"Good morning." I say coming into the kitchen where Mom is making smoothies to go for dad and I.
Today I'm going to practice with dad. Cue my excitement.
"Good morning sweetie." Mom says, kissing my head. "Sleep well?" She asks.
"Yes, thank you. It was a much needed sleep." I say. Then I turn to dad. "Should I wear this?" I ask.
"Sure." Dad says, glancing up from his newspaper. I'm wearing black spandex shorts, an Argentina national team jersey, and a pair of running shoes. In my bag I brought my cleats, shin guards, and goalie gloves. "You ready to go?" He asks.
"Yeah." I say, pulling my hair into a ponytail.
"Be safe." Mom smiles, handing us each a smoothie to take on the road. "See you later."
"Bye mom." I say, kissing her head.
Dad and I head out to his truck and start driving. After awhile we pull up to the stadium.
"Welcome to Drake Stadium, home of the Bruins." Dad says, hopping out of the truck. I follow behind him with my duffel bag. I love watching my dad coach.
I follow dad out onto the field. Surrounding the field was a track so the college could get more use out of the stadium. Soccer's not important enough to Americans to actually make any profit from it. It's sad, but true.
As we reach the field we head over to the team. The guys are messing around up until the point they see my dad.
"Guys." Dad says. "This is my daughter Carson." He introduces.
The team mumbles hellos awkwardly, wondering why I'm here.
"She's here to assist me today." He says. Instantly they start talking. Dad cuts them off. "And if you can't handle a girl on the field, you may leave." They calm down and go silent. "Alright. Go do your usual warm up."
The team sets off to work while dad tells me what he'd like me to do. When the team crowds around dad again for instruction, he shoots me a look. I turn slightly and kick a soccer ball at his goalkeeper, Jake.
Dad watches, amused, as the ball hits Jake on his cheekbone. Jake's face goes from shocked to anger in less than .1338374391 seconds.
"What the hell! Can you not kick a ball?" He asks. His face is pure hatred and where I hit him starts turning red.
Instead of reacting I kick another ball at him. This time the ball hits him on his forehead. Jake gets even more mad. Before he can say anything, Dad tosses a ball at Jake. It thumps him against his chest.
Jake stands there angry and confused. "What was that!" He yells.
"You need to be ready for random shots at your goal." Dad says. "Today, Carson's going to help you with your goalkeeping skills. The rest of you line up." Dad says. Then dad hands me a bag filled with balls. "Head to the goal."
Then Jake and I turn and walk towards the goal. "How are you today?" I ask the still mad boy.
He ignores me as he takes his position in the goal.
"I'm going to kick some balls at you. Do your best to catch or block them." I say. Jake shrugs, expecting to catch all of the balls now that he's expecting them.
I dump all the balls out onto the ground then position one, maybe ten meters in front of the goal. I take a few steps back then make a run to kick the ball. My foot connects perfectly and soars into the top right corner of the goal.
Instead of waiting, I shoot another ball quickly. This time it enters in the top left corner. I take another ball and dribble it towards Jake. As he steps out to stop me, I sidestep him and put the ball into the back of the net.
I grab another ball and juggle a few times with my feet before kicking it into the goal. I've been playing soccer for so long, it's became natural for me. I don't have to think about where to connect my foot or where the goal is. It just happens.
Next I decide to try a few easy shots on him. I kick it directly to the center of the goal, but he dives to the left, letting my ball go past. Next I make a slow kick and he catches the ball and throws it out.
Finally I juggle the ball while walking forward, then I use my head to header the ball into the net.
"You ready to listen to me yet?" I ask, crossing my arms over my chest.
Jake scowls but nods. "How old are you anyway? 14?" He guesses. Let me get one thing straight. I do not look 14.
"I'm 17. I'm guessing your 20. Now let me show you what I can do as a goalkeeper." I say. I slip on my goalie gloves and take my place in the goal. I watch as Jake takes one of the balls and kicks it around a little.
He then kicks the ball and it soars for the bottom right corner. I dive and nudge it out of the way barely. Next Jake kicks the ball for the top right corner. I easily catch that one and toss it back to him. I can tell he's getting frustrated because his next kick is fast. My hands sting as the ball connects with my hands. I catch it though, and toss it back to him.
Jake continues kicking the ball at the net until he runs out of balls to kick.
"See?" I say. "You ready for some tips?" I ask him.
"I guess." He frowns.
For the next hour I talk to him, spreading the knowledge I had accumulated throughout my 17 years of living. I even share a few tips that came from the best goalkeeper himself, Manuel Neuer.
By the end of an hour and a half, he was able to catch a lot more of my shots. I smiled at he caught a tricky shot.
"Yay!" I grin. "Good job!" I say. I give him a high five as Dad blows his whistle to get our attention.
We join the rest of the group. "Now we're playing a scrimmage. Split up evenly." Dad commands. I stand next to him as his team splits into two groups.
Once they're split up Dad looks at me. "You have to join one of the teams to make the numbers even." He says.
I turn and notice the team missing a player. I jog up to them. "What position do you want me to play?" I ask them.
The leader looking guy sneers. "Benchwarmer."
I turn behind me and look at my dad. "Want me to ask again?" I ask.
The guy sighs like I'm his biggest trouble. "We need a left forward." He finally says.
I nod and get into position. The game starts and it's obvious the guys are avoiding me. If that's how my 'team' wants to play, that's how we'll play.
As the other team's midfielder gets the ball, I steal it easily. Instead of passing the ball to our 'leader', I tear down the field. I sprint past the other teams midfield. As I reach the swarm of defense, I have to do some footwork to get past a few. This seems like déjà vue.
Finally I watch Jake amused. Then I get shoved, so I slide on the ground managing to kick the ball into the goal. The guy that shoved me lands on me and knocks the air out of my lungs.
I push the guy off me and stand up.
The guys around stare at me, completely shocked. I just scored an excellent goal against a college team ranked 5th, by myself.
"No wonder you guys are ranked 5th." I say, taking my position again.
The guys just scowl and get a determined look on their faces. The other team kicks off and runs for our goal.
I run along side of their center forward. I steal the ball and pass it out to some guy on our team. They might want to play as a team, but I do.
I run back down the field in time for the guy to pass the ball back to me. I kick it up and the leader guy headers it in.
The leader and the guy I passed the ball to hug and grin. Excuse me, but you wouldn't have scored if it weren't for me. Dad was right when he said these guys are big headed. I'm pretty sure I just made an assist.
Whatever.
We take our positions again and kick off. This time the guy I had passed it to, Mike, passes the ball to me. He runs parallel next to me. I pass him the ball but it gets intercepted by-
Daniel? I forgot Athens hot brother would be here. He winks at me as runs down the field toward our goal. For someone who's a goalkeeper, I have not been playing that position lately.
I run after Daniel and when I stop him he does some footwork. As he's stepping around the ball, he accidentally steps on it and trips allowing me to take the ball. I see Mike down the field so I swing my leg back and connect my foot with the ball to make it soar maybe 40 meters down to Mike.
Daniel and I sprint back over to the other goal just in time to see Mike score a goal.
Mike comes and high fives me.
"I didn't know your dad was our coach." Daniel says as Mike celebrates.
I shrug. "You don't know a lot of things about me." I recite. Such an overused phrase, but I used it anyway.
Mike leans in a little closer. "Maybe I should. We could grab dinner and a movie." He says. Was he inviting me on a date?
I shoot him a weird look as the game starts again and I get into soccer mode. For the rest of the game I couldn't quite get Daniel out of my mind. Why do boys have to be so weird? I mean there's Miles, West, and now Daniel. I honestly only want to focus on soccer and not cause drama.
Our team ends up winning 4:2 and I learn that our 'leader' guy is named Zeke.
After that's done dad has them do conditioning while I cleaned up the cones and balls. I packed the last bag into the back of his truck when Daniel walks over to me.
"So?" He asks, wanting to know my answer about his date proposal.
I look at him. "I'll go on a date with you the second you can score ten goals in a row on me." I finally decide. I figure that's pretty impossible, so I won't have to go on a date with him.
Daniel smirks. "Easy! When can I do this?"
I shrug. "You can try right now." I say. Together we walk back to the field and I slip on my goalie gloves. I don't think Daniel saw me helping Jake earlier. I mean, I told him at Athens that I was a goalkeeper. Either he forgot, or he doesn't care and thinks he's good enough.
I stand in from of the goal and jump around a little to warm up. Then I squat a little, ready to dive if I have to. I notice the team had gathered around to watch. I could tell they were making bets, and Jake was obviously in on it. He shoots me a thumbs up then makes the sign for money on his fingers.
"Whenever your ready!" I yell out to him.
Daniel steps back and shoots at the goal. I dive to the left and catch the ball easily. I frown at the stain I managed to get on the sleeve. Then Daniel kicks yet another ball. I tip it out of bounds.
For another ten minutes I watch Daniel get super determined, but miss every shot.
"Ready to give up, son?" Dad asks from the sidelines.
Daniel scoffs. "No coach." He says.
Dad only shakes his head and and kicks a ball straight for my face. I catch it a centimeter before it hits my face. I laugh and drop kick the ball at Dad who just chuckles and dodges it.
That man.
For another twenty minutes, Daniel shoots continuously at me.
"It's getting late. We gotta get home." Dad says from the bleachers where he'd taken a seat. "I'll see you boys tomorrow. Get lots of rest." He commands. "I'll be in the car." He says to me.
I pick up his ball and wink at Daniel before joining my dad in his truck.
I grin as I pass Jake who'd been counting his bet money. He high fives me and hands me a dollar bill.
"Thanks." I laugh.
Jake shrugs. "Buy yourself something nice." He jokes.
I wave bye to the rest of the guys and leave.
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