By Mujeeb Jummah
‘Double up!’, I heard my coach’s voice as I tucked in my shirt. The latest white-white I’ve seen on TV, which has a thick blue stripe running from the shoulder down to the abdomen on both front sides. I tapped my new boots to affirm its comfort and fitting. Suddenly, the tapping had developed wings which transported me to Blu Camp- Opal FC’s stadia. ‘This is it- my opportunity, make sure you give me excellent balls Nelson’, grinned Bash. Looking into his eyes you could see him supercilious, cockily wriggling- a way of completing his earlier statement- ‘you ‘ fraidy’ cat’. Magi me, i don’t let anybody argue me around. But now is no time for words but action- consequential actions. The roaring of the fans brought me back from dream world.
Finally, I heard it- ‘number nineteen; NELSON!, I saw it- ten thousand capacity crowd, I felt it- the spirit that possess one in zenith, I want it- the glory anyone who could kick a soccer ball craved. 79 minutes into a crucial final game between CC Rovers and Opal FC saw me as a sub, rookie, and crude striker. We were down by a goal; 11 minutes remained at our discretion to salvage. The rest of the team looked ironically exhilarated as I heard their panting and marvel sweat droplets- clearly stating the fact that I’m the only frisky fellow, and everything depends on me even when I’m not captain. Again I was back at Blu Camp.
It seems Bash is getting all attention. His passes, moves, dribbles, shots, to a connoisseur, is perfect choreography, so sublime. But I’ve got dexterity up my sleeves too-those ones I learnt back at high school. I was sure to show some of my personal studs. This was a test match. Rookies chosen from different academies have been tallied to impress “the Coach” in this game or wait till next season when random picking begins. Bash and I are from the same academy, but I just can’t abide by him. It took a lot of courage to be here, recounting countless experiences of Bash trouncing me.
NELSON! The scream brought me back to reality. ‘Oh-no… the ball is rolling towards me….’ ….
TO BE CONTINUED.
