Chapter Three: Tournament Grounds
Daine woke up the Saturday of their first tournament with a spastic buzzing in her veins. As her cardiovascular system pumped the sensation all the way down to her toes, she jumped out of bed and scooted downstairs to grab a banana. Her metabolism needed the nutrients for the day to come. She turned down an offer of a scrambled egg from Alleika and instead occupied her time brushing her teeth. Pulling her hair into a knot at the crown of her head, Daine rushed into her room and pulled a shirt over her shoulders. She slipped the silky black shorts onto her hips. Lastly, Daine yanked the unique red-and-black, long-sleeved jersey over her grubby undershirt. She strapped on her shin guards and then bedecked them with the black socks. The socks were Daine's personal favorite; they were, of course, black, but a red stripe ran up the sides and a white Adidas symbol adorned the side. She thought they were snazzy, as far as soccer socks went.
As she approached the exit for the tournament grounds, Daine's stomach pulled acrobatic stunts. What if she screwed up? What if the fate of the game depended on one shot, and she missed it? Finally she shook these thoughts out of her mind. She couldn't dwell on the unpredictable. Her hands placed at ten o' clock and two o'clock on the steering wheel turned into the parking lot of UGA's preened fields. Atleast their team had the advantage of home goals.
Daine grabbed her bag and made a determined beeline for Numair. A few girls of the team were there, stretching out and warming up. So was Varice Kingsford, Onua's replacement. It was well known that Varice was relentlessly trailing after Numair. Daine forced herself to be civil to the new assistant coach, but secretly wished she was on the receiving end of some of the looks Numair gave Varice. She didn't blame him; she was an impossibly beautiful, shapely blonde. She knew that anyone like that would be hard for Numair to resist. Peeling her eyes from the scene before her (Numair was intently viewing Varice stretch her legs) she checked her watch. Half past ten. Their first game was at eleven thirty. The Lady Dogs had, for sure, one game and perhaps a second or third if they qualified for the tournament championship. She figured that the greatest challenge would be the Lady Yellow Jackets. She had to admit; the Jackets were good. The rest of the teams were mediocre.
Daine sat down and stretched her hamstrings by touching her toes. She always started with her legs and worked up, aiming to loosen every possible muscle and joint in her anatomy. Finished with the bottom half of her body, she worked on her sides and stomach. She took special care with her shoulders. As she was goalie, her shoulders and arms were prime regions. She completed her stretches by rolling her neck.
She strapped the colorful elastic armband that identified her as captain around her bicep. Thinking back on the moment when she had been given captain's privileges, she smiled.
"Now, the moment you all have been waiting for." Numair stood with a smug look on his face. Daine could tell he loved knowing something they didn't know, and were all particularly anxious for him to reveal. "Team captain will be – drum roll, please (the girls beat their shin guards) – Chelsea Thorati. Report to me after practice." Daine couldn't help feeling a little disappointed. She had made sure that she pushed herself extra hard, stopping only when she was sure her lungs would disintegrate into dust. She went to clap Chelsea on the back all the same. Bad sportsmanship wouldn't prove anything. Just then, Chelsea spoke up and Daine noticed that the team had their eyes on her.
"Coach- erm- I can't take this." Numair seemed surprised, but waited for her to explain herself. Chelsea looked around at her fellow teammates. At the very last the girl's eyes locked with Daine's. "I feel that no one has showed more spirit and cooperation than Daine. She deserves it, not me. Daine was the only one who picked anyone up after a particularly rotten practice. She's also supported our freshmen members, and I can't say I did that much. You remember when it was pouring and they didn't have rides. Did anyone else offer them a lift?" There was a murmur of agreement from the team. Somehow, Daine had a suspicion that it was a conspiracy.
The flattered Daine found her voice. "No, really, I couldn't take that. Everyone had done as much as I have. There's–"
Becca cut her off. "Oh, just take it. You know you want it, and you know you've earned it." Chelsea took the liberty of attaching the band to Daine's arm. She was still too stunned to speak. Why would they do this?
"If you truly wish to resign, Chelsea, I think Daine can handle the load; but only if consent is given by every member of this team. And if Daine is willing to accept." This was Numair. Daine shook her head and went to peel it off, but three hands at once stayed her motion.
"Take it, please?" One asked.
"We didn't plan the whole thing to have you refuse," another added, away from the ears of their coach. Finally Daine gave a little smile and hugged Chelsea. It meant a lot to captain as a sophomore. Chelsea hugged her back and then Numair broke up the party.
"All right, back to work. Let's move, people!"
To explain the Lady Bulldogs' game in great detail would result in excessive useless soccer dialogue, so I will highlight the major points. The coin was flipped, Daine calling heads on the toss and the rival captain taking tales. It was tails, giving choice of goal to the Wildcats. Of course, they chose the goal to be least affected by the sun the first half. That meant that by the time second half rolled around and they switched goals, the Wildcats would again possess the favorable side. Diane shook hands with the girl. Hey, she would have chosen the same way. The first quarter started without much excitement, Bulldogs reaping one goal and Wildcats none by second quarter. Half time's score was still 1-0. In the third quarter, however, Wildcats had an assist and Daine easily snagged it. Bulldogs stole another two goals fourth quarter, the final score 3- zip. Daine had to admit, it felt good to win.
Wildcats were eliminated from the tournament. This left the Bulldogs, Yellow Jackets (4-0 win), the Tigers, and the Eagles to show their stuff. Next to play were the Bulldogs and Tigers on field four, the Yellow Jackets and Eagles on field three. Again, I will narrate the significant happenings. Bulldogs easily thieved three goals first half, but the Tigers had to work for the one that they scored. Daine cursed herself for letting it in, but she avenged the goal by making two other nice, clean saves. Second half the Bulldogs took another goal from the Tigers and ended the game 4-1. Numair was ecstatic; they were going to the final game. Daine knew that they would be opposing the Yellow Jackets even before the results reached her ears. They had half and hour to rest and save up for the big game.
Lying on the grass at the feet of Jon and Thayet (they had come to watch her games) was very relaxing. Daine guessed that right now, being so tired, that anyplace would be relaxing. Her team lounged nearby. But the tranquility was interrupted when Numair began bellowing orders.
"All right, team! Let's warm up. Fifteen minutes to game time." They lined up in a zig-zag line on the sidelines. Numair stood at one end and passed the ball to the person diagonal to him. Surprisingly, Varice actually decided that she was going to join. She positioned herself so that Daine would pass to her. She didn't think it wise of the older woman, but she wasn't about to tell her that. Daine kept her eyes off Varice (who was now tying her shirt up in the front to make her belly show, trying desperately to get Numair's attention) and instead kept her eyes on the ball. When it came to her –Varice didn't notice that Daine had the ball - and oops! The ball went sailing straight to Varice's thigh. Stunned, Varice lost her balance and twisted. She went down. Daine worked so hard to control her laughter that she started to have fits. Her head jerked and Varice knew exactly what ailed Daine. She narrowed her eyes. Suddenly, an ankle that previously wasn't suffering pained Varice terribly. She groaned and whined while clutching at it, rocking a little and tearing up for optimum effect. Numair was on his way, surprise finding itself into his eyes. Daine strangely noted that there wasn't any apparent concern.
Still, the Varice woman had taken something mortifying and turned it into a pity fest. Daine huffed. Once again, all the good attention was on the beautiful blonde. Daine looked up at her teammates and saw that they, too, shook with unexpressed laughter. She had to smile. Daine speculated that she wasn't the only one tiring from Varice's endless attempts for attention. Daine shifted her gaze back to the excitement.
She heard Varice whine, "Oh, it hurts, Numair! I don't think I can walk." Numair was examining her supposed injury.
"I don't feel or see any bruising or swelling," he told her after a few minutes. "Why don't you try to stand?" He straightened from where he was crouched. She reached an arm up and he took it, pulling her to her feet. Immediately Varice lifted her leg and began babbling about the pain. So, Numair performed the gentlemanly task of helping his patient to the sidelines. "Bring it in, girls," he told the team and set Varice on the bench. While his back was turned, Daine received a few discreet high-fives from many of the girls. It didn't matter that Varice turned herself into the poor, helpless victim. Daine was quite happy with herself when she got back to her resting spot. She did catch Jon's somewhat disapproving look, but his eyes convicted his facial features of a lie: they twinkled with amusement.
Daine didn't watch Numair roughly wrap an ace bandage around Varice's "damaged" ankle. She didn't need to see his careless, jerky movements to prove that he didn't truly care for Varice; she had already seen it in his face.