Chapter 2

July 28, 2017

A tall, young girl is eating dinner at the kitchen table with her parents, both of whom noted that she was considerably twitchier than is typical of their daughter. The two share brief smiles with each other. Though the girl has a fork loaded with some sort of noodle dish, she seems on edge or excited. As she places the fork on her plate, still loaded with noodles, she looks up.

“Dad, Mom, I really like this team. Practice was so fun, today, mostly because they’re all so good. It seems that everyone can anticipate what the others will do. Coach had me play in all three of their front-line positions and in both wing midfielder positions. I definitely need more practice at defense; I wasn’t a very good midfielder. But Rathi, who is an incredible midfielder – she plays the center – gave me some good tips. She was really nice to me, and she’s known me for only two days. I’m learning so much!”

“I can tell that you like the team,” said the tall, young girl’s mother. “I haven’t seen you stop eating noodles and cabbage until your plate was clean in years.”

The girl’s father smiled at the girl, then said, “I’m looking into the weights Coach Virtanen suggested. I’ll probably be able to get the one- and two-pound dumbbells tomorrow after work. She said that those were the most important at the beginning. As you work and grow, she suggested that five-pounders would be good to have, but not, yet.”

“Thanks, Dad. I guess, tonight, I’ll look up the exercises she suggested.”

The girl’s father nodded his head, and said, “You should have enough space in your room to be able to do most of those exercises there, but feel free to use the living room if you need more space for some reason. Coach Virtanen suggested that you do many bouts of short workouts in a day, rather than one long workout. You might consider doing a bout when you get up, another before taking your evening shower, and one or a few at other times. She suggested that once you get used to doing the workouts, that you gradually put in more repetitions.”

“Okay, Dad. Coach made it clear to me that I need to do this. I will do it.”

July 31, 2017

A tall, dark-haired woman and what looks to be her tall, dark-haired daughter are cooking dinner. At the kitchen table, a tall dark-haired man looks up from what looks like a college textbook. The diagrams visible on one page suggest either mathematics or, perhaps, physics.

“Civia, you’re twitchy, again. Was practice okay?”

“It was great, Dad! I’ve probably learned more in two days of practice with this team than I did all season with the team I was on this year. It’s so nice to play with teammates that can think ahead, predict what teammates will do. I got to play for a little while as left wing on the offense with both Rhee and Beth. That whole offense works so well together, but those two ... It’s like they can read each other’s minds. This is just so fun! Soccer is so fun with good teammates!”

Something of a dreamy look crossed the young girl’s face. Her parents looked at each other, the father arching his eyebrows at his wife, who was smiling slightly. He turned back to his daughter.

“I’m glad, Civia. I know that you weren’t happy on this year’s team, and I feel sorry that that was the case. So, you were scrimmaging, today?”

“Yes, all practice. Tomorrow, we’re supposed to have shooting practice. Oh, yeah. This is another example of why this team is so wonderful. Beth and I were talking about shooting on Friday and she offered to pull Heather and Marli – Heather’s the starting right wing and Marli is the backup goalie – so that Heather could give me instruction on outside-foot shooting. Instruction just for me!”

“Can she really do that, what she suggested, pull two other players out of regular practice for you?”

“It seems so. Beth is, besides the team captain, also the Assistant Coach, and Coach seems to give Beth ... umm ... a lot of freedom to do things that she thinks need doing. It was Beth who invited me to hang with the team at the game on Thursday. When I told Coach that Beth suggested that I offer my help, she accepted me without question. I think that Coach is ... umm ... what’s that word ... grooming Beth, teaching her how to be a coach. I’ve talked with a few of the team members, and they all seem to look up to Beth. Though I haven’t talked to Brianna, the starting goalie, both she and Ann, the two 15-year-olds on the team, seem to respect Beth.”

“So, it was a good thing that she was the one that I talked to at the ice-cream parlor.”

The young girl nodded emphatically, then returned to her cooking tasks; her father returned to his studying.

August 10, 2017

As the tall, young girl’s mother starts the car and pulls onto the street, the tall man turns in the front passenger seat to look at his daughter.

“Okay, Civia, I think I see it, now. Don’t be modest. You are really good, aren’t you?”

The tall, young girl in the back seat behind her mother seems to be in a quandary. Her father’s words leave her little wiggle room.

“I’m not as good as I could have been if I’d have been on this team all year.” When her father began objecting, she held up her right hand and said, “However, I ... I am quite good. Beth said that I was better than either Rhee or Beth at the same age.”

The man nodded his head once, then said, “That’s what I’m coming to believe, else I would find it hard to imagine that all of those people would work so hard for you, giving you opportunities that they would not give to just anyone. That meeting ... I was surprised by nearly every aspect of it. The coach and all of the girls seem to want, really want to have you learn and learn quickly. I can understand a coach, a good coach wanting that, but those girls, that’s not behavior that I’ve seen from teammates, not on the baseball team, certainly. I can see three potential causes for that difference: girls are nicer than boys, soccer is less cutthroat than baseball, or those girls are special.”

“Those girls are special, Dad. Very special. That whole team is special. I see another two points that you’re making. I do appreciate that whole team, especially those girls, very much so. I understand that some other premier team may not have been as accepting and encouraging as this one is, particularly for a girl so much younger than, at least, all the starters. I also understand that I will have to push myself to make their time and energy in helping me worth it to them. I cannot let up on what I need to do to be worth all of their effort.”