The Coach's Daughter

Chapter 23

After four drills it was time to condition the boys.

"Alright, boys, come in!" I yelled.

The boys ran over to me, and formed a semi-circle.

"Okay, guys, you have two choices," I said, holding up two fingers. "One," I tapped my pointer finger, "Conditioning. Or two," I tapped my middle finger this time, "A game. Talk it over as a team, and then tell me what you decide. Just so you know, you are doing both, but you're picking which one you do first. So pick wisely," I grinned wildly.

The boys huddled together, whispering. I took a few steps back, letting the team have some privacy.

Within a minute, the whole team turns and looks at me.

"So? What's your answer?" I questioned.

Ben stepped forward, saying, "We want to play the game first."

"Wonderful," I grinned like the Cheshire cat. "So we will be playing soccer tennis." I paused, as their were cheers. Pfft, they thought this would be easy, I thought. "Divide up into groups of four. The two extras will be coming with me," I ordered.

They divided up and stood next to their group. Henry, Ben, Charlie, and Micheal were a group. I was glad Henry, Ben, and Charlie were getting along. Mike, Craig, John, and Paul were another group. Eric, Allen, Gavin and Jeff created the third group. Danny and Silas were the last two.

"Like I said earlier, you guys will be playing soccer tennis. Which means you will be juggling back and forth, without the ball touching the ground."

"But there is a twist," I continued. "Instead of going over to the tennis courts, and playing against a different team, you're opponent is yourself. Two people will be holding one person up, acting like the 'net'. The fourth will be actually playing. You will start on one side, less than ten juggles, and then slide under the net to the other side, to do the same thing. Listen to when I say SLIDE UNDER THE NET. Not jump over, not go around, UNDER. Which means, the two people holding up the 'net' will need to hold him up high enough not to get hit. Does everybody understand?"

"Demonstration?" Micheal asked.

"Sure," I answered with a smirk. "Danny, Silas, and Charlie, please come help in the demonstration."

They all walked over to me. "Now out of you three, who's the lightest?"

"170," Charlie said.

"160," both Silas and Danny answered.

"Alright. So Danny and Silas, you will hold Charlie up, while I will show you how to do it."

The three nodded their heads, and set themselves up like a net. I ran to get a soccer ball from the sideline.

When I came back, Danny was holding Charlie's ankles, while Silas had Charlie by his armpits. Charlie's face was towards the ground, so the sun wouldn't blind him. They held him waist-high, and I situated myself to begin.

I started juggling, and kicked it super high over Charlie, and slide-tackled underneath him, to the other side. I got up quickly, and looked for the ball. I found it quickly making it way towards the ground a few feet away. I ran over to it, and juggled it into control, before kicking it high over Charlie again. I slide-tackled underneath him, and got up again. I let the ball drop to the ground, done with the demonstration.

"Okay. Silas, Danny, put Charlie down now," I smirked. They gently did so, and Charlie stood up.

"You will go five times in a row before you switch. The heaviest person out of the three not going will be held as the net. Understand?" I questioned.