Anne G.

Winning the Championship With ERU

                          

I was coming from my friend’s house from a sleepover, and I was going to my soccer game.

        ”I can’t wait to play,” I said as I jumped out of the car.

”Have fun,” my dad yelled from the front seat.

I ran over to my friends, and we started to warm up.  I wanted to get everyone pumped so I yelled, “Who’s ready to win this thing?”

“We are,” they yelled back as we finished up on the ladder.  Our Coach (Neil Phillips) was there before anyone (he was usually late).  He got our roundos ready so we could do them after we did the ladders.  A few minutes later we were getting our line up for the game

“Caroline goalie, Allie left defence, Ally right defence, Celeste center defence, Mckenzie center midfield, Georgia right midfield, Jessica left midfield,  Lauren and Agnes forward,” our coach said for the starting line up.  “Why didn’t he put me in,” I thought to myself as I walked over to the bench.

”Hey, how come you're not playing,” Mckenzie asked with a confused look on her face?

“It’s probably because I missed yesterday’s game,” I said to her as I put on my pinny in misery.

“I had been playing for Niel’s team for the past four years, and I had only been benched once.  It was my first game ever with ERU, and I was playing up a year with third grade when I was in second grade,”  I said thinking about the past.  He benches me on the last game because I missed one game.  I didn’t even have to do ERU anymore but I chose to.  “Allie had missed more than me and she wasn’t benched,” I thought to myself as I watched the game start. Now I was getting upset.  Tears started to form and I felt like crying.

Finally, the game started (the referees were 10 minutes off schedule), and I was sitting on the bench watching the game.  My Mom and Dad were on the sidelines making faces to me and trying to ask me why I wasn’t playing.  I didn’t turn out that well, I had no clue what they were saying.  I kept on asking my coach if I could play.  The only response was “No” or “I know that you are there” or “Stop asking.”

“Please,” I begged.

“NO”.

“He will be put in at halftime for the second half.  I mean he has to put me in for at least five minutes.  I would be shocked if he doesn’t put me in.  I can’t even imagine my Mom’s reaction if i didn’t get to play,” I thought to myself trying to be positive.  At one point, I thought that I wasn’t going to be able to play because I sat down for the whole first half of the game.

 At half time, my coach gave us the second lineup.

 “Caroline goalie, Ally right defense, celeste center defence, Jessica left defense, Georgia right midfield, Agnes center midfield, Annie left midfield, Lauren and Mia forward.”  “He said my name,” I thought to myself as the coach finished up the lineup.  As I walked onto the field, I saw my parents give me a thumbs up and I gave them one back. The whistle blew and the game started.  I got the ball and started to dribble, I got past the last defense, and I crossed it in my friend Lauren got it and shot.  “ Yes,” we yelled.  The whistle blow “Hand ball,” the referee said as we all looked at each other in confusion.

“What?  That wasn’t a hand ball,” my coach yelled from the sideline.

Later in the game I took a corner kick.  I crossed into Sarah, and she took a shot. The whistle blow.  “GOAL,” Sarah yelled, and we all ran over to her.  We went to our side, and I got the ball again.  I started dribbling and a girl tripped me from behind.  “Boom,” I hit the ground face down.

 “Are you ok?” Jessica said to me as I got up.

“I’m fine,” I got to take the free kick but the goalie made a jump and got a hold of it.

The whistle blew a second later.  “Yes,” I thought to myself as I walked off the field.  We shook hands with the other team, and then we went over to get our trophies.  We sat down around the coach.  He got the first trophy and held it in his hand.  “This trophy goes to Annie Gnidula,” he said and gave it to me Then, “This trophy goes to Jessica Hakim, this trophy goes to Sarah Ballas, this trophy goes to Helena Zima,” etc.

I thought to myself “ He gave me the trophy first, but I was sat out the whole first half.”  I walked with my mom back to the car after all the pictures.

“How come he didn’t put you in for the first half,” my Mom asked.

        “Probably because I wasn’t at the game yesterday” I said.

“That makes sense,” my mom said as I sat down in the car.

        “ You played well,” my mom said as we pulled out of the parking lot.

“Thanks,” I said with a smile.

        “Would you want to do it again?” mom said to me as we pulled into our driveway.

“ Yes, but not to sit down the whole first half!” I said as we both started laughing. It had been a fun and exciting day, and that was my crazy soccer day.