I love playing table soccer. Table Soccer is a game based on soccer. It is a game on a table with human figure on rods to allow them to be tilted to strike the ball into the goal. Dad loves to play with me, but I never win. No matter how hard I tried, I just cannot bet him. I was very unhappy. It drived me crazy when he won the game, he always walks away proudly, like he was the champion of some kind of table soccer tournament. One time, he even walked away with hands hitting his chest and making loud noises, acted exactly like a gorilla!
"Hey Travis and Natasha," I asked, "do you want to make dad feel sad when he lose the table soccer?"
"Of course! What should we do? " Travis yelled.
Travis is my brother, who is quite good at table soccer. He also hated it when dad win at the table soccer. Natasha is my twin sister. Even though Natasha and I are twins, we are very different. She likes girly stuff and I on the other hand like boyish stuff. Despite the differences, Natasha is quite good at table soccer too.
"Then let's practice. That's practice hard, day and night, weekday and weekend" I said, raising my hand, pretending we are a group of table soccer players in a real game.
First, I practiced with Natasha, and Travis watched. We played a three point game. I won the game by three to one.
I kept playing because I won the first game. I played against Travis. I won again, but this time the score was three to two. Travis loved to play with Natasha and I, he's one year older than me, which makes him 9 years old. Sometimes we say that he is a girl because he likes to wear Natasha's dress.
"Mmm," Travis said, touching his chin, "Seems like Natasha is good at defending because she blocked a lot of balls that I shot.
"Yeah," Natasha said, "And Travis is good at attacking because he shot the ball in twice but bad at defending because he didn't even blocked one ball."
"But," I said, "I am good at both because I blocked all of the balls you shot and I also shot the ball in the goal three times!
We found each other's' strength and weakness. We decided to use this against Dad next time.
Dad came in and asked, "Who wants to play table soccer?"
When dad ask that, I am very angry, he acted that he was very good, no one can beat him. Down deep inside of me, I wish I can win.
Natasha and Travis both looked at me and so I said, "Me me me...."
"Good! Looks like we are going to have fun." Dad exclaimed, "Sabrina, Why don't we start first?"
I was surprised that Dad pick me first. He usually starts with Travis.
"Sure.... Why not!" I replied.
"Let's play a 1o points game," Dad said arrogantly with a huge smile on his face. He probably think that I can bet you in 5 minutes.
"Okay," I agreed. Ten points game will give me some time to seek out dad's weakness.
"Okay then," He said, "Let's start."
BANG BANG GANG!
He shoot the ball in without me even realizing. It was so quick that I can't even see the ball! He did that three times so he got three points! I started to get nervous. When dad started the 4th ball, I hit it straight in the goal! It was now three to one.
After a while, the score was six to six. I saw dad, still filled with confidence in him. I will not lose! Dad started the ball, he scored two points in one minute! It was eight to six! At this point, I didn't lose faith in myself. I knew that I still can win. I took a deep breath and continued the game. I got four points in minute! Dad was shocked, he never lose. I won with the score of ten to eight!
"What?" dad said, "how?" I can see the blankness in his eyes. He looked like he just got hit by a train without knowing where the train is from. Now I even felt sorry for him.
"You are too easy to beat now," I say.
"Ha ha!" Travis said.
Now I am so happy that I can beat dad now. Dad was the one who taught us how to play table soccer at first. He used to be very hard to beat, but after a hard practice and strategy planning, I was able to win the games. I learned that never give up and always have self-confidence are the keys to winning.
I still do lots of practices even though I can easily win the game now. Table soccer is not a very popular game in Taiwan. However once in a while, we can still find some tournament to join. Hopfully in the next tournament I can win some price.
