Go for Gold

2

"So, Y/N," Jacey asks as the entire team sits on the pitch getting to know each other better. "You say you were kicked out of the U.S. Soccer Federation in the tenth grade. What did you do to get kicked off?" She finishes her question and I sigh.

"I got in a fight during a high school game. The athletic districts had just been redone and we were facing a new team, typical rough game for most of the game. Bad refs. Lots of floppers from their bench, lots of fouls. It was basically just a desperate attempt at establishing dominance over the top team in both the district and the state for five years running. I was on varsity with my cousin. Her and I are the same age, but she went to Penn State to become a teacher. Anyway, in the last minute of the game, she gets nailed in the face with a ball, and we're trying to kick the ball out, but the other team is too damn stupid to figure out that they just hit another human in the face and score off of us being good sports, so after the game, we shake hands with the team and the refs, even though they didn't deserve the kindness we showed them. On my way back to the bench, the girl that kicked the ball that hit my cousin, she comes past me and pretends to trip over my foot, and throws her hands up, by then, I was just done with that day, so as she throws her hands up, I throw mine up."

"Yo, what the fuck?" Number 3 asks and I throw my hands up as well.

"What the fuck, your self, fucking flopper, get a lick of sportsmanship." I snap back and huff as she steps toward me. "Stay back." I warn her and she scoffs.

"Why, you scared?" She asks and that's all it takes.

-
Isabel
-

"Y/N! No!" I hear as I'm getting a drink by the bench, and look over to see my cousin tackle one of the girls from the other team to the turf.

"Shit, Y/N."  I say before running over and trying to pull Y/N off, but of course, she just shoves me out of the way and sucker punches the girl.

"Watch yourself next month." Y/N says to the girl as she rolls on the ground, just writhing in pain as Coach J pulls Y/N off of her and practically carries my cousin over to the bench, where the entire team surrounded her to make sure she couldn't get back out there and do more damage.

The next day, at practice, Y/N worked hard with a black eye, and since it was a Friday, I went home with her to spend the night. As we were finishing our homework, Y/N got a call, from the U16 GNT coach, so she answered it and I watched as the smile just fell from her face, after the call, she just withdrew into her self, so after dinner, on our way back to her room, I stop her by the shoulder and make her look at me.

"Y/N/N, talk to me what's wrong?" I ask and Y/N sighs.

"The federation heard about last night's game and what happened after, they've terminated my contract." Y/N says and I sigh, hugging my cousin tight, because that's big for her, soccer is her life, putting on that United States jersey for international games is what she lives for, all she wants in life is to play for the USWNT, not the youth teams, but the full team, and she was just told that she'll never get to do that. Y/N was silent the rest of the night and wasn't herself for about a week until she came to me with news that Ireland reached out and gave her a chance.

-
Y/N
-

"And that's how I was removed from the Federation my sophomore year of high school."

"But why get in a fight?" Juila asks and I sigh.

"The bad sportsmanship is something I can let go, but when you fuck with my family and then try to fuck with me, it's game over, you can mess with me all you want, you can be a terrible sport, but the second you hurt my family, show blatant bad sportsmanship as my cousin is crumpled to the ground in pain, and try to tussle with me right after all that? Nah, bitch got what she deserved. I broke her nose and her cheek bone. I've seen her a few times since that fight, she's got a lump on her cheek now." I say and everyone just stares at me. "But that was a different, less mature me, I've found ways to get rid of frustrations toward situations like that, I can guarantee that wont happen now. Losing my cool isn't worth losing my dream." I say and everyone nods. "Next." I say and everyone looks around before someone else is asked a question, and it goes a few more rounds until we're sent to the dorms to rest up, we've got a scrimmage against Stanford in the morning.