Chapter 10

When we got back to Ohio it was 4 am and we both walked up to my bunk bed and fell asleep. We spent most of Friday sleeping and working outside with our foot work for the next day’s game. On Saturday we arrived at the field a half an hour early. Coach Anderson was already there so we warmed up by shooting some free shots.
By 12:00 pm we were on the field starting the game. Val stood in goal. I looked back and we winked, I knew what that meant. As I turned around their best player comes down passed me. I sprinted to cut her off. I was in for the first 20 minutes and played very hard. They put me back in as forward for 2 minutes so our offense could take a break.The buzzer blew to say it was the end of the first half. Some of the players wouldn’t speak to each other as if they were in a competition. Coach came over to Val and I as we stood there talking, while Coach Valentine was talking to the team. The score was 1-3. Some of the team mates seemed determined to win while the others stood around looking at the ceiling aimlessly.
I played most of the second half. They would take me out sometimes because they said everyone deserved to play. I agreed, but when we put the other kids in, they’d just stand there and watch the game. This made me so angry! I looked at my coach with fire in my eyes as I begged for her to put me back in. There was 10 minutes left, so she took out defense and put in new defense players. Time was flying quickly as we scored 4 more points! We were finally in the lead! There was 50 seconds left and the opposing goalie dropped kicked the ball to their strongest player. I knew they could tie up the score so I moved in and hit it with my head. I didn’t have time to look up but the ball was out of bounds. With 12 seconds left they had one of their players kick it in and we all fought for the ball! The buzzer sounded, it was the end of the game! We finally won a game! We lined up and shook hands. The other team was not happy at all. And somehow neither was our team! They all were gone without anyone being able to say good job or anything. The coach, Val, and I talked for a little while and she told us that they weren’t happy about hardly playing in the game. This made me a little angry. I just couldn’t understand. We play an awesome game and they still find something to complain about. One girl even said that she might even quit because she only played 15 minutes of a 50 minute game.