THE GIRL WHO TOOK A SHOT AT IT

She was a small girl with a big heart, a junior secondary school student who stood unnoticed at the center of a large field.

Her school’s inter-house sports competition was coming up in a couple of weeks, and the school field was a bustle of activity. The atmosphere was charged with excitement, and students were joining different sports teams in preparation for the event. She went around the field to scout for a sport that’ll catch her fancy. Shot put and Javelin throw seemed out of her league, long and high jumps didn’t seem like her thing. Parade and football? Those she found fascinating.

They had enough girls marching for the parade already. So, she went to watch the girls who were practicing football. They had just started and were taking turns shooting the ball into the net. It looked like so much fun and she wanted to be a part of that. More so, joining their team would surely help them win.

She hopped eagerly and with little thought approached the girls…the bigger, mature girls who had flesh in all the right places.

‘Can I join you? I’d like to play.’ She said.

Their reactions were immediate and in sync, like a scene from a well-rehearsed play. One scrunched her face impatiently, a look of scorn crossed the feature of another, and another snickered, while others merely stood watching as the replies shot at her.

‘You can’t play.’

‘You’re too small.’

‘Is it those tiny legs you want to use to kick the ball?’

‘Do you even know how to play?’

She replied, ‘I can learn and I’ll practice.’

But they shooed her. Her heart fell, but as she turned to leave, an idea flashed through her mind. What if she showed them that she could do it? What if she kicked the ball right there into the net? Yes, they wouldn’t have a choice but to let her on the team. She could do it, she could kick the ball into the net.

So, she approached again, though a little less confident than the first time, but more eager to prove herself. The girls were reluctant at first, but she persisted till they gave in, with the air of ‘let her do it so we can play in peace’.

They set the ball in front of her feet and left the goal post clear. She breathed deeply and looked towards the post. She breathed a second time and looked at the ball. She breathed yet a third time, charting a line from the ball to the goal net, and in one swift move kicked the ball hard.

She missed!

A few weeks later she was prancing around that same field. The competition was in full gear and she couldn’t see a thing. She ran behind the throng of people, trying to catch a glimpse of what was going on. when that didn’t work, she squeezed, shoved and pinched, moving among the shifting bodies, till she found a spot with a clear line of sight. She watched the parade, then she watched the football game. Her house lost the game and she was sad, because despite what they all said, she was confident that they would have won, if only she was part.

In the years that would follow, she wouldn’t play football, but many other life chances would come. As the opportunities arrive, those questions of doubt would raise their voices. Yet with the same high spirits and confidence, she would silence those voices by taking her shot. She would hit her mark and even when she misses, she would learn and try again!

In these times, her shots would tear through the goal net, leaving behind the mark of a winner.

She’s that small girl with a large heart and a winning shot.