The First Game

• Lauren McCabe, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2020

As I step onto the court for the first time with the ball in my hands, I slowly look around and see thousands of people waiting for the game to start. The umpire finally blows the whistle and I jump into the Centre Circle. I look around the court and directly pass to the Goal Attack then sprint down the court ready to help my teammates out. The Goal Shooter gets the ball and shoots the first goal for the 2020 season. The crowd cheers and jumps up and down and I can see my coach smiling, clapping and tallying the score.
12 minutes later and the whistle blows to end the 1st quarter. The score is 10-11 our way and we get a 2-minute break. I rehydrate before getting back onto the court for the next quarter. I get into position but this time I’m facing the other way. My opposition has the ball and I try to defend her, she’s taller than me so I must go on my tippy toes. The whistle blows and she bounces the ball to her Wing Defence who then attempts to throw down the court, but our Wing Attack intercepts and lobs to our Goal Shooter who swiftly scores another goal. The crowd goes wild then the whistle blows to end the first half.
The score is now 14-16 and we hope to keep the lead. Our team goes into a huddle to discuss what to do differently in this second half. There are a few changes of positions before we start doing our team chant. As we race back onto the court, I can hear the crowd cheering “LETS GO” then clapping 3 times. This quarter I have a different opponent who is a head shorter than me. The whistle blows hard, I jump into the circle and strongly pass the ball to our Wing Attack. Oh no! she loses balance and takes two steps back and the umpire blows the whistle and calls stepping. The other teams Wing Defence takes the ball and stands next to our Wing Attack; she throws the ball; I intercept it and do a long shoulder pass to the Goal Attack. She tries to shoot but the ball bounces off the ring and our Goal Shooter jumps up, catches it, takes a shot and smoothly gets it in. 15 minutes pass by, and we take the draw 22-22. We hear the beep going off warning us that it is the end of the quarter.
In the final quarter we hear the umpire say that every goal scored will be worth double points. We take our positions and the whistle is blown. I immediately pass down the court to the Goal Attack, who takes a step, aims and gets it in.
After a close game and many more goals, the final score is 42-46.
We did it, my team and I did our first netball match. And we won.