Page 64 - Girl's World (October 2019)

your storytime

your teammates, but you can’t play in the Alex watched her dad’s face turn red as her

games.” mom elbowed him. “I was only joking, kiddo,”

“But ... but,” Alex was at a loss for words. he explained.

This was her worst case scenario. Alex had listened to yet another lec-

“I know it isn’t what you want to hear, but ture about her game time attitude, but she

that’s my decision,” Coach Melissa said firmly, didn’t intend to change. She moped her way

though she looked sympathetic. through her first benched game and didn’t

That had been a week ago. Practice had start to second-guess her behavior until prac-

been rained out this week, which Alex was tice the following Monday.

thankful for, but she still had to attend the She’d decided against running drills by her-

Alex took a seat on the bleachers instead and watched

as a group of her teammates sat chatting, laughing

and even doing each other’s hair.

game. She’d tried to get her parents to let her self the way she normally would before prac-

skip it. Actually, she’d tried to get them to let tice. Instead, she took a seat on the bleachers

her join another team altogether. “Coach Me- instead and watched as a group of her team-

lissa is wrong about me,” she argued. “Plus, mates, Zoey, Uma and Sutton, sat chatting,

none of the girls on my team are as good as laughing and even doing each other’s hair.

me anyway.” Huh, do they always do that? Alex wondered

“Alex, sweetie, you’re proving Coach Melis- to herself. She watched them for a few min-

sa’s point with this argument,” her dad shook utes and was surprised by what she heard.

his head. “Winning isn’t everything, and you They had inside jokes, they talked about

need to learn that.” each other’s families, they even traded advice

“But you always told me, ‘winning isn’t ev- about game strategy. They were friends.

erything, it’s the only thing.’” That realization hit Alex like a ton of bricks.

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