Chase Your Goal

by Bernadette Hellard

  She tossed the letters onto the kitchen bench. One square white envelope slipped away from the pile of bills. Phoebe stared at it. It was addressed to her! Holding her breath in hope, she ripped it open. The familiar riddle fell out into her hand. Phoebe knew every word by heart, but she still read it with pleasure because this one was meant for her.

  ‘Here is a puzzle to be solved by you,

  when you are all down at the court.

  Look out for a clue, or maybe two;

  don’t rush, give it plenty of thought!’

  She looked back into the envelope and saw the puzzle piece sitting snugly in the corner, waiting for her.

  ‘Mum! Mum! I got one!’ Phoebe was so excited she couldn’t contain herself. Her heart was racing and when she spotted her mum in the backyard, she rushed out to tell her the news.

  ‘Mum, I got a clue!’ she said breathlessly.

  ‘Oh Phoebe, that’s fantastic!’

  Now Phoebe couldn’t wait to get to training! Please, rain, don’t start now! she thought.

  But as soon as Phoebe and Mum got into the car, big, fat raindrops started landing on the windscreen.

  ‘This doesn’t look too promising,’ Mum said, peering up at the sky.

  Phoebe said nothing. She couldn’t imagine Janet cancelling training for a few drops. But as they drove, the spattering of the raindrops became heavier and more constant, and by the time they arrived at the courts, the rain was pelting down and the windscreen was awash. Phoebe could just make out the figures of Janet and Lily as they threw the training equipment back into their car, before jumping in themselves. There was no one else at the drenched courts. All Phoebe could see were the headlights of the other cars in the carpark, as they swung out and headed back home.

  Phoebe looked out of the car window.

  ‘Disappointed?’ her mum asked kindly.

  Phoebe said nothing. Then a moment later she blurted out, ‘It’s not fair. We were going to look at the clues together …’

  ‘Don’t worry. Your game is only three days away. You can show the others your clue then,’ said Mum.

  Yes, thought Phoebe, the game isn’t far away. I can wait until then.

  And then she smiled to herself again with the realisation that she hadn’t been forgotten.

  I got a clue!

  Chapter Nineteen

  ‘What’s this?’ Phoebe’s dad asked, as her mum placed two thermoses and a tall stack of cups on the kitchen table.

  ‘Some hot chocolate for the girls. Have you noticed how cold that wind can be when it blows onto the courts, up off the river?’

  Phoebe’s dad hadn’t noticed, but of course he was always in a constant state of motion.

  ‘Yum! Thanks, Mum,’ said Phoebe. ‘The girls will love it.’

  ‘I thought it would be good timing, since you’re taking your turn as team captain this week.’

  Phoebe beamed at Mum. The prospect of being team captain had sat in her mind since Thursday night when Janet had called to tell her, and every time she had thought about it since then, she’d glowed with excitement.

  ‘Well, let’s get going then,’ said Dad.

  Phoebe grabbed her drink bottle and the precious clue. Mum gathered the hot chocolate and cups. Dad spent the next five minutes searching for the car keys. Then, just as they had all stepped out the door, Max realised that he was missing one of his soccer boots.

  Finally they arrived at the courts. Phoebe hurried over to fill out the scoresheet. It was her first job as team captain. She checked with Janet where everyone was playing. When she listed herself as the Goal Attack, as Janet had told her to, she put a little smiley face in the ‘o’ of ‘Phoebe’. Goal Attack! She was going to be playing in the same position as Maria Tutaia! She visualised Maria playing. She thought about Maria’s fast but smooth movement down the court, and her …

  Phoebe’s thoughts were interrupted by the umpire, who appeared before her holding a coin in the palm of her hand. Phoebe’s other job as team captain was to join the umpires and the opposition captain for the coin toss. The winner would get to decide whether they would choose their team’s goal end, or whether to start with the ball. Phoebe proudly walked out onto the court with the umpire and smiled briefly at the small, red-haired Thomson team captain who joined them.

  The Marrang Gems were the first-named team on the scoresheet, so Phoebe got to call the toss.

  ‘Tails,’ she called as the coin spun in the air. The umpire caught it and flipped it onto the back of her hand. It was tails!

  ‘We’ll take first centre pass,’ said Phoebe, without hesitation. It was a still and overcast day and she knew it would be much the same goaling from either end of the court.

  Phoebe joined her team.

  Lily looked at her curiously. ‘So who gets first centre pass?’

  ‘We do!’ said Phoebe, her eyes twinkling, ‘and I’ve got a new clue for after the game!’

  ‘Me too!’ squealed Prani.

  ‘Yay!’ cried the team, and they turned and ran onto the court.

  Phoebe felt good in her Goal Attack bib. As the first quarter wore on, she better understood her role. She knew she had to help bring the ball down the court, as well as help the Goal Shooter shoot goals.

  Thomson had the next centre pass. Before their Goal Attack could catch the ball, Isabella in Goal Defence had leapt in front and snatched it out of the air. She quickly flicked it to Sienna in Wing Defence, who passed it straight on to Lily as Wing Attack. Phoebe readied herself for action, but was distracted when she sensed a flurry of activity on the sidelines of the court. She spun around to see what was happening. It was her dad! In his eagerness to follow the game, he was hurrying along the sidelines, calling out his encouragement to the players. The only problem was that he was getting in the way of the umpire!

  Phoebe gestured to her dad to step back, and he looked around in surprise. He hadn’t even noticed he was blocking the umpire! He stumbled backwards in haste. Phoebe glanced at Mum and Max, who were sitting on the bench by the court, smiling and shaking their heads, then winced as she saw the cross face of the umpire.

  But the game was continuing, so she turned her attention to the court. Bit by bit, she began to settle back into the rhythm of the game. Maddy stepped into the centre circle, clasping the ball firmly in both hands. She nodded her head once at Lily, who nodded back. Lily was holding firm on the line, against the jostling of the Wing Defence. When the whistle sounded, Maddy ignored her Thomson Centre opponent, who waved her arms, hoping to deflect a pass. When Lily made a straight lead towards her, Maddy snapped her a quick pass and raced down court, to the edge of the goal circle.

  Maddy called to Lily for the ball, then shouted out to Phoebe to prepare for the next catch. ‘Go Phoebe!’ she yelled.

  Phoebe was ready. She sprang into action, sprinting towards the goal circle. She ran so fast that her Goal Defence opponent couldn’t keep up with her! Jade, their Goal Shooter, was at the top of the goal circle, and she stood firmly against the Goal Keeper. Phoebe raced past her, glancing up just in time to catch the flying lob from Maddy.

  Phoebe landed firmly on both feet, close to the goal ring, the ball in her hands. She took a precious second to correct her body position, then, raising her arms high above her head, she balanced the ball just like she’d seen Maria Tutaia do. Phoebe had no time to aim carefully at the goal ring. She had only one more second before the umpire called ‘held ball’. She flicked the ball up at the ring.

  It was a goal!

  ‘Woohoo!’

  ‘Yay Phoebe!’

  Phoebe grinned as she heard the cheers of her dad, her coach and her team.

  Chapter Twenty

  Just after quarter time, the pace of the game increased. The Thomson netball team had swapped some of their players. It may have been because the new players were more skilled than those in the first quarter, or just because the team was settling into the game, but slowly the goals started to level.

  T
he Thomson spectators, sensing the change in tempo on court, began to cheer more loudly. Phoebe’s dad couldn’t resist the opportunity to support his daughter and her team. He ran up and down along the sideline, yelling and cheering them on. Once again, Phoebe didn’t know where to look – at the ball or at him.

  Taking a sneaking glance at her dad, Phoebe saw him veer quickly to the left to avoid running into the umpire. He tripped over a sports bag in his path and pitched forward into a spectacular double somersault. He squashed three bags on landing and finally ended up flat on his back, staring up into the umpire’s glaring face.

  ‘Brrrp,’ went the umpire’s whistle. ‘Injury time … for the spectator!’

  ‘I’m okay, nothing to worry about here,’ said Dad, as he struggled to his feet.

  Phoebe went bright red with embarrassment. She couldn’t look at any of her teammates or her coach. She was pretty sure this was the first time in history that injury time had been called for a spectator! She stared at her dad, stunned, and watched as her mum went to help him limp over to the first-aid room.

  Janet called the girls in for a team huddle.

  ‘Okay, minor distraction everyone. Now, we need to focus for the rest of the game. Thomson is a very good team and it’s going to take a lot of hard work to beat them!’

  ‘Minor? That was the biggest crash I’ve ever seen!’ said Jade, laughing.

  Phoebe cringed at the sound of the others laughing along with her.

  After a pause, though, Jade added, ‘Shame he had to go. He’s the best cheer squad ever!’

  Phoebe looked up in surprise. She had not expected that from Jade. To her relief, she could see everyone else agree.

  ‘Yeah, he’s awesome,’ said Maddy.

  ‘Okay, Phoebe?’ Janet asked. ‘If you can concentrate, I’ll leave you as Goal Attack for the second half as well.’

  ‘Thanks, Janet,’ said Phoebe, nodding uncertainly.

  Lily appeared beside her and smiled. ‘Relax, Phoebe, you’re so good at shooting.’

  Phoebe smiled gratefully, and when the whistle went for play to resume, she allowed herself to get drawn back into the game. Soon, all she was thinking about was getting ready for the next pass, looking for the next free player, and shooting her next goal.

  She didn’t even see her dad returning to sit on the bench after half-time. Mum poured him a generous serve of hot chocolate. His elbow and knee were bandaged, but he still managed to call out encouragements from time to time. Phoebe didn’t really hear. She was determined to show Janet just how well she could play in Goal Attack. In her determination, she found herself in a place where everything outside the court was zoned out and for once she was able to play her best netball.

  And she needed every bit of concentration she had. Both teams were straining to get in front of the other. By the final quarter, it was turning into a battle for the Marrang Gems to keep up with Thomson, a tough team that was used to winning.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  There was only one minute until the end of the game and the score was tied! The timekeeper stared fixedly at the timer, watching the final seconds pass. Maddy grabbed the ball and raced into the centre circle. She nodded at Phoebe, her signal to make a lead.

  The whistle blew to start play. Phoebe burst forward and caught a fast low pass from Maddy. Turning, she ignored the teammates close to her, who were calling loudly for a pass – she had seen Jade waving at her from right under the goal post.

  Can I throw that far? Will it work?

  Making a split-second decision, Phoebe lifted her arms high. Using her shoulder muscles, she threw the ball as hard as she could, straight and fast all the way to the goal circle. Jade saw the ball bulleting towards her. She braced her feet, and the ball smacked into her hands.

  The timekeeper was standing, ready to call time to the umpires … Jade turned to face the goal ring and confidently popped the ball through the ring.

  ‘Time!’ called the timekeeper. Brrrp went the umpire’s whistle.

  The Marrang players looked around at Janet, unsure which team had won the game. Then they saw her grinning and holding one finger in the air. The Marrang Gems had won by one goal!

  Phoebe was totally pumped with the way she had played. It felt like it had been her best game yet.

  As the team came off court, they buzzed with excitement. Charlotte, who had sat out the last half of the game, came from the bench to join the girls.

  ‘Oh my God! That last quarter was so exciting! I didn’t know who was going to win!’

  Phoebe smiled at Charlotte. It was pretty great! she thought, as she watched her teammates all eagerly reaching for the hot chocolate her mum was handing out.

  But the excitement of the day wasn’t over. Phoebe and Prani still hadn’t shown their clues to the others! Even though Phoebe knew what her clue said, she wasn’t sure how it would fit into the puzzle. But she knew this much – they were very close to solving the mystery invitation.

  Prani started to jump up and down on the spot. She waved her arms wildly at the group. ‘Come ooon! Hurry up so we can put all the clues together and work out what the message says!’

  She turned and ran madly towards the grass area behind the clubrooms and the rest of the team took off after her. They collapsed on the grass and looked at Sienna expectantly.

  ‘Oh no, I forgot to bring the clues!’ she said.

  A chorus of horrified responses yelled at once.

  ‘What?’

  ‘No way!’

  ‘You didn’t!’

  Sienna grinned. ‘Only joking. Here they are!’

  She placed the six clues they all knew on the grass in the middle of the circle and carefully arranged them in the order they had agreed upon.

  Prani stretched over on her knees with her square of paper fluttering in her hand. ‘Me first! Check this out!’

  She tried to neatly fit her piece of the puzzle in with the others but accidently collapsed on top of the clues, spreading the pieces everywhere. She couldn’t move at first because she was laughing so hard and trying to apologise at the same time.

  ‘Prani!!’

  ‘S-S-Sorry!’

  Many hands tried to help gather the pieces – including the piece they thought they’d lost, but they found clinging to Prani’s elbow. When they all settled again, they read the words on her clue:

  ‘Come on, Phoebe,’ Maddy urged. ‘Put your piece down.’

  Phoebe fit the last piece into the puzzle.

  ‘Oh my gosh!’ screamed Prani. ‘We’re going to Jump! You know, the trampoline park!’ She started bouncing on her knees. ‘We’re going to Jump! We’re going to Jump!’ she chanted.

  Isabella, Maddy and Sienna joined in, and Jade clapped along. Lily and Charlotte started cheering. ‘Yay! Woohoo! I can’t wait!’

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Phoebe was as excited as the other girls. It was just becoming real to her that she had actually been invited to a party with her teammates! The whole invitation was clearly written for them all to see.

  Maddy asked the question they were all thinking. ‘This is going to be awesome! But whose party is it?’

  Everyone stared at the invitation. Phoebe murmured to herself. ‘Flip me over … Flip me over …’ Suddenly, she remembered there was something on the back of each of the puzzle pieces. They’d forgotten the other part of the mystery! Carefully, Phoebe began to flip over the pieces. The other girls immediately caught on and, within seconds, a photo of someone had emerged from the different scraps of colour.

  As one, they looked up. Eyes wide in shock, they stared at one girl in particular.

  ‘Sienna?’

  Sienna grinned back, delighted. Her plan had worked perfectly! No one had suspected her at all!

  ‘Oh my God!’

  ‘What …?’

  ‘How …?’

  ‘But you got a clue as well!’

  Prani threw herself at Sienna, collapsing on top of her. ‘You sneaky, sneaky thing!
’

  Phoebe grinned at Sienna’s laughing face.

  ‘Hang on! You told me …’ began Lily. She pointed her finger at Sienna, pretending to frown. ‘I asked you at school about your birthday and you said you weren’t having a party!’

  Sienna shrugged casually. ‘I lied.’

  The girls shrieked and laughed and jumped on Sienna. It took them a long time to settle down. They lay sprawled on the grass, all eight of them thinking about what outfit they’d wear to look like their favourite celebrity.

  Phoebe was in awe. ‘I can’t believe I got invited!’

  A second later, she realised that she had accidentally spoken aloud! She glanced around in panic.

  Lily, who had been lying next to her, sat up. ‘Of course you would be invited. You’re our netball mate! Oh, and by the way,’ Lily continued, ‘will you pleeease invite me over so we can try out your backyard mini-court together? And then you can come over to my place next!’

  Phoebe stared at Lily. She felt the hugest smile spread across her face.

  I’m going to a party. I have a new friend. And I’m not so shy anymore!

  The Marrang Gems

  Maddy Browne

  Isabella Contesotto

  Sienna Handley

  Jade Mathison

  Prani Patel

  Lily Scott

  Charlotte Stevens

  Phoebe Tadic

  Player Profile

  Phoebe Tadic

  Full name: Phoebe Ana Tadic

  Nicknames: Phoebs, Zlata (‘zlata’ means ‘golden girl’ in Croatian)

  Age: 12

  Height: 152 centimetres