Kickin' It With Dad

by Christopher R. Ford

  Copyright 2020 Christopher R. Ford

  ISBN 978-1-09833-296-9

  www.withdadbooks.com

  All rights reserved

  To my dad, thanks for being my best coach.

  To my mom, thanks for being my best cheerleader.

  To my brother, thanks for being my best friend.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  CHAPTER 1 What’s Next?

  CHAPTER 2 Tryouts…Kinda

  CHAPTER 3 We Talkin’ About Practice?

  CHAPTER 4 Let The Game’s Begin

  CHAPTER 5 Back To The Bench

  CHAPTER 6 Hittin’ Reset

  CHAPTER 7 Playoffs? Playoffs?!?

  CHAPTER 8 Championship Gameday

  Kickin’ it with dad, it’s one of my most favorite things to do.

  “Keep your eyes on the ball.” He says.

  “You gotta feel it!” He tells me.

  “Anticipate.” He explains.

  “Kick it!”

  CHAPTER 1

  WHAT’S NEXT?

  Flashback 3 months…

  “So what’s next?” Billie asks.

  My best friend Billie and I are at our other best friend Adrian’s house just kickin’ it. We’ve just won our district championship in basketball (I kinda did my thing in the championship game if I do say so myself) and we’re basking in the glory of it all…and by basking, I mean watching TV and eating tacos.

  I’m thinking baseball but that’s like three months away. What are we gonna do till then?

  “Wait! Stop right there!” Adrian yells out to Billie who has the remote and has been channel surfing for what seems like forever.

  She stops it on a soccer game. Billie and I look at each other curiously.

  “Yeah this is my jam!” Adrian proclaims.

  Billie and I look at each other even more confused. Since…

  “Since when did you like soccer?” Billie asks aloud finishing the thought in my head.

  “It’s called football thank you very much.”

  Billie and I look at each other yet again. Who is this person in Adrian’s body?

  “Who are you and what have you done with our best friend?” Billie jumps in continuing to read my mind.

  Adrian is officially the crazy one of our crew but this is out there even for him. It’s been two years since I moved here to Texas with my family and two years since Adrian and Billie became my best (and kinda only) friends.

  Adrian is still the biggest kid I know with a big frohawk who is surprisingly athletic (and thankfully nice) for his size. Billie is tall, skinny, and has changed her hair from the purple afro puffs she wore during basketball season to purple braids. Oh and she’s probably the best athlete I’ve ever met. She’s literally great at everything.

  We’ve done everything together, from hanging out to playing baseball and basketball, and I’ve never heard him mention soccer…I mean football once ever! And now it’s his jam? I think you can see why I’m confused.

  “It’s me, it’s your boy Adrian.” He leans back flashing his signature big smile, “I’m into everything. Even soccer.”

  “You mean football don’t you?” Billie shoots back slyly.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Adrian replies.

  We all break out laughing. Then, from the TV, we hear a wild roar. A player has broken away from the rest and is streaking up the field lighting quick working the soccer ball like a yo-yo.

  I’m mesmerized. How can someone move that fast and do that with a soccer ball?

  Now it’s just him versus the goalie. And he’s headed towards him full steam ahead (I’d hate to be that goalie right now).

  “Kick it! Kick it!” Adrian yells at the screen as he leaps off the couch.

  The player takes one more step, winds up, and kicks it. The ball comes off his foot like a rocket. The goalie leaps, both hands stretched out as far as possible…

  “Gooooooooaaaaaaaalllllll!” Adrian and the announcer yell out in unison.

  Billie and I look at each other again. Adrian gives us a look and a shrug in return before speaking again.

  “That’ll be me real soon.”

  “What are you talking about now?” Billie questions.

  “Soccer is next for me. I’ve got a tryout next week.”

  But wait, are we calling it football or soccer? I’m confused here.

  “What? You’re ditching us?!?” Billie exclaims half mad, half joking.

  That’s what I’m thinking too though. Like I said, we do everything together. How’s Adrian gonna do us like that?

  “I was totally gonna tell you guys about it but I knew y’all wouldn’t be into it.”

  Well he’s right about that. First, I don’t know anything about soccer. Scratch that, I do know one thing, it involves a lot of running. And in case you didn’t know, I HATE running. Now that I think about it, I’m glad Adrian didn’t mention this. I’ll gladly sit this one out and wait for baseball season.

  “Y’all wanna come to my tryout?” I nearly spit out my soda.

  “Uhhh…” I begin.

  “To watch your boy do his thing.” Adrian finishes.

  I breathe a huge sigh of relief.

  “Of course.” Billie quickly answers.

  They both then look to me.

  “Oh yeah, of course bro.” I have to answer.

  “Cool, I hope y’all are ready to be blown away, I’m the best 11-year-old soccer player you know. I’m the kid

  Messi.”

  Billie rolls her eyes. I don’t do anything because one, Adrian is the only 11-year-old soccer player I know. And two, I don’t know who or what Messi is. And of course, right on que, Adrian turns to us and asks, “Y’all know who

  Messi is right?”

  This is literally the first minute of soccer I’ve watched in my entire life so we all know my answer. But before I can even open my mouth to start “uh-ing” my way through an answer, Billie saves me.

  “Yeah we know. He’s the most famous soccer player in the world, duh.” She replies crossing her arms in defiance before continuing. “And you’re more of a mess than Messi.”

  We all start laughing. Only best friends can joke on each other like we do. Or should I say like Billie and Adrian do. I’m nowhere near as funny as they are but that doesn’t stop them from letting me hang out with them.

  Adrian’s mom comes in with more tacos and we keep watching the game. For my first experience with the sport, watching it is pretty fun. I still have no desire to do all of that running myself but I have no problem sitting and watching.

  Once the game is over, I call my dad to come pick me up. At the door Billie, Adrian, and I do our special handshake. We slap hands, come back and slap on the backhand side, fist bump then blow it up, lean back then cross arm bar each other, lean back again then hit a hi-five, follow through and slap again down low, come back up and do back-to-back hand slaps and finish it with a salute. Pretty cool right?

  Adrian reminds me one more time about coming to his tryout next week and I tell him I’ll be there. He is my friend after all, plus it can’t hurt to just go and watch right?

  I get in the car and before my dad can even ask, I tell him all about my day with my friends including being introduced to soccer.

  “What did you think of it?”

  “It was cool. Too much running though.”

  We both laugh. He knows how much I hate running. He then smiles at me like he knows something I don’t.

  “What?” I ask him.

  “Oh nothing.” He replies with that famous sly smile of his.

  And with that, we drive off…

  CHAPTER 2

  TRYOUTS…KINDA
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  It’s early on a Saturday morning but I gotta get up and get ready to head out because its tryout day…well for Adrian at least. Thankfully all I gotta do is sit back, relax, and just watch.

  And since I only have to watch, I eat a huge breakfast mainly of my mom’s world-famous French Toast. Now that I’m nice and full it’s time to roll out. I meet my dad at the door but he stops me before we exit.

  “You’re going out dressed like that?” What?!? I look down at my outfit. I’m rocking my baseball jersey (my championship baseball jersey by the way), some jeans, and my kicks. Ok so I’m not exactly “matching” but hey, I look good! I protest.

  “Don’t you wanna wear shorts?”

  Shorts? Why would I need to rock shorts? I won’t be run…

  “Because it’s a little warm outside.” My dad answers.

  Ohhh. Yeah it is kinda warm out today. Well that makes sense. I run upstairs and throw on my basketball shorts (my championship basketball shorts by the way). Now I’m ready to roll! My dad hits me with one of those sly smiles again. I don’t know what that’s about. No time to worry about that though, we gotta hurry up and get to my boy’s tryout!

  It’s a super sunny day as we pull up to the soccer park. It’s extra warm too so shorts were definitely a good decision. Billie is already setup in the stands and waves me over. I turn and say goodbye to my dad.

  “Have fun and you got this.” He says to me with a smile and a wink.

  Got this? Got what? Just sitting around? What’s up with him? Oh well, time to kick it with my fiends once again! I take a seat in the stands next to Billie. “Where’s our boy?” I ask excitedly.

  She points to the far side of the field and I immediately spot Adrian. He’s never too hard to spot with his frohawk which continues to grow higher and higher defying the law of gravity. I start to look around and check out his potential teammates and then I notice…

  “They don’t have enough players do they?”

  Billie shrugs. She knows about as much about soccer as I do. But even with my very limited knowledge, I only count 8 kids. That can’t be right. It’s not my problem though. If nothing else, the fewer the players, the easier it’ll be for Adrian to dominate.

  A short, stocky guy with a bald head and a big beard, their coach I presume, blows the whistle, the tryout is underway.

  The first thing they do is run. Immediately I’m happy I’m up here instead of down there. Adrian doesn’t seem to mind, he has a big smile on his face as they run up and down the field.

  After a few minutes of that, they start doing drills.

  First, they go into one-on-one drills where one kid tries to dribble past another. And when it’s his turn, Adrian starts killing it. Now looking at Adrian you’d probably think he’d be the goalie. He’s a big kid but he’s got moves (I learned that from our basketball days).

  “Ohhhh! He almost broke that kid’s ankle!” Billie shouts jumping out of her seat in excitement.

  Adrian pulls off a crazy crossover making the kid in front of him stagger and almost hit the deck. That was kinda sick!

  “Maybe he is the kid Messi.” I say.

  Oh, and by the way, Messi is a forward for the Spanish team Barcelona and captain of the Argentina national team. He’s also considered one of the greatest goal scorers of all-time (I googled him).

  Billie and I look at each other for a moment…

  “Naaah!” We say in unison and break out laughing.

  The team does a few more drills, Adrian is still doing his thing, and I even start to think to myself that soccer seams kinda fun. Just kinda though. I still don’t wanna be down there running around. And you see, the way my coordination is set up, I’d probably try and kick the ball, whiff completely, and fall right on my face.

  Nobody wants to see that.

  It looks like they’re about to do a full scrimmage now. But as I look out, I remember they don’t have enough players. They need at least two more kids.

  “Here comes Adrian.” Billie informs me.

  Adrian starts jogging towards me and Billie. I wonder what he wants.

  “So…” He starts off, scratching the back of his head and oddly not making eye contact. “Coach is trippin’, wants me to ask if y’all will come play. You know I wouldn’t trip.”

  Billie starts to smile. I don’t.

  “Just to fill out the team today. No pressure.” Adrian explains looking right at me.

  “Uhhh…” I start.

  “We’ll do it!” Billie finishes.

  No! No! No! I think to myself but “fine” is what I reluctantly say aloud. I already know arguing with them is useless so why even bother?

  Adrian smiles even bigger as he leads us onto the field. At least I’m already wearing shorts, my dad was right…wait a second! Did he know this was coming? Did him and Adrian set this up? No way, now I’m trippin’. It is a convenient coincidence though…

  No time to worry about that though, I got like 5 seconds to figure out how to play soccer!!!

  “Attention team!” Adrian starts after clearing his throat to make sure all eyes are on us. “Let me introduce you all to Ronnie and Billie. Not only my two best friends, but probably two of the best soccer players on the planet!” What?!? That’s not helping Adrian!

  The kids look impressed and so does the coach. This is just great (and by great, I mean terrible).

  “Well let’s see what you two got!” The coach says excitedly and instructs the entire team (me included ugh) to hit the field.

  As we’re walking, I get close to Adrian and start talking really low so none of the other kids can hear me.

  “What’s wrong with you?”

  “What are you talking about?” He says looking totally oblivious to my panic.

  “Why did you tell them all of that?!?”

  “Hey I was just trying to help you and Billie out.”

  “By lying?”

  “I’m not lying…I said probably.” He thinks and starts to smile. “And you probably are good, you just don’t know it yet. And there’s only one way to find out.”

  Adrian slaps me on the back like everything is all good…and it’s clearly not.

  Then the coach turns to me and Billie. I really hope he doesn’t ask us how “great” we are.

  “I’m Coach G by the way and thanks for helping us out. We need a striker and a second goalie, which do you wanna play Ronnie?”

  Hmmm, let’s think about this for a second. One involves mostly standing around and the other involves running, a lot of running actually so…

  “Goalie!” I tell him with a quickness.

  Hey if I’m gonna be stuck out here I’m trying to do the least amount of work possible. Don’t judge me.

  Billie takes the striker position which is probably for the best. Billie is a natural athlete after all so I’m sure she’s gonna be fine out there.

  Coach hands me a pair of goalie gloves which are huge. They’re like mittens. They’re nothing like my baseball batting gloves that’s for sure. And I don’t feel like I look cool with them on either. It’s no big deal though, this is a one-time thing to help my friend out. Adrian better appreciate this by the way.

  “You know what to do right?” Coach asks as he’s about to blow the whistle.

  I nod.

  Just hang out by the goal and stop the ball if anyone gets close. Easy enough. And if I’m really lucky maybe they won’t get any shots off…but then again, with my luck they’ll take like 100 shots. Well as Adrian would say, there’s only one way to find out.

  I trot out towards my goal. I’m on Billie and Adrian’s team. That’s a good sign because they always have my back and try and make sure I don’t get embarrassed (it doesn’t always work but they try and that’s the important thing).

  The scrimmage officially starts and it’s pretty…boring. At least for me. Adrian is dominating and making sure all the action is taking place on the other side of the fie
ld and I ain’t mad at that! Billie even gets into the action and scores a goal on her first ever kick (she really can do anything).

  As the scrimmage is coming to an end, I’m standing near my goal in total chill mode. I almost wish I could see some action…almost.

  Across the way, the other goalie makes a great save and all of a sudden heaves the ball halfway across the field. He hits a kid in stride and he’s headed right towards me. Uh-oh, this looks like some action. Ronnie why did you have to say that?!? I totally change my mind. I don’t want this at all! He’s getting closer and I have no idea what to do. This isn’t gonna go well. The kid rears back like he’s getting ready to kick it has hard as he can. And he kicks it!

  The ball is coming hard and fast…and high. Real high actually. So high that I stand and watch it sail over my head and over the goal completely. Phew. I dodged one right there! I wanna let out a sigh of relief but I play it cool like it was no big deal. Coach then blows the whistle ending tryouts and I’m free!

  “That was fun!” Billie remarks to me as we both walk back to the stands.

  I nod to her. I don’t know if it was “fun” but I do know that I did my job, I helped out my friend and now (and most importantly) I never have to do that again!

  “Billie and Ronnie wait up!” The coach calls out to us.

  Wait? For what?

  “First I wanna say y’all did a great job…” He starts (I think by y’all he means Billie but that’s cool). “So you made the team!”

  Made the team? What? I didn’t even do anything. Plus, we weren’t officially trying and who says we even want to be on the te…

  “Thanks, we’re in!” Billie blurts which I shouldn’t be surprised by since it was her good play that’s gotten us into this mess.

  And I’m now officially convinced this was a setup. But I don’t think there’s anything I can do about it now so I’m just standing here with the world’s blankest expression on my face.