Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Sport or Fitness (02/15/07)
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TITLE: The Final Four | Previous Challenge Entry
By Eva Piscitell
02/20/07 -
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The final four.
The choices for first and best players went quickly, easily; now they were down to the, "who do we pick that will do the least damage" decisions. These took longer.
Startled out of her thoughts, Ruthie heard Carla's name called by the selecting team captain. She watched as she ran quickly to her team, saw her anxious face flood in obvious relief.
Down to three.
Time was moving incredibly slowly. Watching the teams argue, heads moving back and forth, left and right, in emphatic approval, then disapproval, then approval. She saw another girl run past and realized Shellie's name had been called. Oh, why did she have to look so smug?
Just two.
Ruthie and Tina: Ruthie did not dare look at her, did not want to see her own pain and humiliation reflected in Tina's face. Instead, she scanned the faces of the team that would get no 'final pick', only the 'left-over' player. She wished she hadn't. Every one of them holding their palms together in mock prayer facing the other team captain as if to say, "Please don't do it to us!" And Shellie, the third-to-last-place choice in this elimination process, enthusiastically joining in.
Two and counting.
Ruthie wished she could be swallowed up alive, just like the Sunday School story about that guy, the one whose name began with "K". Having the ground swallow you up had to be better than this. Or, better yet, maybe those team captains and their teams could be swallowed up and she could be a winner just once. Maybe the coach could be swallowed up, too, and this whole school, and kickball, and every other sport for that matter! The coach's whistle snapped her attention back as she cautioned the deciding team to make a decision now, or else!
Ruthie's heart pounded. Mouth dry, throat aching, she managed a quick glance at the deciding team captain now surrounded by her team yelling, "No, No!" and shaking their heads emphatically. A new kid in class, she knew neither Ruthie, nor Tina, or their playing skills, for that matter. So she relied on the advice of her teammates. A decision was made. Seconds passed by. Ruthie and Tina anxiously waited. Ruthie saw the name beginning on her lips before she heard the captain yell, "Tina!" She closed her eyes, not wanting to see the look on Tina's face.
One alone.
The groans from her 'teammates' echoed in her ears, a knife widening the chasm in her heart. She filed slowly to the far end of the bench remembering last week when she had tried to sit in their midst, and they had squeezed her right off the bench.
Final cut.
As Ruthie sat there, watching the game, she wondered to herself, what was the more difficult sport—the game, the elimination, or the final cut? The piercing pain in her heart provided the only response.
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Great opening, by the way, with the knot in her stomach-that grabbed my interest at once! So did the title with its alliteration, and it also made me wonder who the "final four" were!
Thanks for sharing--more people need to know just how painful having kids choose teammates can prove for the children who are never chosen.
Terrific job!