It is the last two practices before the tournament and Coach D is making us run, a lot. In soccer you need to be conditioned to run a whole lot. “All game,” Coach says, “You need to out run your opponents. “ At the beginning, be faster. In the middle, have speed but also agility too. And at the end, be quick like a cheetah. Chase them down, make them feel like they are prey is what I was thinking in my mind. Coach is kind of big on inspirational speaking.

Let’s go back to the start of the season; it is our first season playing eleven on eleven soccer. We had high hopes for the season, to go undefeated and win the league’s championship. Well, we didn’t go undefeated. We lost once, three to one. As the season went on we eventually found ourselves in a tie for second place in the whole league. In out last regular season game, we beat the other team five to zero, which put us in a tie for first place.

One thing you need to know about our team was that our oldest player was thirteen and we played fourteen and fifteen years-olds. Also we only had fourteen players, which means only three substitutes. That’s a small team, for soccer at least. There’s Leiutu and Hollace were eleven. Gunter, Cody, Julian, Eric, Havi, Eddy, Matt, Quinn, John, and me were twelve. And Kai and Edward were thirteen. All of us worked strenuously in practice and played intensely during the games.

Rolling like a freight train into the tournament, we weren’t quite sure what to expect. The past three years most of us had played together. We played three tournaments, and didn’t make it past the first round in any of them. So we were very anxious for this one.

It was time for our dreaded qualifier. Because of our stellar record, we only had to play once on qualifying day. The team we played had played a game already so they weren’t rested like we were. The game felt very short even though we had two thirty-five minute halves. We beat them by a score of six to zero. Not even allowing them to take a shot on our goal. I do not enjoy games when we blow out the other team, but I do at the same time. I don’t think those are good games though. I like tight scoring and tight playing on the field. Like final scores of one to zero, three to two, four to three, or even two to zero.

As Sunday rolls around, I knew we are playing the team we tied for first place in the regular season. They scored an average of five goals a game and only had three against them the whole season. This team was good, but so were we. And I knew as the last line of defense, before goalie, I would have to be on my smartest, quickest, and most versatile game.

By the five-minute mark of the first half came, they already had about ten shots to our zero. But no goals were scored. It continued that way until the fifteen-minute mark. They put the ball in the back of our net.

Our team started bickering with each other and we started to fall apart because of the goal. Then, we saw the referees talking amongst each other. The head referee made an announcement that the goal would not be credited because their player was in the offside position. Back to zero zero. We felt that if we had struck quickly, we had a large chance at victory. But their coach didn’t let us start quickly.

When the referee said the goal was taken away, their coach got angry. He threw his clipboard down and started marching to the field towards the referee’s position. He started yelling, “You can’t do that! You can’t just take away a goal like that!” Then another referee came up and told the coach he needed to get off the field or the game would be ended, called a tie, and no champion would be crowned. He went back to his bench but he would yell every time we would go to kick the ball or make a play.

Meanwhile, the other team was fouling us a lot, but no calls were made. Elbows and arms extended, dangerous plays, plays for behind our players, and making full body contact with our player before making a play for the ball. My team did well with keeping our cool. The referees were just letting us play, not stopping play very often.

With about one minute left in the first half, we get a fast break, or counter attack. It’s two of our players against one and their goalie. A quick, accurate, wall pass works to lose the defender. Cody has the opening and he launches a blazing missile right at their goalie. The goalie tries to make a diving catch, but it bounces off his hands like a bouncy ball off concrete. Cody flies in after the rebound but the goalie trips him up on purpose. Then Julian, the other player on our fast break, came in and buried the ball in the back of their net with the goalie laying on the ground from blocking Cody’s shot and tripping him up. Their goalie gets up, thinking the play was stopped from him tripping Cody. But he was sadly mistaken when he found out advantage was given and it was a goal.

The halftime whistle finally blows. “Finally,” I say to my teammate Eric. “I need some water.” Sweat dripping from my chin, nose, and hair drip into my water bottle making salty and bitter. “You guys are playing well,” Coach D says, “But you will need to play harder in this second half. This team is no joke, as you probably found out in the first 30 minutes of the first half. They came to win. What do I make you guys do when you get to practice,” he asks. “Run about two miles coach,” I respond. “Right, because you need to be conditioned for games like this. Run all the way through the final whistle. On three, Hawks. One… Two… Three…” Coach D counts, “HAWKS,” I yell with my teammates.

As the second half starts, they came out on the field ready with speed, power, agility, and skill. Every time we touched the ball, our player was fouled to the ground. This went on for most of the second half. Shot after shot turned away and away again by our goalie Edward. “Five minutes boys, stand strong;” Coach Skip yells to us. Our facial expressions, turned blank. The only thought going through my mind, stand strong and play hard. In five minutes we would rise victorious, as champions.

Time was standing still, yet flying by like airplanes overhead. “It’s almost over,” was what I heard coming from behind me. I turn to Hollace and say, “It’s not over until that final whistle is blown.” It was exhausting! Running for every ball coming our way, kicking it up field just to do it all over again in the next moment, that’s what it took. Those days in practice really did help.

“Tweet tweet tweeeeeet,” the final whistle screeched. For a moment, there is dead silence as if nobody knows what is going to happen next. Then the sound of fourteen boys, three coaches, and family and friends rudely breaks the silence’s grip on us. For the first time in three tries we had won a championship. It felt so good talking with my teammates about a win in the tournament. After not getting past the first round in three tournaments, we had won a championship. It felt great, even better than a hot tub! Well, maybe not that good.

Everybody’s energy had seemingly escaped our bodies and hick-hiked to Never-Never Land. As we gathered around our coaches, Eric asks, “How many hours were in that last minute?” Everybody laughed; I don’t think anybody really knew how long it was. It could have been two minutes, or five or six minutes, maybe even ten minutes. The point is that we won a championship.

As Coach D starts to talk, everyone tunes in. “You guys played a pretty good game. That over there,” pointing to the other team, “Is one heck of a team. And you guys beat them. Congrats boys, you’ve earned it.” As the trophies are handed out everyone talks about the game. I hear things like we got lucky or they couldn’t beat us, and even we could never beat them again, not on our best day. Maybe it was true, but we beat them when it mattered and that’s all that matters.

Today, my team still fights for another shot at glory. We didn’t have an opportunity to defend our championship because the tournament got rained out and we couldn’t reschedule. When we do get another chance, we may win, or we may lose. But I know that we will give all we have. And we will do everything we can to claim another title. Although I would rather have a rematch between the team we beat to get our first ever, and first of many, championship title.