Specky Magee by Felice Arena Read Free Book Online Page B

couldn’t help but notice that there was one person who was extremely happy with the switch—Simmo’s dad. He smiled proudly and gave the Coach a big wink of approval.
    ‘Did you see that?’ whispered Danny to Specky. ‘That stinks! My dad would never tell the Coach where to play me!’
    Specky had to agree with Danny. It looked as if the Coach’s decision had been influenced by Simmo’s dad. And if that was the case, then it was totally out of character for the Coach.
    Coach Pappas hadn’t been persuaded by bossy parents in the past, so why would he be now? But then Simmo’s dad could hardly be considered a bossy parent—he was actually a very pleasant man and a loyal supporter of the team. This made the sudden switch all the more unusual.
    As Specky wandered back out onto the oval towards the wing position, Simmo ran up alongside him.
    ‘Specky. I hope y-y-y-you d-d-don’t mind.’ Simmo had a stutter, and it seemed to get a little worse when he was nervous. ‘I-I-I didn’t mean to t-t-take your p-p-p-position. It’s just that m-m-my d-d-dad is…’
    ‘Simmo, it’s cool. Relax. I don’t care, really.’ But Specky did care. He couldn’t help thinking that if his biological ‘footy dad’ were there, he would’ve protested against Coach Pappas’s decision.
    Simmo wanted to fully explain why his father did what he did, but once again Specky cut him off.
    ‘Look, Simmo, forget it. You’d better get to your new position, the quarter is about to start,’ he said.
    Simmo ran off to take up his place at full-forward. ‘S-s-s-sorry!’ he shouted back over his shoulder to Specky.
    But Specky wasn’t having any of it. Even though it wasn’t in his nature to be resentful, he still couldn’t help feeling slightly annoyed. He looked over towards Danny and Robbo and rolled his eyes.
    The first ball of the third quarter was bounced, and immediately Specky’s team-mates had control of the ball, and moved it down into their forward-line. The forward pocket player for Specky’s team, Sanjay ‘The Bombay Bullet’ Sharma (nicknamed this by his mates because he had recently migrated from India and was a super-fast sprinter) took a safe mark and then beautifully kicked the ball towards Simmo. Unfortunately, Simmo fumbled and dropped the ball, missing the easiest of chest-marks. The full-back for Redleaf College swooped in and capitalised on Simmo’s blunder, darting off with the ball. He had a large opening ahead of him and decided to make a heroic dash. Specky’s team was caught off guard by the surprise break away.
You need to have confidence to run and carry the football. Bouncing the ball at top speed can be difficult, and should be practised under pressure at training. Wherever possible, Specky and his mates always had a football in their hands. They would have competitions with one another while they ran their warm-up laps at training. How many times could they bounce the ball as they ran half a lap, flat out? Could they bounce the ball, on the run, with their non-preferred hand? Could they bounce two balls at the same time, one with the right hand and one with the left hand? These drills were designed to improve their ball handling.
    Specky made a rush towards him, as did Danny. The full-back player bounced the ball once, then again and again. His team-mates gallantly shepherded him, providing a clear passage. He covered an enormous amount of ground, even crossing the centre line. It was rare for a full-back player to achieve such a feat, and Specky and his team-mates struggled to get a firm grip on him.
    The full-back eventually kicked the ball into the safe hands of his team’s full-forward. Coach Pappas was screaming from the sideline, disgusted by his team’s sudden lapse of concentration. Redleaf’s full-forward carefully lined up his kick, tested the wind by throwing a handful of grass in the air, and shot for goal—it soared right through the middle.
    As the ball was escorted by the boundary