Daring to Dream

Chapter Seven

"What's all the commotion about?" I asked Emerie and Honora as we walked outside Politics to find the entire hallway packed with students talking excitedly in front of the notice boards.

"Our first tournament begins one week from today, so it's the opening ceremony, and tickets are now live." Crosshair drawled as he towered over us three, easily able to spot the board, what with his 6'4'' height.

"Wait, what tournaments?" I asked Emerie.

"We have a wide range of sports here, but only six are actually played in the form of tournaments. This is a really big deal because the entire set-up is planned by the Republic, and all planets are invited to send their teams. The winner gets a grand prize and it is actually a matter of honor for the team and its planet. Occasionally, the teams also have a party by the government of the planet itself. It usually spans for six weeks, one week for each game. This year, Coruscant was chosen to host two of the games."

"When are our teams selected? It has only been two months since college opened."

"Before college opens, we get a two-and-half month off. The students who wish to enrol in sports teams submit their names during the fourth week of holidays, if needed, training is given in the fifth and during the sixth week, the teams are selected, so the remaining days are dedicated to training. Each of the sports have twelve members in a team, ranging from first years to third years, and a single athlete can be a part of all teams if competent enough."

"How many times have we won?"

"I don't know about before, but we have won every game for the past four years."

"What five games are played?"

"Shockball, Greenputt, Pugil or Shockboxing, swimming, Strikeshot, and basketball." Honora rattled off.

I goggled at her. "What?"

"Come on, it's break already, we'll explain there."

"You should ask Omega about them!" Wrecker boomed. "The kid loves sports!"

For the first time today, Crosshair and Wrecker joined us for lunch as we sat on the grassy ground, talking about the tournaments.

Shockball was a game where you had to hit the opponents with an electrically charged ball in a time limit. The number of players conscious at the end of the game decides the winner. The players had gloves to hold it and scoops to throw it. Basically a game of agility.

Greenputt is a game where you have to throw a tiny ball into a remote hole, and it required a lot of skill to do that.

Pugil was simply boxing. Rarely, they take it up a notch and convert it into Shockboxing, where the boxers wore electrical muffs that can deliver shocks of varying intensity depending on your punch's strength.

Strikeshot was a twisted version of cricket, where the whole ground is divided in three circles, each circle inside another. If your ball lands within the first circle, closest to the batsman, you win four points. If your ball lands within the second circle, you win eight points, and if in the last one, you win sixteen points. The ground's circumference was dotted with ten hoops, placed so only one can be hit through at a time, each having a number of points individually written on them, and if the batsman managed to throw the ball in that hoop, he or she scores the points allotted to that hoop.

Coruscant was host to the basketball and swimming tournaments this year, and the other three were going to be on Naboo, Endor and Pantora.

Even though I never was interested in playing them, I love watching a good sport. "Can we get the tickets now?"