The Fumble Of A Quarterback

Chapter 6: When the Team isn't a Team

Song for the start of the chapter!

The ride to the stadium the next day was quiet as I mulled over what mom said the other day. Maybe she had a point about me not knowing if Everett caused my dad stress. There was only one way to find out before I came to any solid conclusions.

"What stresses you?" I asked Dad as he drove to practice.

"Oh, that's an easy one. When I'm hungry, or when the cap on the toothpaste is lost, or when you don't hang your coat on a hanger, or..."

I laughed as I shook my head. "As useful as this information is, I wanted to know about work. What stresses you about that?"

He frowned as he stroked his mustache. "When the team isn't a team."

During the first practice, he talked about teamwork and why it was so important. But over the fall camp, I have seen that our team wasn't a team. They were cliquish. "Our team has issues. Why is that happening?"

"Oh that's a long story but it involved kicking a player off the team at the end of last year."

This wasn't something I heard before. Suddenly, I was interested in the conversation. "What was his name?"

He shook his head. "I don't want to jinx anything, so I better not say."

The thing was, I would find out the answer with or without his help. Honestly, Google would even tell me the answer. "Fine. Why did he get kicked off?"

"Oh, because some rules were broken, and trust shattered so on and so forth. We're still dealing with the fallout."

"And one person caused all this damage?" I asked in disbelief. I thought Everett caused these problems, but maybe he wasn't entirely to blame since he was still on the team.

Dad turned into the parking lot of the athletic center. "One person is capable of more than you know," he said, his tone turning serious.

"Is there any team member that stresses you currently?"

He laughed as he got out of the car. "This sounds like an interrogation, Nora."

I merely shrugged. "I'm just wondering. Figured I know little about the players and I'm just trying to understand them better."

He sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "The short answer? All of them caused stress at different times."

The vague response caused me to frown. It wasn't what I was expecting or wanting, and it made me feel as empty as a house after a Christmas party. Maybe Everett wasn't the entire issue, but he was for sure extending it. Dad worked too hard to have one kid mess it all up.

"But great talk, Nora. I'm happy you're really going headfirst into this stuff like a diver into a sea." He placed his hand on my shoulder and gave me a squeeze. "It makes me prouder than I could even say. Anyhow, enough talk, let's get this day started. It's supposed to be hotter than the south today so I'm calling this fall camp day inside. I think we all need some A/C in our lives."

I followed Dad into the center as the sun rose. With fall camp almost over, I wondered what was on our plate for afterwards. I didn't even know when the first match was.

This training was a lot. Dad said it was to prep for the start of the session, but it was every day with long hours. I'm sure the players were exhausted because I was.

"You know what my favorite thing about Fridays are?"

"What?"

"Team building games. And guess what? You're playing."