The Ultimate Goal (Good Sports League #1) by Tommy Greenwald

Author:Tommy Greenwald [Greenwald, Tommy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Abrams
Published: 2023-03-31T00:00:00+00:00

TWO MORE IMPORTANT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PIZZA LEAGUE GAMES AND WEST HARBOR GAMES

WEST HARBOR SKILL LEVEL

• High

PIZZA LEAGUE SKILL LEVEL

• Not so high

WEST HARBOR STRESS LEVEL

• High

PIZZA LEAGUE STRESS LEVEL

• Not so high

It turned out the Pizza League was full of kids who didn’t really know how to play soccer. The passing was sloppy, there wasn’t a lot of communication on the field, and the ball was constantly going out-of-bounds, because no one knew how to kick it with any accuracy.

But guess what? It didn’t matter. Someone would make a bad pass, and no one would get mad. Someone would kick the ball out-of-bounds, and no one would scream. The coaches encouraged the players, sure, but they didn’t yell at them. Everyone wanted to score, and win, but it didn’t feel like a matter of life and death.

Even the parents on the sidelines didn’t seem nervous about the game. And parents were always nervous whenever their kids did anything.

Ben cheered for Jay-Jay, but the truth was, without Ben out there to help him, Jay-Jay wasn’t much better than anyone else. As Ben watched his friend run around—smiling, laughing, and trying his hardest—Ben realized that Jay-Jay was doing something that Ben had forgotten was even possible on a soccer field.

He was playing soccer . . . with the emphasis on PLAY.

Meanwhile, Ben was also keeping a close eye on Annabella. It turned out that she was one of the best players out there. Annabella played defense and had a big booming kick that sent the ball all the way down the field. And whenever the Anchovies had the ball near the Green Peppers goal, Annabella was right there to clear it out of danger.

At halftime, the score was tied, 0–0. Ben went down to see Jay-Jay and the rest of his old teammates, and immediately noticed a bag of juice boxes sitting on the grass. It looked like there were two or three left over.

“Hey, is it okay if I grab one of these?” Ben asked, to no one in particular. A few kids shrugged, which Ben took as a yes, so he sat down on the bench and helped himself. It tasted absolutely delicious.

A boy named Charlie, who wore athletic glasses that looked like goggles, plopped down next to Ben. “Hey, Ben, how’s West Harbor Academy going? Is it, like, so sick?”

“Oh yeah, totally sick,” Ben said. “We’re undefeated. It’s awesome.”

“That’s so cool,” said Charlie. “I always knew you were like, too good for us.”

Ben shook his head. “I’m not too good for you guys. The Anchovies are the best. I miss being on the team.”

“Yeah, sure,” Charlie said, not believing Ben for a second.

Jay-Jay joined them on the bench. “Dang, Ben, I can’t get past that girl Annabella,” he whined. “She’s tough back there.”

“She is,” Ben agreed. “You have to stay away from her. Instead of going down the middle every time, go left. The kid that plays over there can be beaten. Then if you cut in, you should be able to get right to the goal.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.