My pulse quickened, my fists clenched, and my eyes scrutinized the positions of the other team across the pitch. It had finally arrived, the day I had been practicing hours for. I was pumped to begin my first game of rugby.
Floomp. Our full back kicked off the ball. We had forty minutes of hard rugby until halftime. I stood there, anxiously waiting for my chance to see what it was like to tackle a person running into me, and to run down the pitch with the ball.
All at once there were fifteen girls charging at us. It was then that I realized that I had absolutely no idea what to expect, or what was about to happen. Bam! I tackled my first opponent ever! The thrill of the tackle sent shivers down my spine. Because of my tackle, the other team stalled for about three seconds until the ball was backwardly passed down their wing.
Eventually, after a few minutes of rucking, some more tackling, and many turnovers, I had that prolate spheroid ball in my hand.
Everyone was shouting, “RUN, KAYLA, RUN!” So, I did.
One foot away from the try line, I found myself on my back with no ball in hand. I jumped up and quickly returned to my position as winger, where the fastest person on the pitch played.
The ball was in my hands after a few more minutes, and instead of running into the body of the girl charging at me, I decided to pass it to our fly half. In a hop, skip, and a jump, she scored the first try of the game.
The score was: St. Bonaventure University, 5, and William Smith College, 0. Our fullback attempted a conversion kick for two points and failed miserably. We held the other team remarkably well for the remaining twenty minutes. The first half of play finally ended.
Nothing had ever felt so amazing as the moment where I sat down, and poured that cool, refreshing water down my throat. Half time lasted a glorious fifteen minutes, and soon we were back into it.
We kicked off the ball, and the other team caught it. I looked across the pitch to see whom I would have to tackle. That’s when I saw her. She was tall, thin, and blonde, and innocently standing there. As I was gazing into her soul, something distracted me. There was a hideous pink bow neatly tied into her ponytail. Anger swelled up inside of me and I thought, “That thing needs to get out of her hair, now. We’re playing rugby for gosh sakes.”
She got the ball, and I threw my arms around her legs and took her down… hard. I was surprised she didn’t cry. The bow didn’t come out of her hair, but instead she managed to pass the ball off mid-fall to a ridiculously jacked girl. I got up from the tackle and sprinted after her as fast as my legs could carry me. Gasping for air, I finally caught up. It was too late. She scored the try, tying the game.
Although we were discouraged, our team kept our heads up and finally got the ball back. It landed in the hands of my friend Nichole, who is a rookie and plays on the wing, just like me. She ran and got tackled. Next thing I know, a red substance started leaking from her nose. She didn’t let that stop her. She got back up just in time to receive the ball again. Boy, could she run.
Three feet from the try… two… then one… SCORE! Little tiny bleeding Nichole, finally got us back ahead in the game.
Fifteen minutes left. We’ve got to hold them. The same jacked girl as before got the ball. Within minutes, she had a breakaway from our post and ran to score another try, tying the game.
Only ten minutes left. We definitely had to kick our intensity level up a few notches. I kicked mine up. I threw girls out of my way left and right. No one was scoring in that try, unless it was our team.
Tough luck. Within the last two minutes of the game, the other team powered through ours like tissue paper and scored a try. That was it. The game was over.
I kicked my cleat into the ground and put my angry face on. I was infuriated. I felt like someone was stabbing me in the heart with a javelin and then twisting it around a bit.
Although our team lost, I learned a valuable lesson. Never underestimate a team that has a girl with a pink bow in her hair.
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