Netball Dreams (5 page)

My fingers touched the ball. But I wasn’t ready for the blazing speed of it. The ball kept flying. It slipped through my fingers.

Whack!

Like a sudden punch the ball hit me straight in the face.

I don’t like seeing my own blood. No-one does. But I saw a lot of it that day and it was gross.

After I was hit in the face, blood started pouring out of my nose. Some of it splattered on the netball court, leaving a dirty red stain. But most of it splattered onto my top.

The whole team crowded around me, with Mr Dwyer telling them all to move back. I could hear Angie next to me, almost sobbing. ‘Sorry! Gosh, I’m so sorry, Alex.’

Mr Dwyer sat me on the bench with a big blue ice-pack on my nose. Not very attractive! My nose wasn’t broken, it was just bleeding from being hit so hard.

I felt terrible. Not because of the pain. That stopped. And not because of the blood, either. I felt terrible because of that gremlin ball. Why, why,
why
hadn’t I caught it?

Angie had spent so much time practising with me. But when it really mattered, I still couldn’t catch the ball.

Mr Dwyer clapped his hands and looked at Callum. ‘You folks will have to play on with six players,’ he said.

Callum nodded and shrugged. But I couldn’t look anyone in the eye.

Six players.
Not good at all.

Everyone else ran back onto the court to finish the game.

I sat like a sack of potatoes, feeling glum and full of doom. I knew what was going to happen. The Dream Team was going to lose this game, and lose our chance at the grand final.

And all because I couldn’t catch a ball.

When everyone started playing again, something amazing happened. Our team got the first goal.

It was only a short time into the second half. And we were already ahead! I moved the ice-pack a bit, so I could see better.

Angie was amazing, racing here and dashing there. And all the others played so hard that soon their faces were glowing red and their hairlines were sweaty. But it was working.

Our team was winning.

I sat on the bench, peering past the icepack, watching our score creep up.

Three goals ahead. Then four …

A strange, sad feeling came over me. It didn’t matter that I wasn’t playing – my team was winning without me.

The strange feeling grew stronger. I started thinking back to the start of term and how I was picked last on the team.

In our first game I had lost the ball to the other team. Our team lost that game
because of me.
Slowly I went though all our games and all my mistakes.
A hundred
mistakes with the gremlin ball.

I didn’t care about my nose anymore. I pulled off the ice-pack and dropped it on the bench. I felt all mixed up as I sat there, looking like Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer, watching my team’s score go up and up.

When they won the game, I clapped from the side while the team jumped and cheered out on the court. We were in the grand final.

But inside I felt kind of sad and left-out. Worried questions flashed through my mind.

What if I had kept playing today? Would I
have made more mistakes and stopped my team
from winning?

Maybe the Dream Team was better off without me.

I was quiet at home that night. It didn’t help that my voice sounded far away, talking through a swollen nose.

Mum made a big fuss, clucking around me like a mother hen. Even Ryan, my big brother, fussed over me. He cooked pikelets as an afternoon treat – with extra jam for me.

They thought I was quiet because my nose was hurting.

But that wasn’t the reason. My nose didn’t feel as bad as the strange, lonely feeling inside.

At bedtime, Mum sat with me singing ‘You Are My Sunshine’ like she used to when I was little. Soon my whole body seemed to sink into the sheets. Mum’s voice was far away as I drifted off to sleep.

I am on the netball court, playing with my
friends. I feel light and sporty – like I could fly.

I throw the ball easily. It flies between us.
My friends smile and throw it back.

Suddenly, I realise I am in my pyjamas. I look
around, embarrassed. It feels like I am sinking,
sinking, down into a spongy netball court. I call
for the ball, but no-one can hear me. My legs
are stuck and I can’t move. It’s like I’m under
water. Around me, the ball still flies around.
Then I see a new face. A stranger is playing with
my team! She is tall, strong, sporty. I realise she
is someone to help them win the grand final.

The shock of seeing the new player hits me,
hard. In a fog, the court slowly fades into the
distance. My team stays in the dream, playing
in the grand final without me.