The New Player

By: Karon

It was the first day of practice and we were excited about the championship. I was quarterback, Evan was receiver and Chad was linebacker. Tyler was offensive line and Willis was tight end. The coach knew we needed a lot of help because we weren't so good at football. Our team made sloppy throws and the other team always intercepted our ball. We were not good at plays like quarterback sneaks and passes. Everyone on the team needed more practice because we always missed field goals.

Since we lost most of our games we practiced a little more often. We practiced two nights a week instead of one.

During a practice last week Tyler got sick. He was important because he was good at playing offensive line. That's when the coach decided it was time to recruit a new player.

Everyone asked, "Why?" Our team felt we could get better with practice. It seemed like our coach was giving up on us.

Chad looked at me and said, "Maybe he's right. We do need a little more practice in plays and passes, field goals, throws and running the ball."

The rest of the team felt unhappy, discouraged, and the cheerleaders were cheerless. I felt kind of down because I thought that our team didn't have a chance to win. Everyone felt sorry for us because we were trying our best but still we couldn't seem to win many games.

Chad said, "What if the new player gets hurt?"

I said, "What if the new player can't play?"

Tyler said, "What if the new player doesn't want to play? What if he gets fired for not doing the right play? Then what will we do?"

Willis said, "We can still find a good player. We can always think of something. We can look over the weekend."

"See you tomorrow," Chad said.

"Wait, what if we go on a vacation at Thanksgiving and see a friend or a cousin who would like to join our team?" Tyler said, "We could ask them if they want to play."

"All right then, I'll try to see what I can do over the Thanksgiving weekend," said Willis.

The coach said, "I'll look too. We'll all look over the weekend. Look in the park, the arcade, the movie theater, the restaurant and all the other places you can think of and don't forget to look in the best place of all - a football field or stadium. Just write it down."

The coach continued, "This team needs to be built strong healthy and tough just like all the other teams around here."

The team said, "But we are strong!"

"No, you're not, you're a bunch of weaklings," the coach said.

"Well, you can keep on calling us that but we won't quit. Yeah we won't quit," Tyler said.

So then the next day the team said to the coach, "We found a new player for the team. His name is Jordan."

"Let me see you tackle Chad," the coach said to the new player, Jordan.

So Jordan tackled and I smiled. I thought that if Jordan played like this all the time we could win the championship.

Jordan said, "I'd really like to help your team win."

The coach said, "YOU'RE ON THE TEAM!"

During the championship game we played very well. We were healthy, strong and tough. We won the game, too. Jordan made a big difference in the team. He was the best of all players on the team and I was the second best but really the whole team played well together. We found a new player, but that's not all. After the game we went to Golden Corral. It was fun. We got chicken, macaroni and cheese, meatballs, ice cream, pizza and the Salvation Army gave the team because we won the Championship $60. I bought a game. Chad got three gift cards. Tyler got a football. Willis got a paintball gun. I don't know why but he got it anyway.

Then we all went home. Willis and I were still surprised we won the Championship. It was kind of hard but like they say, when you use team work, you achieve things together.

Patti Weeg
pweeg@comcast.net

May 13, 2006