It was a regular Saturday in highschool when one of my close friends walked up to me and said
"The game's mistress seeks thy presence." Why was she going all Othello on me? She usually went Othello on me whenever she did something mischievous.
"Why would Madam Glory send for me? I am not even sports inclined" I responded, trying to get a direct answer from Jhay–my friend.
"And who says you're not sports inclined?" Jhay smirked. "Madam Glory is by the field. And from the looks of things, she needs you immediately ".
That wasn't the type of news I wanted to hear at the time. Reluctantly, I put on my sports wear and trudged towards the field which happened to be many kilometres away from my hostel. On arrival, I spotted Madam Glory, Jhay and a few other of my classmates on the field. Madam Glory usually had such confidential and enclosed meetings whenever there was an emergency. My imagination ran wild. What could possibly be the emergency this time?
Briskly, I walked towards Madam Glory.
"Good afternoon ma'am. Jhay said "you wanted to meet with me".
"Afternoon. Are you the Wongi Jhay talked about?"
"Most likely yes. I am Wongi" I responded. Madam Glory took a quick scan of my physique and went ahead to ask
"Why are you on flip flops? Run to your hostel, put on your boots and come back here. You have less than five minutes to do that" she ordered.
At this point, I was extremely confused. Why was I wearing my boots in preparation for sports when I was better off laying down on my bed. I dragged Jhay along with me as I started my journey back to the hostel.
"Jhay, oya start talking. Why did she ask me to wear my boots and what did she mean by 'are you the Wongi Jhay talked about ", I fired.
"Here is the thing. We're having a female football competition in three days and we do not have players"
"And you thought it right to suggest my name? You do know that I have no single idea about female football? How am I supposed to play?"
"Relax. I have faith in you. I'm certain you're going to perform magic."
"Magic?" I scoffed. "Next time just let me know before you suggest my name to school officials. Okay?"
"Okay".
In no time, we were back on the field and honestly, there was no saving us. The school had a very strong male football team but only five female colleagues of mine liked football as a sport. I was more into badminton and handball so I didn't know how I was going to automatically become a Ronaldo or Messi in less than three days.
We trained in our own way for the match. I can say for a fact that the training wasn't as intense as it should be for novices who were going to represent the school at a national level. Two days went by quickly and soon enough, it was the D day.
We were all ushered into a bus. Luckily for us, we had two extra players. So we were the normal eleven players plus two. Silently, I prayed that I was given the tag "backup player" but this particular prayer wasn't answered. In the bus, Madam Glory pointed at me and said
"You would be among the first eleven players who would start the game."
Noo! My inner voice yelled. I wasn't mentally prepared to play a football match.
On arrival, the team we were playing against had female players who looked really intimidating. If I didn't know that it was an only female match, I could have sworn that those girls were boys. Yes, they looked that intimidating. At this juncture, all hope was lost. Our dream of taking the medal home was mercilessly tarnished. The game had already ended before it began.
We all got into the field and believe me when I say that our opponents didn't temper justice with mercy. They played without fear or mercy for the duration of our time in the field. At one point, instead of running after the ball, I was running for my life because the girl who was marking me wouldn't let me turn without hitting or blocking me. When I realised that the girl would do anything to prevent me from touching the ball–including giving me injuries– I gave up.
As expected, we didn't go near our opponent's goal post. This implies that we didn't score any goal. On the flip side, our goal post was like a mall; anyone could walk in at any time and score a goal. Need I tell you that we failed woefully. The scoreline was 3-0 at the end of the match. Honestly, I expected our opponents to score like ten to twenty goals but lucky us.
It was my first and last time at a football competition. We left the field jubilating, holding our heads high. Why?This was because we performed splendidly in our first game irrespective of the fact that most of us had no prior knowledge as to how a football match was played or the fact that our opponents could easily pass for well built males.
My highschool was known for always bagging academic medals. My only consolation was the saying "you can't always have it all". The excitement we harboured on our way to the field vanished on our way back. It was only logical to remain silent as the defeated.
Love, Wongi ✨
