Determination

 His face had pain written all over it.  He was clutching his left calf muscle in absolute anguish as he looked up and said, "Hey coach Martins, this pain is like tearing me apart. You really should have seen the way Johnson went right through me. Onlookers said I was lucky he didn’t take my legs away with that tackle." Coach Martins studied his face. Dirty brown hair, a clean shaven face, and a lot of misery reflecting on his face, but what he didn't see was the grit and the will to fight against this unforeseen situation and to come out of it, unscathed.

 

"Well, I can't come out unscathed of it, because I already have hurt myself, but still, coming out from this and playing in the finals against Brooks High would be some achievement."

 

"Look David, there is no way you will be able to play in the finals, so I advice not to risk coming back. Just take your time and make a steady recovery."

 

"Steady recovery.. Hah! I ain't among the ones who count themselves as losers. There is nothing on this "lucifer-saken" planet that can stop me from playing in the finals."

 

"I gotta go now, need to see how well the others are shaping up. You take care of yourself, don’t exert yourself too much and YES, no running behind sexy girls!"

 

David scratched his head innocently and said, "I don't do that you know, it’s always the other way round. Anyways, see ya later."

 

As Coach Martins walked out of the changing room, his thoughts went back to when he had first met David.

 

He was 14 then, a small and frail figure who was as thin as thin could be. His English teacher used to call him as "thin personified". Though David didn't quite catch the meaning of that, he took it as a joke and laughed it off.

 

Coach Martins had been looking for a striker and since he knew the kind of response he would be getting, he added in the notice on the bulletin board, "New striker will have to prove his competency against school team goalkeeper, Matthews.

 

Now Matthews was what you would call a giant. 6 feet, broad shoulders, huge hands and even huger legs. People meant it literally when they called him 'The Wall'. It had been more than 4 years since someone at school had had the audacity of even shooting at the goalpost where Matthews was standing, let alone make him stretch to stop a shot. The buzz that had built up about the new striker, died down as soon as the challenge was read.

 

"Ohh man, who the hell is gonna take on Matthews? Not me!"

 

"Are you out of your freaking mind? I don't know what Martins is playing at, asking the new striker to score against Matthews. That guy has conceded only 2 goals in more than a hundred matches that he has played. "

 

"One thing's for sure. If someone does score against that damn troll, he will be one heck of a shooter."

 

The day of the selection dawned. As soon as school gave over, a huge crowd gathered around the school field, hoping to see the impossible. Coach Martins knew he had played his trump card at the very start, which gave him a useful but unnecessary advantage.

 

"All potential strikers, please line up on my left hand side."

 

Few bodies moved at this command, even fewer did what Coach Martins just shouted out, and the "am-not-bothered" look on Matthews face said it all.

 

After waiting for 10 minutes, Coach Martins saw just one boy walking up to him. Tall, lean, with no physical attributes of a striker who didn't seem even remorsely capable of taking down "The Giant".

 

Coach Martins went up, placed the ball on the penalty spot, and then walked back to David.

 

"You see that David, yeah, that’s right. Look at that huge goal. One kick and the ball lands in the back of the net. Forget the person standing in front of it, forget the hundreds of onlookers. Just focus on your goal. Manipulate that person's thinking according to yourself. Drown him in the sea of your willpower. Scare him with your determination to score. The goal isn't scored on the opposition's goal, but on the goalkeeper. Take the goalkeeper down, and the goal is yours."

 

David didn't know what was going through his mind, when he took his short run up to kick the ball, but what he did know was that a few seconds later, he saw Matthews dive completely on the wrong side, get his face covered in the mud, and saw  his shot take the ball through to the back of the net.

 

"Coach Martins, what’s up with David? He gonna be ok for the match on Sunday?"

 

"I am not too sure, but let’s hope for the best and prepare ourselves for the worst."

 

Sunday arrived and with it, came gratis the chanting of the cheerleaders, the howling of the hooligans, the giggle of the girls, and of course the elusive speech of Ms. Sarah.

 

A lady in her late twenties, it was hard to believe she was the Principal of the school, but nonetheless, one had to. (But let's not get into details of what she spoke. Believe me, it went on for two hours, you don’t wanna bear that)

 

David watched from the sidelines, as Denver took over his position of CF (Centre Forward).

 

Coach Martins took a seat beside David and said, "You know David, when I was your age, I had that burning flame within me to go out there and play the best football of my life. But circumstances didn’t let me. Don't let that happen with you."

 

David seemed to understand what Coach Martins said to him, but yet he knew that what his coach was hinting at was literally impossible.

 

There was a loud buzz across the whole stadium and it seemed an excellent build up to the final between Blue Bells High and Brooks High.

 

David turned a disappointed face as the commentator's voice rang across the huge stands.

 

"So here we are, here we are. The final of the Inter-School Football Competition is finally here. 32 teams started off, with only 2 teams remaining now. A big let down as David Leck, the top scorer of the tournament with 14 goals has to sit out of this game due to a calf injury in what seems to be a clash during practice. Well, that is a serious blow to the Blue Bells but they will be hoping that Denver who replaces David comes up with something magical tonight. So here we are, it’s kick off time. And Blue Bells will start the proceedings."

 

25 minutes into the 1st half, and the game seemed to be going nowhere. 12 corners, at least 20 shots of target and yet neither team had come close to testing their opposition's goalkeeper. To brighten up this dull game, all of a sudden Michael grinned, "555-0121, 555-0121. That's my cell number and every lucky girl who calls will be taken on a date by..guess..guess.. guess.. of course, me!"

 

He couldn’t believe his luck when he heard his cell phone ring a mere 15 seconds after he had made that announcement.

 

"Hello beautiful. Today's your lucky day, because am gonna take you out tonight."

 

But what followed was something that Michael wouldn’t actually categorize as amusing.

 

"Detention, tomorrow, till 4."

 

He looked down and saw Ms. Sarah put her cell phone back into the bag.

 

The rest of the half was drowned out by jeering from the crowd as the score at halftime read 0-0.

 

"C'mon boys. This is clearly signs of lethargy. What??!! Had extra cheese while having pizza today?" A chuckle went round the room.

 

"No seriously, you guys were so slow. This just won't do. Ok, let’s change tactics. Shift to a 4-2-2-2 with Johnson giving company to Denver up front. Marsh, you play on the right wing and mark Donald. He is one hell of a cheeky customer. Any other questions?"

 

He saw one hand shoot up in the air, and this was the one person he didn't want to answer to, right now.

 

"Can I play Coach Martins?"

 

"David you know you can't. So don't ask me this again and again. "

 

David silently left the room, immersing himself in depression.

 

"Welcome back everyone to a not so exciting final between Blue Bells and Brooks. Both teams are locked on at 0-0 with just about another 45 minutes to settle it. Here we go...."

 

Coach Martins took a break after tirelessly screaming at his boys for the first 20 minutes of the second half. As he took his seat, he felt the ominous presence of David missing. 

 

"Where is David?", he asked to Assistant Coach, Duncan, who shook his head in the negative sense.

 

"But you don't worry. Concentrate on the game, and I will find that boy. "

But after 5 minutes, even Duncan seemed to be tensed about him.

 

"And here we go with Blue Bells on the counter, with Rogers leading the charge. He's got Denver up front and Johnson to his right. Whom does he pass to? And he's passed it to Denver who flips past the first defender and makes his way to the Brooks goal. Is this the moment we have been waiting for?"

 

Coach Martins could feel the adrenaline rushing through him. What he really wanted to do, was to suit up and play alongside his boys, but he knew that was impossible. So he chose the second best option, that of cheering his boys on.

 

"And Denver is moving like some rocket with unlimited fuel. He has already skipped past two defenders and he just needs to avoid Robinson now. But that would be a tough task as the Brooks central defender packs quite a punch."

 

"Ok, cool down. Am gonna take him down the left lane, and then do a 360 and then the goal will be mine."

 

Denver switched to the left side and continued his run. As expected, Robinson charged in at a 90 degree angle which was perfect to dodge with a 360. As he commenced his 360, Denver felt something crash against his left boot and he realized that he was gonna fall. On contact with the ground, Denver temporarily lost vision.

 

"Ooooh, and that is a really hard tackle there by Robinson right in the penalty area. And the referee has no hesitation in awarding the penalty kick to Blue Bells High."

 

This line brought about a huge roar, but the crowd seemed to have forgotten Denver.

 

"And it seems Denver's bleeding real badly. They need to get a stretcher in real fast, as this lad doesn’t seem in good shape."

 

Martins saw Denver carried of the ground and now, he had to make a substitution. He looked at the sidelines and hinted Morgan to get in there. But Morgan didn't replace Denver.

 

"And its the penalty kick to be taken by woah!! Look at that! It’s David Leck who’s come in, in place of Denver. That's SOMETHING!"

 

David calmly placed the ball on the spot, and remembered Coach Martin’s words, "Defeat the goalkeeper and the goal will be scored by itself."

 

He made visual contact with the goalkeeper as his fiery eyes seemed ready to tear down that goal.

 

He took his run up......

 

"And that's a GOOAL!! This is unbelievable. David Leck has just come in out of nowhere and scored an absolute blinder. This is sensational stuff. "

 

David made his way past his hustling team-mates and ran up to Coach Martins and said, "Thanks Coach. Been 3 years but your formula never fails."

 

Martins smiled and said, "A guy takes in 4 painkillers and gets a huge bandage done on his calf muscle just to take a penalty shot. This is the kinda guy the formula always works for."

 

As he said this, he could see the triumph of determination in David's eyes as his own chest swelled up with pride!