woso - new player

Shin guards

We arrived at the training fifteen minutes late. Myle had been sick everywhere so Beth had been cleaning it up when I'd finally emerged from my room having not been able to find my shin guards. That's when we heard Viv shout from the living room, "Myle! Yuck!" And walk out holding a the ends of a demolished shin guard.
"Merda" shit. I said while watching my trusty shin guard get chucked in the bin. Some players leave their shin guards in the club and most have definitely got more than one pair at home. I had the same inconvenient ritual I had had for years- having one pair of shin guards for training matches and matches, and opting to not leave them at the club because I took five minutes to put them on as I had to wipe them first with whatever socks I was wearing, put them in backwards, stand up and do three little bunny hops, give them a pat and take them off before putting them in the right way. And then my socks got rolled up over them.
It sounds very silly- and to be honest it is- but I had been dared to do the routine aged 12 when I was nothing more than an average player in a local club playing in a low division and not scoring any goals. That game I got not one or two goals but a hat trick and I'm convinced that's where I'd gotten the confidence to keep going with the football, pushing myself as far as I could go until I was spotted and taken to the Rome academy and then to Roma. And every game and training I did the same routine that Bea had dared me to do that one Sunday.
I only ever changed my shin guards on Bea's birthday- again to do with fact that the first time this routine had become a thing was with the shin guards Bea had gotten on her birthday but she already had a pair to she had regifted them to me. So that was my strange superstition. That and how I do my hair.
But now it was ruined.

"Sorry Gracie, bad Myle!" Beth said, carrying the guilty looking puppy into the hall and waving her finger at her and telling the remorseful dog no over and over. I just looked down at my feet. Viv came over and put her arms around the back of me.
"Sorry about that, Myle doesn't normally chew things. Were they in your room?" She asked, but very kindly not blaming me at all.
"Yeah," I said my voice breaking a bit and tears welling in my eyes but I blinked them back. "They were on top of my bag."
Myle must have grabbed them last night when she'd come into my room when we were having dinner.
"Oh Jesus look at the time!" Viv said letting me go and running upstairs to get ready. We had ten minutes until we should be in the car and all of us were only half dressed in our kits and half in our pyjamas. I went back to my room and got dressed. We never wear shin guards in training unless it's a big match at the end but I still always put on my shin guards even if I did take them off before we left. They were my confidence boost for everything. But I didn't have them. So I called B.
____________________________________

Me: B! Myle il cane ha mangiato i miei parastinchi! Io- io- Non posso giocare! Myle the dog ate my shin guards. I- I- I can't play!

*I sobbed down the line*

Bea: hush- Va bene! Amore mio, è uno stupido rituale! niente cambia. Sei fantastico G, nessun parastinco potrà cambiarlo! It's all right! My love, it's a stupid ritual! nothing changes. You're amazing G, no shin guard can change that!

Me: I can't play B! So che farò un pasticcio! Jonas mi farà panchina per sempre e non potrò mai giocare. Nessun club mi vorrà e deluderò te e la Gran! I know I'm going to mess up! Jonas will bench me forever and I will never be able to play. No club will want me and I will disappoint you and Gran!

Bea: you can't disappoint me amore mio, sono così orgoglioso di te. I'm so proud of you

*I took a deep breath and tried to stop my tears*

Bea: ora via now go (she took a second) and hunt it?

*I laughed*

Me: kill it, B not hunt it. And thank you. Ti amo. I love you