𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫; mattia polibio

026

june 14 2021

soccer championship/tournament starts today at 6pm and i'm currently driving to the field to practice. samy and mar were practicing with me all day yesterday and they said i'm ready. i'm not really that nervous but i feel like i'll mess up badly, tomorrow is my 4 months with hector and i know i'll be sore.

i parked my car and went inside, it was 4pm and i have two hours left until it's game time. i've been playing soccer ever since i was in grade 1 with my brothers and my mom always put me in the soccer leagues but took me out when i was moving to jersey. after that, i've been doing soccer at school instead.

i took off my sweatpants and hoodie leaving me in my uniform, i put my cleats on and stuffed everything else in my locker. i grabbed my water bottle and put my hair in a ponytail, i went out to the field and waited for everyone else. i was coach since everyone said i was the best, which is a lie since all of us are amazing.

we finished practicing and we're ready, we walked on the field and saw tons of people watching us. the people from my school were wearing green and white while the other side was wearing maroon and white. i pulled everyone in a circle for some motivational words.

mia: all the hard work we've done these past months will pay off today, we have 90 minutes to show sir wilfrid how st pius x works. when that whistle blows, how you play determines your future and can change your life in the blink of an eye. you guys will work your hardest, who cares what the scoreboard says, however you play determines how you play, you're giving your all. we all want to win but one thing for sure is that when that whistle blows, know inside you that there's only one winner. this sport is meant to have fun, so what if we lose, we tried our hardest and did our best but if you care about your future, how you play depends on your life

we got in our positions and i was striker, i stood in the middle of the field and listened to the principal ramble about the game. the referee blew the whistle and i had the ball, my future depends on how i play and i will do my best.

it was halftime and we're losing so far, it's 4-2 and i really hope we win, i headed to the locker room to see everyone wiping their sweat and drinking their water.

mia: guys, what is happening out there? we should be winning, not letting wilfrid get all the shine
alisha: why does it even matter, we suck
mia: are you giving up already? we are not going to give up because we are losing. we are going to come out stronger and win, as much as you guys want this game to be fun, always in the end there's one winner. that'll be us, if you give up now you're gonna look back and realize you fucked up. you're going to go back to the 5 year reunion and not see you and your teammates on the soccer wall at school, you're going to regret the huge mistake you made. let's practice for now

we passed the ball to each other and did a few tricks, we were good over here but on the field, they're nervous.

mia: i get you guys are nervous cause it's a huge crowd but there's nothing to be worried about. we are going to play like how we practice, we are amazing during practice but on that field we look like shit. i am not sorry for being harsh cause the only way we will achieve this is if we are harsh to everyone, unless you wanna give up and lose

the halftime bell rang and we went back on the field, i stood striker again and waited for the referee to blow the whistle. this was supposed to be fun but i guess now it's not, this is how me and my brothers played. it was fun and games until each friday, it seemed like an actual soccer game, like juventus facing lyon.

the score was 5-5 and one of my teammates passed the ball to me, i ran so fast like my life depended on it. i passed it to one of my teammates and she ran with it, i caught up with her and she passed it to me. i kicked the ball hard and it went in, the bell rang and we won. my school started yelling and cheering for us, i saw alessya and julia throw their hands up and smiled at me.