Game Day

• Joe Kerruish, Grade 5M
• Short Story
• 2018

It was a lovely Sunday morning in the middle of winter and Hugo Cruz was getting ready to play AFL. He packed his gear and had breakfast, a solid 6 Weet-bix. He hopped into his car and his parents drove him to the ground. His team, the Willoughby Wildcats, were playing the top team, the Mosman Swans. They had played against them once before and had narrowly lost. They were ready to win.

After a quick pep talk by a nervous coach, the game begun. It was clear why Mosman were on top. They had trained hard and were 5 goals up at half time. Hugo wasn’t playing very well. He was missing the ball and seemed as if he had never played before. At three quarter time, they were only 4 goals up. Some spectacular work from the defence in that quarter but they needed better.

Hugo was on one knee, listening to the coach. The coach said things about getting the ball hard and everyone ran onto the pitch, ready for the last quarter. Hugo was playing in the midfield. A thought hit him. Nope, that was just the ball slamming into his face. Then a real thought hit him. He needed to play well. If he did, he could get scouted and possibly do less essays. Instantly there was an improvement. He was sidestepping around everyone and his kicks were made with pin-point accuracy. He was amazing!

They were down by 4 points and there was 30 seconds left. Hugo tapped the ball to his friend Jeff, who kicked into the forward line. There was a scramble in the forward line and the ball was kicked out by Mosman. Straight to Hugo. Hugo stepped back to take the kick. His friend made a lead, but the siren went. Hugo went up and blasted the ball with all his power and it was heading to the left. A strong gust of wind came and pushed it slightly to the right and it slotted right nest to the post. The game ended and Hugo couldn’t wait until next week to play more AFL.