Please read and review! You can be harsh in your reviews if you want, it'll help me become a better writer.
NOTE: I decided to change Rose's Viet name from Minh Thư to An Nhiên because I found her old name too tacky. So if you guys read An Nhiên in the future or previous chapters, just know that it's Rose.
Inhale...exhale...inhale...exhale…
"You nervous?"
I bent down and extended my right leg back as far as I could while keeping my entire foot on the ground and repeated the process for my left.
"A little bit," I admitted, "I've never tried out before, even during middle school. I was too nervous because of my weight then."
"Try to relax, you'll be fine. Heck, I bet you'll do better than me." Joe said, as he finished up with his butterfly stretch.
"So, what are you guys aiming for?" Alpha asked, stretching his quads, "Varsity? Junior Varsity?"
"Varsity of course." I replied, "But it's pretty unlikely. I've haven't played soccer competitively for a while so I'm pretty out of shape. What about you guys?"
"Varsity for us as well. Since we joined an after-school club and also joined a middle school team, I think we have a pretty good chance. Don't worry about your chances, remember what Cristiano said? If you have the passion, you'll probably make it. Besides what're you so worried about? It's not tryouts yet."
He had a point. Right now all we were doing was conditioning, which was preparing us for tryouts, and those were in a few days from now. More people came to conditioning than I thought. If I were to come up with an estimate, I'd say about fifty people were present during the first day of tryouts. We were all gathered in a circle on the field in the small stadium performing stretches as we waited for the coach to arrive. After a few minutes, Mr. Dances With Balrog (Or "coach" or "Mr. DWB" as I'll call him from now on) appeared in his usual T-shirt and shorts.
"Alright everyone, finish up your stretches and gather up behind the starting line of the track." he said.
We did as we were told while he stood by the sidelines.
"Alright now, we'll be doing two laps around the track for as a warmup. We'll split into groups of eight. You're welcome to jog or run, but you can't walk, understood?"
I then grouped with Alpha and Joe as the first group to run.
"Ready? Go!"
I started off with my normal running pace, which wasn't too fast or slow, but just fast enough to keep me running for a while. I seemed to be doing well seeing as how I couldn't see anybody behind me as I ran. Right when I finished my first lap, I saw the next group prepare to start running.
It wasn't until I reached the 200 meter mark of my second lap did I hear footsteps approaching me from behind. Taking a quick glance back, I saw Alpha's feet quickly approaching mine. Not wanting to finish second, I then took a deep breath and sprinted the final 200 meters. As I passed the finish line, I looked back and saw Alpha and Joe side by side and a few paces behind. It took a few seconds for them to catch up and by the time they did, they were both breathing harder than I was.
"Dang...where did you...get that speed?" They asked between breaths.
"Well, I have been running for a while…" I replied, a little surprised myself.
After we finished running on the track, we then moved onto sprints. Rows and columns of cones were placed on the field, with each cone being about 5 yards away from each other and going all the way across the field.
"Alright everyone, onto the next exercise," Mr. DWB started, "This time your goal is to run to each of these cones and back and repeat the process until you reach the end of the field. First, run to the 5 yard mark and back, then to the ten yard mark and back, and so on. Your goal is to perform this exercise as fast as you can and we'll be repeating this about five times. Well then, with that said, group up evenly into lines."
As I stood in front of the field, Joe and Alpha then stood behind me, making me the first runner.
"Ready? Go!"
Immediately, I set off. Five, then back. Ten, then back. Fifteen, then back…
It was at around the fifty yard mark that I felt myself becoming short of oxygen. With every step, it almost felt as if my heart was about to burst through my chest. By the time I reached the end cone, my running pace had been reduced to that of a jog.
"Come on, Ronnie! Just a few more steps!" I heard Joe shout.
I don't know how I managed to finish, but by then, I was just relieved to be able to rest. Slowly walking to the back of the line while breathing hard, I saw that there were quite a few others ahead of me. That was good, since it gave me more time to rest. When Joe and Alpha finished, they looked to be in no better shape than I was. In fact, they probably looked worse, seeing as how Joe seemed to be wheezing while Alpha had his back on the ground. This continued on for four more runs and by the time we were done, barely any of us could walk, much less stand. Looking at the seniors whom I recognized, all of them seemed fine, as if they were used to it. I almost scoffed. What are they, superhuman?
"We're not done yet gentlemen, will still have one more exercise to go!" Mr. DWB clapped, bringing us over from the field to the stadium. "All tired already? You'll never make it into the team at this rate! Well then, I guess we'll just finish off with one last exercise; a stadium run. For those of you who don't know what it is, first you'll be running up and down each set of stairs of the stadium one at a time, and then one full lap around the stadium. After that we'll call it a day."
I could hear some groans and sighs, some louder than others, but if Mr. DWB heard them, he didn't show it, probably because he didn't care. Although I wasn't looking forward to it either, it was relieving to know that we only had to run in the small stadium. Nevertheless, all of us lined up for our final exercise. One person went at a time. After about ten seconds, the next person would then go.
"Go." Mr. DWB said to me when it was my turn.
I took a deep breath and pushed my legs forward. Running up and down each step as fast as I could, I felt stiffness and aching in my thighs as I continued. I felt each drop of sweat roll down my face, I felt my mouth becoming dry from all the air I inhaled, but I didn't want to stop. If I did, I'd probably faint on the spot. After many more staircases and a lap around the annoyingly long stadium, my legs finally gave out, dropping me to the floor. I felt my head rest on the hard, dirty cement, but I didn't care if I got dirty. All I cared about was resting my tired and aching body.
I could feel a sharp pounding in both the sides of my head and heart, and it took a while for it to settle. By the time I had gained enough strength to sit up, I could see several other students, most likely upperclassmen who were still on their feet, chatting away like conditioning was just some casual activity. Amongst them, I could recognize Cristiano and Toby, and some others whom I had forgotten the names to.
Hopefully they wouldn't call me out on it if they recognized me.
After a few minutes, I finally mustered the strength to get back up on my feet, albeit with support from the fence. When the last student finished, Mr. DWB clapped his hands. "Good job everyone, that's a wrap. Conditioning will start at the same time tomorrow with some more exercises, so go home, have a proper meal, get lots of sleep, and be ready for tomorrow if you want to increase your chances of joining the team, or at least get in a good exercise."
Just as I was about to head back into the locker room to change, I felt a tug on my shorts. Looking down, I saw Alpha and Joe barely holding on.
"Could you...help us up please?" They asked.
I then took both of their hands and pulled up as hard as I could. Both of them stumbled a bit and held onto my shoulders for support before finally walking out on their own.
"Alright...see ya'll later…" Alpha said as he stumbled away towards Beta, who looked to be fresh out of volleyball practice. Joe and I waved to them as they left.
"So…" I started, "You want a ride home?"
To my surprise, Joe rejected my offer. "No, it's okay. You already took me home several times already. Don't really want to be an inconvenience. I'll manage somehow walking home."
I narrowed my eyes a bit. What the heck was he even talking about? Did he really expect to walk home with his legs in their current state? Even I was tired! But then again, why was I even offering?
As soon as dad's car came into view, I opened the door and mustered enough strength to lift my heavy leg to kick Joe into the car.
"Wha-? Hey!" he cried, but didn't fight back.
"Just get in."
Dad smiled as he saw the both of us get in.
"Hi con. So, how was your day?" he asked.
"Tiring," Was all the both of us could say with what energy we had left.
"Really? Hai con làm gì?" (What did you two do?)
"Run." We both curtly replied.
"I see. I heard that conditioning will be for quite a few days. Are you guys planning to go to all of those days?"
"Yup." we replied.
"Coach nói là nếu mình muốn được vô soccer team thì mình nên đi hết ngày conditioning." I said. (Coach said that if we wanted to make the team then we should attend all the days of conditioning.)
"Well, he didn't really say that," Joe corrected, "He more like said that conditioning was a good way to increase your chances of making the team since it prepared you for tryouts and future games."
"Well yeah, but based on how bad conditioning destroyed us today, it looks like we'll have to attend all the days and be as prepared as possible." I added.
Dad laughed when I said the word "destroyed". "Well, good luck to you guys. Hope you both make it. Are you guys aiming for any position?" he asked,
"Con thường chơi center attacking midfielder, so I'm hoping for that." Joe said. (I usually play…)
"I don't really care. I'll just play whatever coach wants me to." I said.
We then spent the rest of the ride in silence due to our exhaustion, the only source of sound being the radio. After reaching his house, we said our goodbyes to Joe after dad dropped him off.
"Mệt không?" he asked. (Tired?)
"Yeah..."
"Well, you can't sleep until you're done with your homework and the dishes."
Ugh...right. I totally forgot about that. Well, this is what I signed up for. Might as well deal with it.
Although I was tired, for some reason I felt...excited. It felt like for once I had a goal, of course besides getting straight A's. My daily exercises runs had started to feel lackluster, and now it finally felt that I was pushing myself. I couldn't wait for tryouts to begin.
The following days of conditioning were around the same, although with each new day, there was a new exercise added at the end. After a stadium run would be a series of 200 meter dashes, after that would be a some drills with the ball, and after that would be some more runs and shooting practice.
(Tryouts)
"Cleats, check. Shin guards, check. Running shoes, check. Lots of water, check. Alright." I sighed in relief at the fact that I had all I needed. Looking around, it was nice to see that the number of attending students had remained consistent.
"Seems like nobody here is a quitter. I like that."
It took me a moment to realize Alpha was talking about the attendees. "Huh? O-Oh, uh...yeah."
"Hah, you nervous already? The first day hasn't even started yet!" he laughed.
"Yeah, Ronnie. If you mess up one day, you can just make it up the other day." Joe chimed in.
"Alright everyone! Gather around!" At Mr. DWB's call, we all hurried and arranged ourselves in a circle. "Well then, welcome to the first day of tryouts. Let's start with introductions, shall we? Well, I'm Mr. Dances With Balrog, but here you can just call me "coach" or Mr. D. I teach P.E and coach both boys soccer teams along with several of my assistants Mr. Tylus and Mr. Dances with the Bulls. It's nice to see that there are more students here than we've ever received in the previous years, it makes me feel like we'll have a complete team since we are currently undermanned. Though with that said, just because we're undermanned doesn't mean there won't be cuts! If I or any of the other coaches see any slacking around, we will not hesitate to cut you from both the Varsity and Junior Varsity teams. Understood?"
I don't know what it was about the speech, but once the word "cut" was said, I couldn't hear anything from anyone. Not even the wind.
Seeming to be satisfied with the silence, coach nodded. "Glad to see you guys understand. Alright then, let's get started."
Since it was the first day, we started off with something simple, passing. The first test required one tossing the ball to the other while the other would bounce the ball once on the knee before letting the ball drop to the foot to pass it back to the tosser. The pass had to be easy enough for the tosser to catch while only using his upper body. Making the tosser have to rely on his feet to maneuver himself while catching the ball would result in the loss of points.
Upon hearing that groups would be consisted of only two people, Alpha immediately latched onto Joe.
"Wow, leave me all alone why don't you." I said, feigning hurt.
"Sorry man, maybe next time." Joe apologized, clasping his hands together and bowing.
"Don't worry about it." Luckily, I was able to find myself a partner rather quickly. He looked to be a freshman like me, his hair was tied into a high ponytail, and was about as tall as I was, maybe a bit shorter.
When the whistle blew, we started. He tossed the ball to me and I bounced it once on my knee before passing it back to him. This continued for nine more times before we were told to switch tasks, and out of my ten trials, my partner only had to jump or bend down to catch my passes.
When it was time to switch, I tossed the ball to my partner, who effortlessly bounced and returned it to my hands. After the second trial, I kept my hands in place after tossing the ball to see if my partner could return it to the exact spot. Sure enough, the ball landed safely in my palms, and all I had to do was stand still like a statue. Looking around, I saw many others easily catching the passes like I was, which made a little conscious of my own passes. I hope bending down or jumping didn't count as steps.
As we completed the first exercise, we then moved on to the second passing exercise, which involved partners being further paced apart by about five yards while the passing routine stayed the same. This continued on for a few more times until finally Mr. DWB changed the rules and stated that this time the passer would leave the ball stationary on the ground and run up to the ball to kick it with more strength. Similar to how a free kick was performed, only this time, the goal was replaced with a partner and the receivers were allowed to move to catch the ball as long as they didn't cross into the pathway of other groups. Luckily, I found doing this easier than the short passes. After all those soccer games with dad, long passes and long-range shots became my usual move because I could never dribble past him, but I was at least fast enough to reach the ball before he did. I was proud of myself to see my partner catching them with ease
Before I knew it, the whistle blew, and Mr. DWB called for all the balls to be put away. As we all walked towards the locker, I realized that my partner and I had barely spoken a word to each other during the entirety of the day. Knowing that, I felt compelled to at least start a conversation. Seeing him a couple paces behind me, I decided to slow down to match his pace.
"Hey man, thanks for today," I started, "You're a really good passer."
"Gamsahamnida. Thank you. You as well. I could see from your skills that you have been playing for a very long while. Did you perhaps play in a club?" His accent showed as he spoke, and it was easy to tell he was not from around here, like me. Perhaps he was from farther away than I.
"Well, I did play in a club, but that was a long time ago. In elementary school. Since then I've only been playing with my dad. You have some pretty good skills yourself. Have you played in a club?" I asked.
"Aniyo. Not at all. I've only played at home with friends and family and for my school teams. I have no club experience." he replied.
"Well, you've at least played for your school team, so that's already pretty good. And ah, before I forget," I then held out my hand. "Aaron. Aaron Le."
He then took my hand with a tight grip and shook it. "Moon Eun-Wol."
"Moon?" I asked.
"My last name. From where I come from, you state your last name before your first. I know people here don't do that, but it's how I've been raised."
"Ah, I see. Then your first name is Eun…?"
"Wol. Eun-Wol is my entire first name."
"I see…"
After putting away the balls, I gathered my bags and prepared to walk home.
"Where are you headed?" I asked Eun-Wol.
"To the dorms. I am not from here, and my home is too far away so I live in the campus village." he replied, slinging his bag over his shoulder.
"Really? How is life there?" I asked, curious to know how it felt to live alone, away from family.
"It is pretty okay. I visit my family on weekends and am pretty self sufficient, so living here is pretty easy. However, I do miss my family back home sometimes."
Seeing dad in the parking lot, Joe and I said our goodbyes and headed home.
"Well, I have to go. It was nice meeting you. See you tomorrow!"
The next few days of tryouts went by in a flash. The second day was focused on dribbling and speed. The third day focused more on skill, and being able to move past defenders, and the fourth day focused on scoring goals. Although I think I did fine when it came to speed, skill and dribbling, I didn't do so well when it came to scoring. For some reason, all of my shots would somehow hit either the crossbar or the sides of the goal, but never past the goal line.
"Uuugggghhhh…"
"Didn't do so well yesterday, huh?" Feeling a pat on my shoulder, I looked to my left to see Alpha's hand.
"More like terribly...I feel like missing the goal even when I was so close was an accomplishment in itself. How the heck did you manage to score all of them?" I asked him. Unlike me, Alpha was able to score with every ball in every position that was given to him, even at the wings* of the field.
"Oh you know, just the usual. Practice."
Of course he'd say that. Then again, it's not like I expected anything mind blowing. Today was the final day of tryouts, and this time, we'd be playing a full game. Eleven versus eleven, eighty minutes, and a final chance to prove myself.
"Alright everyone, today we will split you all into four teams. Once the teams are assembled, determine your team captains and positions!" Coach said, placing a ball at the center of the field.
Surprisingly, Alpha, Joe, Eun-Wol and I were all placed in the same team. For our positions, it was up to us. Alpha chose to be a forward since he was most comfortable in the front. Joe and Eun-Wol chose to be midfielders, Joe being an attacking midfielder, Eun-Wol being a defensive midfielder. I, on the other hand, didn't know what to choose.
"Well, I'm right footed so…"
"Oh! Then you can be a right winger, or a right midfielder!" Joe remembered. "That's what you usually played back at our old club!"
He was right, but I was still a little skeptical because since then, a lot of things had changed. To be a winger you needed to have speed, stamina and good dribbling skills and I didn't know how I measured up against the other players. Nevertheless, it was the only option, so I took it.
"Alrighty then! Let's get started!" Alpha shouted, holding out his hand. The rest of us piled on our hands on top of his.
"Maplers on three...THREE!"
"MAPLERS!"
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, trying to calm myself down. This was the final chance for me to prove myself after the horrible display yesterday. When the whistle blew, both teams gathered and chose which goal net they would attack in the first half. After the coin flip, the team that lost, which was ours, got to do the opening kick. Once the whistle was blown, it was go time. Making sure to stay behind the opposing defenders, I also kept myself to the sides of the field. As a winger, it was my job to offer some offensive variety along with some defense support as well. Seeing the ball come my way I immediately bounced it off my chest and trapped it with my leg, and dashed towards the goal. Being wary of my space, opposing players, and seeing Alpha catching up, I performed a cross in his direction hoping he'd be able to kick it in. However, seeing its trajectory, I noticed it was a little too high. Darn it.
Luckily, Alpha jumped high enough to head it into the goal.
"Whooo!" He and the others celebrated, dashing towards me and embracing me. The celebration was short-lived, however, as the opposing team then took control of the ball and started dashing towards their goal. Seeing them pass the halfway mark of the field, I immediately gave chase, going as fast as I could. As I got closer, the opposing players slowed down, and I marked one of the players who had the ball. Looking up, I could see it was Cristiano. However, his attention wasn't focused on me, but the ball. Nimbly moving the ball between his legs, it became difficult for me to track his movements. Taking advantage of my confusion, he performed a nutmeg* enabling him to get past and pass the ball for an opposing forward to kick it in. Fortunately, our goalkeeper was able to stop the ball.
After the goalkeeper kicked the ball forward, I once again dashed along the wings of the field to the net. Seeing Eun-Wol on the ball, raised my hand up to get his attention. Once he saw that I was open, he sent the ball flying my direction. Once again trapping the ball with my foot, I dashed toward the goal. Nearly entering the box, I started to dribble, trying to grab the goalkeeper's attention until-
"SCORE IT AARON!"
Instinctively, I kicked the ball forward, only for it to hit the sidebar and bounce out slow enough for the goalkeeper to snatch it.
I sighed in frustration, as I positioned myself in front of the goalie.
"Sorry about that." I said to the others as they caught up.
"Don't worry about it. Next time." Joe said.
Thanks to my earlier slip up, I became determined to fix it. There was no way this game was ending without me scoring. That and assuming I'd last long enough of course.
After several minutes, the opposing team finally scored thanks to Cristiano's header from a corner kick. Unfortunately, we remained scoreless for the majority of the game due to several of the defenders making me and Alpha, which led to the goalie easily anticipating and catching the shots coming his way. After a while, my energy started to run low, and it became difficult to sprint without feeling like my heart was about to burst through my chest. However, once Eun-Wol performed a tackle on one of the players and took possession of the ball, I decided to sprint towards the goal like all the others, chasing the ball as it flew forward and over our heads. Because the ball was flying was closer to the middle, Joe reached it easily and slowed down as the centre-backs closed in on him. Hoping to provide some support as he tried to dribble past them, I cut through to the middle hoping he would spot me.
Seeing him briefly turn his head back, I looked down and saw him perform a back heel pass towards me.
This was it. With what little time we had left the only option I had was to either pass or kick it in. To pass, I'd have to find someone open, which was going to be difficult and time consuming due to the fact that our opponents were fully on defense. The only option now was to kick it in. With my head finally clear, I brought my right leg back and swung it forward, hitting the ball with the side of my foot. I saw the ball bounce on the ground several times before moving in between the goalie's legs and past the goal line.
And then the whistle blew, signaling the end of the match.
"YEEEAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
I then found myself tackled by the team.
"You ready?" they asked.
"Yeah, just hurry up and tell me I didn't make it already." I said.
"Oh come on man, you scored the winning goal! That's gotta count for at least something." Joe said.
"Maybe, but I'm pretty sure it won't cover up me missing all those shots the day before."
We were all huddled in front of the gym, eager to see who had made the team. I figured based on my performances, I'd only made Junior Varsity at best. Not bothering with the Varsity list, I scanned the JV list, failing to find my name.
"So I didn't make it, huh…" I sighed. Well, it's not like it wasn't expected but it was still disappointing.
"WHOO! VARISTY!" Joe yelled, running away and pumping his fists.
"YOOO ME TOO!" Alpha yelled, running after him. Seeing them so happy, it made me a little jealous.
"Ah, there I am. Varsity. What about you, Aaron?" Eun-Wol asked.
"Well, I didn't make the junior varsity team, I can tell you that." I said. "As for Varsity, well let's see…" Starting from the top of the list, I made my way down.
…
I didn't really have to make it far, since my name was close to the top.
"Huh…there it is."
"Congratulations. You made it. We all made it." I felt a pat on my shoulder as Eun-Wol left.
Wait…
"VARSITY?!"
Whew! This was actually pretty darn hard to write. I couldn't decide whether I should make the tryouts a few chapters long or one. Anyways, I hope its too your guys' liking. If there's anything in this chapter that could've been done better, please don't hesitate to let me know. My first year in college is over so I'll have more time to write. I'm hoping to pump out some more chapters/stories in the near future.
Name: Beta Zero
Gender: Female
Birthdate: January 1
Age: 14-15
Height: 5 feet 9 inches
Interests: music, volleyball, dancing, cuisine, books.
Hobbies: reading, creating new hip hop choreography, volleyball, singing.
Strongest Subject: None. (All around)
Favorite food: Burgers
Interesting info: Ten minutes younger than her brother, Alpha. Like her brother, she has exceptional grades and many admirers of all ages. Contrary to her brother, Beta is more quiet and composed, typically analyzing situations before she acts. She is mostly the reason her brother stays out of trouble. Like her brother, she loves to sing, but has a horrible singing voice, although neither siblings know it. If they do, they usually deny it. Although calm and composed, she has trouble being idle and always tries to keep herself active. When she has nothing to do, she either dances, practices volleyball spikes, or goes on free running sprees with Lapis and Lazuli.