“I just hope all this deadly practice pays off for once.” I said while dragging my body to the locker room.

“Everyone does, Hana.” Emma responded.

We were ready, how could we not be after all these months? But everyone’s uncertainty was contagious. After putting away the soccer balls and equipment, I went to the locker room. But what I found was conversation about how they felt and it wasn’t good. I started second guessing everything. What good are we if no one has any faith? It’s too close to our game day, we shouldn’t be so negative. I had to think of something to say to them. They wouldn’t be saying any of this if Coach E. was here; I’d be a horrible captain if I let them get on the field like this.

As I was gathering my thoughts I noticed the room was nearly empty. The only ones left were Emma and Alex.

“Hana!” they said snapping me out of staring into space.

“Sorry, yeah?”

“Everyone’s gone; you were going to give us a ride remember?” Alex said.

“Yeah, yeah, let’s go.”

While we drove I ended up telling them what I was thinking about.

“I admit I was a little out of it for a bit but, I’m just really worried.”

“About the game?” asked Emma.

“Yes, it sounds like no’s excited about it! It’s a big deal! It’s our first game at our school since we started this team! It takes more than just being physically prepared; you need to have the right mind.”

For a second all I could hear was the sound of the AC in the car and then both tried to speak until Alex spoke up.

“It’s just that we feel like there’s no point to get all hyped up if no one cares to show up. All year long when we’ve played we only have like twenty people or show come, and most were family! They don’t care about us, only the boy’s team. What good are all the trophies we’ve won?” She confessed.

Of course it had something to do with the lack of attention we get. I just sighed at the painful truth.

“Ugh. I know that, I know it’s horrible and unfair but we shouldn’t let that get to us!”

“It’s kind of hard for it not to.” Emma sighed.

“Okay, I think we need to have a team meeting before practice tomorrow. This has to be fixed.”

That was the end of that conversation, after that we changed the subject to lighter things like TV.

Once everyone on the team was sitting on the gum covered bleachers under the twelve o’clock sun, I just threw everything that came to mind at them.

"Listen girls, I know how you all feel about our situation, but this game, which is tomorrow, is something we deserve to have. All of these negative thoughts and words will just damage our performance. This is important to all of us we should be excited!  Why should we sit around moping because we don’t get the recognition we deserve, sadly that’s the way things are and I hate it too! But we can try and do something to change it, we can try to win! If not to prove something, then just for us! If we don’t have a positive mindset, then we cannot go out tomorrow.”

Afterwards everyone wore the face of guilt as they stared at each other. “She’s right everyone. We’ve never acted like this before, even when we did lose…I guess that tiny feeling we had just got bigger overtime. We have to get it together." Said Ella, our defense player. And just like the beginning of a rain storm, one person spoke after another until everyone was speaking in agreement. Finally, we were all on the same page.

“Okay, this is more like it. This is what a good team sounds like.”

For the rest of the day we went over our game plan. All that was left to do was practice one last time. When we were in action it painted such a thrilling picture. The sight of a the ball gliding around the field while the players tailed behind was invigorating. Having everyone put all their effort into today really made a difference. Even though this wasn’t the actual thing I feel like we played some of our best. I was confident tomorrow would go well.

Today we had the privilege of wearing our pink uniforms with pride. The afternoon air was thick with humidity and sky high hopes. From one o’clock to one thirty people kept flooding the bleachers until there was no room left. Was this an illusion? We skimmed through the faces of the crowd, they were all familiar. This was an unexpected surprise. Later on we heard that the few that followed us to our games spread the word to get as many they could to come. Some of them were actually people who didn’t get the news that the boy’s game date was changed, but as soon as we started playing they automatically became fans.

It was unbelievable how smooth it was going out on the field! It was all just a loop of cheers, kicks and cleats. The black and white ball was coming from every direction like cannonballs aimed at all the players. At first I was bit worried because we started the game with a zero to one but in the second I caught my breath my girls sped up and made this game look like a round of pinball. Everything went by so fast I hadn’t noticed that I kicked our fourth and last goal. We actually did it. We won. Four to two.

All of it was so surreal that it put me in shock. I just stood there paused with an astonished face while everything around me kept going. There was screaming everywhere from the people watching to my teammates next to me. It wasn’t until they brought out the trophy that I broke from my trance. We won and finally got the response we deserved.