Labels│simon minter / ashley marie surcombe

XII. "woman up"

i love how simon is so amazing at playing football and free styling oml it just makes him that much more akhfsjdhsk

sorry to all of you who might not be into football (soccer if you're american) bc this chapter is dedicated to a game of football but if you watch football or watch simon play fifa you'll get me

oh and also apologies bc im starting to use the f word in this since it just feels odd not to so i changed the authors note in the very beginning of the book

+Simon+

Today is the most important day of the year.

Tryouts.

If I don't get on the team- I may as well be disowned from the family. Dad would probably shatter my 2004-2005 framed Leeds poster, then rip it up into shreds with the rest of me.

I have to get on the team.

"Right, boys, stand on the line!" the coach shouts and points to the white lining of the pitch.

"Today is the tryouts for football, and I only want the very best players to be on the team," he says gruffly and walks past all of us with his hands behind his back.

"Now, we'll be going through drills to see how good you are at dribbling, passing, touch, and shooting. Of course, if you make the team, there will be additional tryouts for keepers, but we're just sticking to the basics. After we are done with the tests, the final pin point is a game. I want to see how good you are applying all those skills to a real game. You may pick a position and a team." We all nod and he hands us a football.

"Push yourself to the max, because we don't want any slackers on this team."

He lets us sit down on the bench and assess us one by one, taking notes on his clipboard and nodding curtly when he finishes with one and calls up the next on the end.

I recognize a few boys who gathered to get onto the team- the Brown brothers (Tobi, Manny, and  their little brother Jed), Joe Weller, Chris Dixon, and Callum Airey. I don't know why Callum is here, but I don't mind much of him- as long as I make it onto the team, I'm fine.

After Manny finishes his test, I get called up. I nervously stand up and  walk onto the pitch, wet with morning dew.

"Minter, is it?" he asks and squints down at the sign up sheet.

"Yes, sir," I say.

"Right, let's start off with dribbling the ball. Go over to the edge of the pitch and dribble the ball back and forth 5 times." I do so, focusing on keeping calm and train my eyes on the ball the whole time.

"Next, passing. Pass the ball over to me and make it all the way over to the other goal." I follow his instructions and smoothly pass the ball back and forth.

"Good. Now for touch. I'll kick the ball over to you, and do your best to control it." He kicks the ball about 6 meters away from me and I watch as it lands near my feet and I try to keep it from bouncing off. After a few goes, he tells me to run and then control, which I don't do too bad in.

"Lastly, shooting. I'm going to pass the ball to you and you need to get it into the goal." In every single pass, I get it in, the ball barely skimming the keeper's fingertips.