. “What happened is that Dave saw that you weren’t interested in him, and he felt bad, so he left. That’s what happened.”

  “That’s just silly!” Tina was puzzled by what Meg said, “Why should he care if I’m interested in him or not?”

  Meg wore an expression of comic disbelief. “Tee- NUH! Come on! Are you really, truly telling me you didn’t know that Dave likes you?”

  Tina was stunned. “Likes me? What do you mean?”

  Meg shook her head. “Oh, boy. Teen, listen. Dave likes you. Couldn’t you tell? The whole time he was here, he was staring at you. I was hoping he’d be interested in me, but no way. He talked to you. He asked you if you took science. He asked what your favorite subject was. He asked you to help him with English. You, you, you. You paid no attention to him at all So he got the picture and left.”

  Tina was amazed. Could Meg possibly be right? “But I wasn’t nasty to him, was I? I don’t think I was, anyway.”

  Meg shook her head. “You weren’t nasty. You weren’t anything. You just wouldn’t talk to him or even look at him. He got the hint.”

  “What hint?” Tina demanded, still bewildered. “I wasn’t giving him any hint.”

  Meg looked a little sad. “I guess you weren’t. But when a boy has a crush on you, and you don’t talk to him, well…”

  “A crush! Oh, stop it! That’s just silly!”

  “It’s the truth,” Meg said calmly.

  Tina was uncomfortable. “This is … I don’t want to talk about that anymore, okay?”

  “Sure,” Meg said. “But I’m right. I know I am. But we can talk about something else.”

  “Good!” Tina said.

  “What do you want to talk about?” asked Meg.

  Tina said, “I don’t know. Nothing, I guess.”

  Meg sighed and said, “Well, I should go home anyway. You’re not mad at me, are you?”

  “No, why should I be?” Tina felt confused and wanted to be alone. “I still don’t think you’re right, though.”

  “Well, let’s not talk about Dave anymore. Except, it would still be good practice to be nice to him, and he is nice. But forget it. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Tina waved to Meg as Meg got on her bike. Then she lay back in the grass and stared at the sky, thinking. What should she tell Danielle? Would she try being a goalkeeper? Could she handle it?

  Was Meg right about Dave liking her?

  And how did she feel about Dave?

  4

  On Saturday morning, the Esparzas had a late breakfast. Tina had soccer practice later but had nothing to do until Meg came by to get her. Mr. Esparza poured himself a cup of coffee.

  “How’s the new team and new coach?”

  “Pretty good,” Tina said. “I like the coach, Danielle. She’s nice. Except…”

  “Except what?” her father asked.

  “She wants me to try being a keeper.”

  Mr. Esparza smiled. “Yes? Terrific!”

  “I don’t know,” Tina said.

  Her father said, “No? It’s an important position. It’s great that your coach wants you to play it. The goalkeeper can be the heart of a team. I know you can be very good at it.”

  Tina said, “Well, I — you do?”

  “Absolutely. I’ve been watching you play for years, and I know how good you are, how strong, what kind of athlete you are.”

  “But I’ve never been a star or anything.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” he replied. “You have what it takes. And don’t think I’m just being a proud papa. If I didn’t think you had the talent, I wouldn’t say it. But you do.”

  Mrs. Esparza patted her daughters hand. “Your father would never say what he didn’t believe. What he tells you, he means.”

  “Daddy’s right,” said Sammy.

  Mr. Esparza’s face grew serious. “I know you’re not sure about goalkeeping, but I hope you try it before you make up your mind. Your coach is sharp if she can already see how good you are. I see you’re not as sure of yourself as your mother and I are of you.”

  “And me too,” Sammy said.

  “But, you know?” Mr. Esparza went on. “I’d rather have a daughter who’s a little unsure of herself than one who’s too sure of herself. You’ll do the right thing, I know.”

  Tina was touched. “Thanks, Daddy,” she said. “And I will give it a try.”

  Mr. Esparza nodded. “Good. See what you have in you. That’s all I want.”

  There was a knock at the door. “Teen? You there?” It was Meg.

  “Come in!” Tina called. ’We’re finishing breakfast.”

  Meg came in with her canvas sports bag. “Hi, Mr. Esparza, Mrs. Esparza. Hey, Sammy, what’s happening?”

  “Yo, Meg, what’s happening?” called Sammy, standing and raising his hand for a high-five. Meg slapped his hand with hers.

  “How are you doing?” Tina asked.

  “Okay,” said Meg. “Did you decide what to do about goalkeeping yet?”

  “I’m going to try it,” Tina replied. “Unless Danielle changes her mind, which would be all right too.”

  “Good deal!” Meg said happily. “You’re going to be great, I just know it!”

  “That’s what I said,” said Mr. Esparza.

  “Me too!” yelled Sammy.

  The girls rode to the practice field, and while Meg put on her soccer shoes and shin guards, Tina found Danielle and Pepper.

  “About being a keeper,” Tina said. “Okay. I’ll try it. If you still want me to, I mean. If you changed your mind …”

  “No, I haven’t,” Danielle said. “That’s good news.”

  “Okay,” Tina said, nervous about what she had committed herself to. “So, what now?”

  “You’ll mostly do what everyone else does,” said Danielle. “Dribbling, passing, shooting, defense. I want every player to have some understanding of every position, every part of the sport. But you’ll also work on goalkeeping with me or with Pepper. And we’ll train at least one other player — so we have a keeper ready, in case you’re out of action.”

  Tina said, “Okay, then. Thanks.”

  “I think you have the potential to be a good goalkeeper,” Pepper said. “You already have a sense of what it’s about.”

  Tina felt better about her choice after talking to the coaches. They’d been encouraging.

  Practice began like the last one, with work on the same skills. This time, Tina was in Danielle’s group, but Meg wasn’t. For dribbling, Danielle did what she called “follow the leader.” The groups split into pairs. The leader of each pair, who had no ball, ran around the field, turning left and right in no particular pattern. The other girl in each pair had to follow the leader while dribbling a ball. Because the dribbler had to watch the leader and other players on the field, she couldn’t look at her feet. After a while, the leaders and followers switched places.

  Tina was able to stay with her leader, Zoe, though a couple of girls nearly ran into her because they had to look down now and then so as not to lose the ball. Later, Danielle advised everyone to keep working on dribbling.

  For passing, Danielle divided players into groups of three. Each group formed a line, with the end girls ten yards apart and the middle girl midway between them. Each end player had a ball. One would pass to the middle player, who controlled the ball and passed it back. The middle player then turned to take a pass from the other end and pass that ball back. The middle player had to pivot and pass quickly and accurately. Players switched so that everyone got to play in the middle. Tina found that being in the middle made her speed up more than she was used to, pivoting and getting her passes off in less time. It was a challenge, she thought.

  Danielle gave some tips on controlling low passes by stopping the ball under one foot, and on controlling high passes by taking the ball on the chest or thigh
and letting it drop.

  Next was a shooting drill. Danielle used cones to mark off a regulation goal — eight yards wide — and had pairs of players attack it, passing the ball three times before taking a shot. Then she put a player in as a goalkeeper to defend against shots. Finally, the coach used more cones to create one-yard-wide targets at each end of the goal and had players shoot for either side from fifteen feet away.

  Tina was not an accurate shooter, missing two of four shots at the narrow openings. The best in the group was Zoe, who hit all her attempts. Another girl, whom Tina didn’t know, was also very good. After this girl booted in a sizzling score that went. across the goalmouth — a tough angle — Tina said, “Nice shot.”

  The other girl nodded without smiling or even looking at Tina. Zoe and Tina exchanged looks, and Zoe rolled her eyes, making Tina grin even though she felt hurt.

  When Danielle called for a break, Tina whispered to Zoe, “Who is that girl?”

  “Cindy Vane,” replied Zoe. “Don’t worry, she’s like that with lots of people.”

  Tina felt a little better, but not much. Meg came over. “How was your practice? Ours was pretty good. I like Pepper.”

  “I think they’re both good,” Tina said.

  “Did you do any goalkeeping work?”

  Tina shook her head. “Not yet.”

  “Tina?” Pepper appeared behind Tina’s shoulder. “Ready for some goalkeeper drills? I’d like to start today.”

  Tina felt a tingle of nervousness, which she fought not to show. “Sure, whenever.”

  Pepper smiled. “Good. As soon as we get back to work, I’ll take you and another girl who’s also going to work on being a keeper, and we can get going.”

  As Pepper walked over to talk to Danielle, Tina looked at Meg, not bothering to hide her nervousness.

  “You’ll be great!” said Meg. “You’ll see. You’re going to be a great keeper.”

  “Definitely,” Zoe agreed. “I can tell you’re a really good athlete.”

  Tina, who had trouble replying to compliments, shrugged and mumbled, “Thanks, but I don’t know…”

  “Hey, do you two want to come to the mall with me after practice?” Zoe asked. “Some of my friends hang out there on Saturdays. It’s fun.”

  “I don’t know if I can,” Tina said, looking at Meg and hoping she would turn the invitation down.

  But Meg said, “Sounds good. I tell you what, let’s see after we’re done, all right?”

  Tina felt as if she’d been pushed into a corner, but said only, “Okay, we’ll see.”

  Danielle blew her whistle, the signal to start practice again. Meg leaned in toward Tina. “Come on, Teen! Why not go? It might be fun!”

  Tina knew that hanging out at the mall with girls she didn’t know wouldn’t be fun. But she also knew that Meg wanted to go, and she didn’t want to disappoint her friend.

  “Let me think it over, okay?” she said.

  “Teen, this is the kind of thing you need to do,” Meg said. “To try to be more friendly with people. We talked about it before, and here’s a chance to really do it.”

  Tina saw the truth of this but didn’t feel any more eager to go to the mall. ’“We’ll see,” she said, and ran to join Pepper before Meg could say anything else.

  Standing with Pepper was a girl Tina recognized from school. She was taller than Tina, and her dark-blond hair was short and curly. She smiled at Tina, who smiled back.

  “You know each other?” Pepper asked.

  “I think I’ve met you,” said the other girl. “Tina, right?”

  Tina nodded. “Right. I’m Tina Esparza. And your name is … Andrea?”

  “Uh-huh, Andrea Gries. I’ve never been a goalkeeper. I guess I could be your backup.”

  Tina shook her head. “I was never a keeper, either. Maybe I’ll be your backup.”

  Tina thought Andrea seemed nice. Andrea was taller, so it would probably be easier for her to reach high shots. Well, even if Andrea was a better keeper, Tina would do her best and that would be that.

  Pepper demonstrated a standard keepers stance: feet shoulders’ width apart, knees slightly bent, body leaning slightly forward.

  “Bend your arms with your forearms forward and your hands alongside your legs,” Pepper said, as the girls followed her instructions. “Spread your fingers and turn your hands so your palms face toward where a ball would be coming. Good!”

  From this position, Tina saw that she’d be able to react quickly in any direction.

  “Now we’ll work on catching balls when shots are made,” said Pepper. “First, here’s what we call the W-catch, which you use to take a high shot. Tina, throw me the ball so it’s at my eye level.”

  Pepper caught Tina’s throw with her fingers outspread and her thumbs together. She turned to Tina and Andrea. “See how my thumbs and index fingers form a letter W on the ball? Let’s see you try it.”

  Pepper went on to techniques for catching lower shots: the scoop catch for ground-level shots and the chest catch for medium-high shots. She threw the ball to Andrea so Andrea could try a chest catch.

  “Good, Andrea. Bring the ball in toward your body with your arms around it so you won’t drop it and give an opponent an easy shot. Same with the scoop catch: bend your knees deep, palms toward the ball, and cradle it so you won’t drop it. Then, straighten up and decide what to do with it.”

  “What do I do with it?” asked Andrea, after she’d done a scoop catch.

  “It depends,” answered Pepper. “That’s something for another day. For now, we’ll stick to basic moves.”

  Pepper handed balls to the girls and told them to bounce them like basketballs. She stopped them after a moment.

  “Don’t use your palms, use your fingers. You control the ball better that way. Practice on your own. Here’s another exercise to do on your own.”

  Pepper had the girls lie on their backs and throw balls in the air, away from their bodies. They then jumped to their feet and tried to catch the balls before they hit the ground.

  “Dive for the ball if you have to,” Pepper said. “This exercise will speed up your reactions and movement.”

  The first time Tina tossed a ball up, it hit the ground before she could reach it. The second time, she leaped up and lunged forward to catch the ball at shoe-top height. She tried a few more times and thought she was improving.

  “Good!” called Pepper.

  Andrea had trouble getting her feet under her and was unable to catch the ball.

  “It’s okay,” said Pepper. “You’ll get better.”

  The coach then had the girls do drills together. First, they threw a ball back and forth, sometimes high and sometimes low, to work on catching. Then they faced each other, six feet apart, and took turns rolling a ball toward each other. The receiver would stoop, kneel, or dive to control the ball. Andreas long fingers made it a little easier for her than it was for Tina.

  Tina was surprised when Pepper said that it was time to join the rest of the team. She’d been enjoying the drills and didn’t realize how much time had passed.

  Practice finished with some three-on-three scrimmages, with both coaches watching and occasionally calling out suggestions. Tina realized that her favorite part of the whole session had been the goal-keeping work.

  When practice ended for the day, Danielle beckoned to Tina. “Pepper says that you did well in the goalkeeping workout. Are you feeling more confident about being a keeper?”

  Tina decided to simply tell the coach the truth. “Not really,” she said. “But I’m still willing to work on it. I just don’t know if I want to do it, I mean in games.”

  “Okay,” replied Danielle. “Just remember — I’ll never push you to do anything you’d rather not do. But I’d like to know why you’re uncomfortable with being a goalkeeper.”

  Feeling very self-conscious, Tina didn’t say anything for a moment. Finally, she blurted, “This is going to sound really dumb.”

  Daniell
e smiled. “I promise you, I’m only asking out of curiosity. And it’s strictly between the two of us.”

  “Okay,” said Tina. “It’s … I hate being the center of attention. And a keeper is going to be the center of attention a lot, whether she does great or she messes up. It’s not that I’m afraid of the responsibility. You see?”

  To Tina’s surprise, Danielle said, “Sure. You’re not the first girl I’ve worked with who’s felt that way. There have been others. Sometimes they overcame the feeling and sometimes not. The ones that didn’t — they went back to playing positions where they felt relaxed. If you decide goalkeeping isn’t for you, we’ll end the experiment. But until you’re sure, I’d like you to stay with it. Okay?”

  This seemed fair to Tina. “Fine.”

  Danielle grinned. “All right. See you.”

  Smiling, Tina looked for Meg. She saw Meg with Zoe, and her smile vanished.

  It looked like she was going to have to go to the mall and “hang out.” With a bunch of strangers.

  5

  As Tina slowly walked toward Meg and Zoe, she noticed two things. She saw Cindy and a few other players watching her. Tina was sure they were talking about her — probably about how weird she was.

  She also noticed that Meg and Zoe were trying very hard to look like they had not been talking about her, which, of course, meant that they had been. Meg had probably told Zoe that Tina was kind of, you know, shy, and would be unhappy about going to the mall, and that Zoe should really try to see that Tina was included in the group so Tina would feel more at ease.

  All this made Tina feel the exact opposite of “at ease.” But she had made up her mind. Tina would do what Meg wanted because (a)Meg was her best friend and wanted Tina to go, and (b)Meg felt it would be good for Tina, and she might even be right.

  “Hi,” she said to Meg and Zoe.

  “So, what do you think?” asked Meg, glancing quickly at Zoe. “You want to go?”

  Tina couldn’t fake enthusiasm for going, but she managed to nod and say, “Sure.”

  “Great!” said Zoe, and the girls got their bikes.

  “We don’t have to stick around all day,” Meg said to Tina as they rode. “And maybe you’ll even like it.”