Pass The Ball!

My heart is pounding, 10 minutes left into the game; time is against our side, I scream, “pass”. I ran to the free space where my teammate could pass. Being in the right place, my teammate smashed it, the killer pass. The timing of his passing was excellent, as if he could predict the future. The ball listened to me and stuck on my right foot, I succeeded to control the beast. Finally, one on one against the goalkeeper, my heart was beating wildly because of the nerves. I tried to clear my mind. I noticed the goalkeeper’s knee moving slightly to his right side. Now was my chance to strike. My heart told me to go for it. I knocked my pet to the left bottom corner of the goal. The unstoppable ball was slowly moving up to the heaven. It went in. The time froze for a moment. Then, the referee whistled shrilly and everyone shouted “Gooall!”　Once the goal was made, the opponents rushed and messed up their play. Running with the ball, trying to dribble past our super defenders but they couldn’t. To my surprise, the next thing I heard was “Pee, peee, peeeee.” The match had ended. We owned the pitch! It felt cool outside, but I felt the heat of my heart inside. The fresh air was cooling down my sweaty burning body, but I could feel the happiness inside my blood cells. The Bangkok team was waiting for us in the final. We had just stepped up to the next level.

The next day at 9:00 AM, the match kicked off. The final had begun and I didn’t sleep well. However, my coach put me in the starting members, thus I had to play and make a goal, because that’s what strikers do. Everyone was nervous and no one said a word for the first 5minutes of the match. However, everyone followed the drill. Passing the ball from side to side, stubbornly chasing the opponents to get the ball back. The Under 15’s and Under 18’s from my club team were supporting us from the bleachers. This cheered me up when I made some mistakes. I was determined to show them that we were the best in South East Asia. Both teams were playing equally, but the match started moving, to our side. My teammates shot the ball but the goalkeeper flicked the ball away. But my other teammate fired that flicked ball back again and it went into the white box with the net. “Gooal!” my teammate yelled. His smile was the best smile I had never seen. After about 5 minutes passed, the chance came to us again. It was something like the first goal. My teammate, who scored, smashed the ball to the white box where the goalkeeper was standing, but hit the bar. I ran to the ball, believing in myself I could reach to that ball. I headed the ball and the goal net shook. This was the 2^nd time I had scored in this tournament. I felt like I could score more. I tried to score more, striving hard on the pitch. I was hearing the sound of the people stepping on the grass, the sound of kicking the ball, the sound of the whistle. They are the usual sounds but I strained my ears and listened to them carefully. They made realize just how much I loved playing soccer, and then I thought, soccer is thrilling. I enjoy it with all my heart. I love playing it, because it makes me forget all the stress I have in my life.

In the middle of the match, I remembered what the coach told us every training session, “play with our hearts.” I understood the words, but not feeling at that time. And now I finally knew; playing with heart will make you feel the exhaustion but also the exhilaration and the passion you have for the game. You will never regret what you have done if you play passionately and also contribute more because you focus more. 

The game was now 2:0 to us. Our team stole the ball again. I was running to the free space, demanding it from my teammate. I screamed, “Pass the ball!”