Kickin' It With Dad

by Christopher R. Ford

  “You never know. Stranger things have happened, you already know that.”

  He does have a point there. Strange things have happened in championship games twice before. In baseball it was Billie getting injured and me having to come in and finish the game. In basketball it was Billie covering for me when I almost blew the game. So, like I’ve said before, surely nothing crazy can happen three times in a row…right?

  “Plus, if you didn’t want it, you wouldn’t be out here in the middle of the night so there’s no ‘I think’ in here either.”

  Why does he have to keep making good points?!? I look over at him a bit apprehensively, he’s looking at me with total confidence. Well, if he’s so confident I guess that settles it…

  “Let’s do this.” I say finally.

  We start practicing. He kicks balls at me and I save them…well some of them. I’ve picked up a few techniques from watching videos on YouTube (and even from watching Rich) so I’m trying to apply them.

  “Technique is important but just as important is heart and courage.”

  I hear him but it’s clear technically, I’m still no goalie expert. And at this point, it’s probably too late to become one. And after giving up a particularly bad goal, I’m starting to get flustered again.

  “You gotta feel it.” My dad says and noticing I’m about to inform him that I still don’t know what “it” is.

  “Visualize it.” He states.

  Wait, what? They’re the same thing?!? He breaks out into a big smile.

  “Let’s try this again. Just like last time, close your eyes.” My dad starts. I close my eyes. “See yourself in front of the goal protecting it, ready to make a move…”

  I remember and I do as he says. Now I’m ready!

  “Remember to keep your eyes focused on the player and the ball. Anticipate where they’re going and what they’re gonna do. Pick up on the small things and movements they’re making. And as soon as they get ready to kick it, move!” Right. Got it!

  “Now open your eyes.”

  I open them. I see a ball alright, headed right at me! There’s no time to think, only time to react. I make a move and make the save! I knew what he was gonna do.

  “Wow you did it!” He says surprised yet impressed. “You turned your vision into reality.”

  I did, didn’t I? I might have to work more on my visualization later…and by myself. But anyway, “what’s next?” I ask my dad.

  “Ready to do it again?”

  I nod my head confidentially. Let’s do it. I do my visualization thing and he kicks again. I go left but the ball goes right and he scores. All my confidence goes out the window just as quickly as it came.

  “Why can’t I feel it all the time?”

  “No one can do anything absolutely right all the time.” He says starting to walk towards me. “No baseball player gets a hit every at-bat, no basketball player hits every shot they take, and no goalie makes every save. But I’ll tell you what, if you’re focused and you’re prepared, things will go your way more often than not.”

  He stops right in front of me, leans down to get to my eye level, and smiles.

  “Just like your magic arm remember?”

  “But that was luck!” I reply.

  “Was it?” He says adding a wink.

  He turns to head back inside. So it’s over? But we just started!

  “But I still need more work!” I call out to my dad who stops at the door.

  “Don’t worry, you’re good on the practicing. Remember, it’s all mental. You just gotta feel it.”

  Sure, I know I gotta work on my visualizing, but getting a couple more saves in wouldn’t hurt either. But he’s waving me over to the door so I guess the party’s over. And once I reach him, he asks me how I’m feeling now.

  “If nothing else, it could be the last time I ever play soccer.” I say light heartedly and we both laugh.

  “Just don’t count yourself out son. You can stand up to anyone and anything.

  I believe in you. Be brave. Be strong.” He says and makes a fist, not one made in anger, but one made with confidence and strength.

  We fist bump.

  “And, like I said earlier, you never know what’ll happen next.” He reminds me one more time with another smile and a wink.

  What’ll happen next. What’ll happen next? I keep thinking and wondering as I stare at my stars. Deep down I’m honestly still torn about wanting to play. I will try to be mentally ready…but also, I’m gonna try not to get my hopes up too much so I can avoid being disappointed. I think that’s all I can do. And besides, the logical part of my brain knows this is probably all for not anyway.

  But something always happens on championship gamedays…

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAMPIONSHIP GAMEDAY

  I wake up feeling strangely good. The fam is in a good mood too (which is even weirder). None of us should be feeling particularly good, nothings about to happen today.

  My mom hooks up an epic breakfast letting me know that pancakes will help give me energy (which I’m not sure is scientifically accurate but I love pancakes so I scarf them down anyway).

  “Are you ready?” My mom asks out the blue.

  “Uh…” She’s never asked me if I was ready for a game before so I’m so shocked I don’t know how to answer.

  “…You know I’m not playing right?” I finally respond.

  “Oh well you never know.” She responds with a smile and a wink similar to my dad or even Billie.

  I look over at my dad who is indeed smiling slyly (I shouldn’t be surprised). I just kinda shake my head. We all head to the game together (usually my mom and my little brother come later). Everyone is excited and talkative, even my brother. This is getting super weird! It’s like everyone in my family is in on some big secret except me. I don’t know what to think so I just sit and let them talk all the way to the park.

  We get to the soccer complex and it is packed (and by packed I mean completely and totally packed)! Cars and people are everywhere. There are so many cars here we’re stuck in line just trying to get in. That’s never happened before! I look at my watch, I’m glad we left early. But the longer it’s taking, the more nervous I’m getting. I gotta remind myself I’m not playing. Ok, I’m calming down…a little bit.

  Finally we enter the complex and park. As soon as I step out of the car, something hits me like a wave. You can feel the buzz in the air. It’s championship gameday alright. Oh, and did I mention, we’re on the big field today so you know things are about to get real…at least for Billie and Adrian. I’m glad I’m not playing now or my nervous level would be on ten for sure.

  We reach the entrance to the field. My dad stops me before I enter. My mom and brother wish me good luck, grab a couple of programs (they have programs for this game!) and continue in.

  “Keep your mind open and be ready for anything to happen. oh and you

  gotta…

  “Feel it. I know dad.”

  “Okay, okay.” He replies with a laugh. “You got this.”

  He gives me a pound and sends me on my way.

  I walk onto the field and whoa! I think everyone who was in line to get into the complex is now in this particular stadium. I knew this was the big field but wow! One half of the crowd is rocking purple and black for us and the other half is in red and gold repping for the other team (they’re the Kings by the way). The game hasn’t even started yet and the crowd is hyped up, cheering and blowing vuvuzelas. It’s like the kid World Cup in here! Yup, I’m totally cool with not playing now.

  I walk over to the team and start stretching with Billie and Adrian. I say hey to both of them but something is off. Instead of an enthusiastic greeting, I just get a couple of head nods from the both of them. Ok…

  As we continue warming up, Billie and Adrian continue to give me the cold shoulder. This is the complete opposite of how things usually are; I’m chill, and dare I say it
, Billie and Adrian appear to be nervous! It’s getting so weird that I’m actually starting to get worried. What’s gonna happen next? Rich The Rich Kid being nice to me? Nah!

  Coach calls the team together for a pregame speech. He has to speak loud just so we can hear him over the crowd. “Here we are guys…” He turns to Billie. “and girl. It’s been a great season, a perfect season. You’ve worked and played hard and you’ve come a long way. But we haven’t made it all the way yet. And all that hard work, and that perfect season won’t be if we don’t finish. And the final test will be the toughest one. We’re playing a great team.” He pauses and looks directly at Billie and Adrian.

  “They have great scorers.”

  He pauses again then looks at Rich.

  “They have a great goalie…But our scorers are better and our goalie is

  better.”

  Billie and Adrian look at each other and nod. Rich smirks confidently. The rest of the team starts to stir.

  “The time is now. This is the big one. Let’s do this thing!” He says putting his fist in the air.

  The team erupts. I look over at

  Billie and Adrian, they finally look ready now. The rest of the team looks ready too. Yup let’s do this thing! I can go and wish Billie and Adrian luck now that they’re back to their normal selves.

  “Thanks Ronnie but I already know we’re gonna win.” Adrian says to me.

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because we always do.” He answers back with a smile.

  “He’s right you know.” Billie adds. “Something fluky always happens but no matter what, we always get the

  W.”

  “If y’all say so.” I reply somewhat skeptically (only because I know they’re right about us always winning but I hope they’re wrong this time about something weird happening).

  “I do say so!” Adrian says.

  “I do too!” Billie adds.

  We all laugh and Billie and Adrian join the rest of the team on the pitch. I’m starting to feel really good about the game now.

  Everyone is set. The ref blows the whistle and the game is on! I find a spot on the end of the bench and get nice and comfy. I start to check out the

  King’s players to see what they’re

  working with. Right away I notice something. I know their goalie! His name is Sahr. I’ve played against him in baseball and basketball. If he’s as good at soccer as he’s been at the other sports then we’re gonna have to watch out for him (and by we, I mean Billie, Adrian, and Rich).

  And wait! They’ve got a girl on their team! I’ve never seen a girl play before. I mean sure I’ve seen Billie play but she’s on my team AND she’s my friend so she doesn’t count.

  The action starts out fast and furious and before I can get my first cup of Gatorade (hey its hot and I need to stay hydrated to cheer on the squad so don’t judge), The girl on the Kings squad makes a couple of pretty cool moves and gets a shot off and Rich ends up making an incredible acrobatic save diving to his left. This girl might be kinda good, who in the world is she?

  There’s a program on the bench next to me so I pick it up and check it out. Her name is Jai’Ana. Ok we better watch out for her. Now of course, after making the save, Rich has to try and style on everyone (and by style I mean do a terrible version of the floss, yikes).

  Moments later, the Kings come right back at Rich and Sahr challenges him this time. But just like he did with Jai’Ana, Rich makes the save. This time he anticipates and dives at just the right time to prevent the goal. Instead of dancing this time (thank goodness) he wags his finger like “no, no, no, not today.” Humble, Rich The Rich Kid is not. But even saying that, he’s got skills and if he keeps this up, we’ve got this.

  The teams go back and forth but no one is able to breakthrough and score. Things are getting tense and I can see how focused Billie and Adrian are even from here on the bench.

  And then with just a minute to go before halftime, Adrian and Billie get a breakaway. It’s a 2-on-1, we gotta score here!

  Adrian has the ball and he’s flying up the left side of the pitch towards the goalie with Billie running as fast as she can up the right side. Adrian makes a move to put pressure on the defender and make him commit to trying to stop him. As soon as the defender steps up, Adrian stops on a dime with one foot on the ball and does a spin so his back is facing the defender and the goalie. I have no idea what he’s doing. Neither does anyone else because I think everyone on the pitch stops…except for Billie who is still running towards the goal. And that’s when Adrian does a no-look kick pass to the streaking Billie. The ball lands perfectly at her feet and she smoothly transitions into a perfect shot. She scores!!!

  The crowd goes wild! The bench goes wild! I go wild! Billie and Adrian celebrate but don’t do our Black Panther celebration (instead Adrian runs in a circle howling for some reason making me and Billie laugh). They head towards the bench and I can call out to them.

  “Why didn’t you do our celebration?” I ask them.

  “Saving it for a big play remember?” Adrian replies as he and Billie head right back towards the center of the pitch.

  A big play? I don’t know if they’ll be a bigger play than that. There might not be another big play at all. The way Rich is playing this game could already be over and the championship ours.

  “It’s a wrap!” Rich loudly and boastfully claims before Coach G delivers his halftime speech.

  Billie, Adrian, and I look at him then at each other and shake our heads. He’s gonna mess around and jinx us!

  “This game is far from over…” Coach G states immediately shutting Rich down. He sulks and sits down next to us.

  “Anything can happen…” Coach continues…

  “Except me giving up a goal.” Rich mutters under his breath so Coach doesn’t hear him.

  Coach does more of his usual ra-ra talking (I kinda zone out again honestly) and the rest of halftime flies by. 20 more minutes like the first and we’ll be champs. I wish Billie and Adrian good luck again, just being a good friend and all that. Billie and Adrian wish me luck in return, much to my confusion.

  “Coach said anything can happen.” Billie says slyly.

  Except me getting in this game I think to myself.

  The second half gets ready to start, I get re-comfy on the bench. I look into the stands, my mom waves excitedly for some reason, my dad nods like he knows something I don’t. Ok that’s a little weird but whatever. I get back to browsing my program (hey I’m in it. That’s pretty dope!).

  It’s goes right back to the defensive battle it was in the first half. Each goalie is making save after save. No doubt this is gonna come down to the very end. This is intense!

  Ten minutes to go now and it’s still 1 – 0. I’m enjoying another cup of Gatorade (it’s still hot and I still need to stay hydrated) when there’s another breakaway. But this time it’s the Kings with a 2-on-1 and it’s Sahr and Jai’Ana. I’d be so nervous if it was me out there, but I know Rich has got this.

  Sahr passes it to Jai’Ana, Jai’Ana passes it back to Sahr. They’re going back and forth as they approach the goal. Rich is super-aggressive and goes right at them. He’s way out from the goal now, what is he doing? Jai’Ana makes one final pass to Sahr and Rich is right in front of him. They’re gonna crash!

  Bang!

  They run into each other, or should I say, Sahr ran into Rich. It looked to me like Rich kinda lowered his shoulder but I’m not sure. Either way Sahr is down and that looked like it hurt. The ref blows his whistle and everyone stops. He runs up to Rich and Sahr with his hand up, stopping directly in front of Rich. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a red card.

  I guess that’s like a technical foul in basketball. I’m not sure but either way that’s probably not good.

  Rich’s face turns about as bright a shade of red as the card in the ref’s hand.

  “A red card?!? No way! I didn’t do any
thing!!” He yells out.

  I’ve never seen a kid yell at a ref like that before, this is wild. Rich is seething but the rest of the team just looks shocked. Coach G and the rest of the kids on the bench slowly start turning towards me. Wait a second, what’s going on here?

  “Ummm…Williams…you’re in.”

  “Huh?” I say because I think I misheard him. Actually, I’m sure I misheard him.

  “You’re. In.” He repeats himself.

  “But…why?” I ask in total shock now.

  “Rich just got kicked out.” Billie says coming off the pitch with Adrian (Rich is still complaining to the ref).

  “The red card.” Adrian adds. “That means you’re ejected.”

  Rich has been kicked out? No wonder he’s so mad. His parents have somehow made their way to the sidelines to give the ref a piece of their minds too. They’re way too dressed up to be watching a kid’s soccer game on a hot Saturday afternoon by the way. Oh, and they seem really mad too. Wait, who cares about them being mad? I have to go into the game?!?

  “Williams, get out there.” Coach has to tell me once again.

  I look over at Billie and Adrian who are both smiling, something I definitely don’t feel like doing at the moment. But I can’t not go into the game so I slowly stand up and kinda shuffle to my bag and get my gloves.

  “See, you never know!” Billie says to me still smiling.

  I just shake my head. I definitely didn’t know. Of course I’m super nervous and surprised, y’all should know me by now.

  So finally, I apprehensively trot onto the pitch. I look around at this crazy huge crowd. It looks even bigger being on the field. The good news, I’m not shocked anymore. The bad news, I’m now terrified.

  I’m heading to the goal obviously but everyone else is heading away from me towards the corner.

  “Hey, where’s everybody going?” I

  ask Billie and Adrian.

  “Oh, they get a corner kick because of the red card.” Adrian answers like it’s no big deal.

  A corner kick? The only thing worse than that for a goalie is a penalty kick. It’s a huge deal and of course that’s the first thing I have to defend to try and keep our lead. Ugh!