LOGAN'S POV
Ok, I really regret looking at the Excel sheet now. I CANNOT get over the fact Betts Haywood kissed Ty-ty, got rejected and is owning the floorball trials like nothing has happened.
I gotta see how she does in the other stations.
==
STATION 2 - AGGRESSION AND STRENGTH
"LADIES!" Scottie's voice booms through the loudhailer. "PLEASE TRY TO FIND SOMEONE OF SIMILAR STATURE AND PAIR UP!"
The girls scuttle around and begin grabbing a partner close to their own size.
Haywood ends up with Number 3, a girl who's one foot taller and looks at least 15 kg heavier than her.
I hope Scottie breaks them up and reallocates, or Haywood is gonna die in this trial.
"NOW THAT YOU HAVE YOUR PARTNERS"
Bloody Scottie.
"...LINK ARMS WITH THEM! YOU WILL USE ONLY YOUR THIGH AND SHOULDER TO PUSH AGAINST EACH OTHER. NO ELBOWING. THE FURTHER YOU PUSH YOUR PARTNER FROM THE CENTRE LINE, THE BETTER."
Ok, to be fair to Scottie, the others are paired up pretty evenly. Nothing much he can do. And... no one's as small as Haywood.
Godspeed Haywood.
"YOU HAVE 30 SECONDS. ON MY WHISTLE."
Damn she's really tiny. She's like... 1.50 m? God, am I sure I want to see this bloodbath?
BEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPP!
The girls lean in and push against each other. Legend Renn Lewis shoves her partner as far as Greenland is from the Equator in a span of 5 seconds. Damn the girl probably has rugby background or something. Some pairs are evenly matched, hardly moving from the centre line. A few are faring pretty well. I start taking down the winners of this round.
39, 14, 15, 2, 13, 17...
I finally turn my head to Haywood's pair.
...
You know when you take a walk in the park, there are times when you come across dogs fighting? Odds are the dogs are of different sizes, right? You probably would have noticed the small ones are incredibly aggressive and noisy with their high-pitched barking while the big ones...well, the big ones can get pretty aggressive too, but this fight i'm watching right now? It's between a savage bull terrier and a kindly golden retriever. And the bull terrier is absolutely MAULING the golden retriever.
I'm not even sure what I'm seeing in Haywood's eyes as she digs her feet into the ground and continues shoving her partner.
Is that... determination? No, no. It's anger. Oh shit, that's a lottttt of anger. She must be channeling allll that rage from Ty-ty's rejection.
BEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPP!
The whistle sounds to indicate the end of 30 seconds.
Number 3 looks super relieved as she releases Haywood. They are three metres away from the centre line, every cm painstakingly earned by Haywood ramming repeatedly into her opponent.
36
I type Haywood's number alongside the winners.
==
STATION 3 - SKILL
I'm not expecting much from this station. Most of the girls don't have background in holding sticks. Or maybe they do haha ;)
Took me quite a while to convince the boys to lend me their floorball sticks for the trial (they were kinda scared the girls would accidentally break their sticks ;) haha, okok I'll stop it with the sexual innuendos already) but here with have it! All nicely displayed.
(Photo credit: http://www.floorballplay.com/general/buy-fatpipe-floorball-sticks-singapore-shop/)
The girls will have to traverse a simple circuit comprised of cones while dribbling the ball through the spaces between the cones, which is easy enough, I guess. (A/N: You can refer to 0:36-0:46 of the video embedded to check out what the girls are told to do)
"LADIES, YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE!" Scottie booms.
Shit, the loudhailer is really chipping away at my ear drums.
"OUR CAPTAIN FOR THE YEAR, LOGAN MCDOUGALL, WILL BE DEMONSTRATING HOW TO COMPLETE THE CIRCUIT."
And here comes the most exciting part of the trial.
My epic demonstration.
Get ready to nosebleed ladies.
I grab my stick, uh the one not attached to my body, and make my way to the neon cones.
"AS YOU CAN SEE, LOGAN IS WEAVING THROUGH THE CONES. IT'S A LEFT RIGHT MOTION." Scottie narrates.
"LOGAN PLEASE SLOW DOWN SO THE GIRLS CAN ACTUALLY SEE WHAT'S HAPPENING." Scottie says dryly.
The girls giggle.
Thanks Scottie, you just ruined my beautiful performance.
"THE NEXT PART OF THE CIRCUIT IS SIMPLY TO DRAW A FIGURE OF 8 AROUND TWO CONES FOR 5 TIMES. YOU CAN USE EITHER SIDE OF THE BLADE SO JUST USE IT TO PUSH THE BALL AROUND." Scottie explains as I loop the cones at a quarter of my usual speed. "IT'S A BIT LIKE WALKING A DOG IN THE PARK. JUST GENTLY NUDGE THE BALL. IT'S VERY LIGHT SO DON'T USE SO MUCH FORCE. OK, PLEASE GRAB A STICK AND A BALL EACH."
A couple of girls dive for the sticks with brightly-colored blades.
Ah, what do they know. A stick is SO much more than just the color. They'll soon learn.
They set forth.
To say it's a disaster would be the understatement of the century. Most lose control of the ball by the second cone and are chasing their balls all around the place. Haywood is one of them. She's too rough with the ball. All her strength is for naught here. Renn Lewis is experiencing the exact same problem. Only three girls make it through with some form of control. A quick check reveals they used to play field hockey.
You know what, I have no idea how to judge. Other than the three I identified, the rest fail this station big time. I make eye contact with Scottie, who's turned puce from holding in his laughter. Coach Landon is gonna get high blood pressure working with this bunch.
After about 10 minutes of tomfoolery, Scottie and I decide to move on to the next station.
==
STATION 4 - GAME SENSE
"Good luck Coach!" I chortle as he arrives at the court to evaluate the girls' game sense himself.
I join Scottie and the other boys on the benches.
It's game time.
It's also pandemonium.
Despite Coach's briefing, the girls commit all sorts of fouls imaginable. Some lift their sticks way above knee level, almost slapping others in the eye. Some jump to head-butt the ball. Some push each other out of the way to get the ball.
It's like watching a bunch of wild cats chase after a ball of yarn.
There's no game plan whatsoever. All the girls are simply running after the ball, which is simply leaking from one corner to the next. Their incomprehensible shrieks and shouts fill the entire court. Coach Landon looks ready to kill himself. The boys are laughing their asses off.
==
After 30 minutes of scrutiny and evaluation of their performance in the other stages, Coach Landon has his list of 20 girls.
Looks like Haywood made it.
***
A/N: Not too sure if this chapter is too technical for most readers, but Logan really likes his sports :) Let me know how you feel?
And yay I'm super glad I'm finally getting some votes, haha, thanks!
Keep voting and commenting! ^^