Toward the end, Mr. T came and sat with Dad, keeping him company, reading out loud, crocheting. Yeah, for real. He taught my Squirrel sisters how to crochet a scarf. Okay, he taught me, too. It’s, like, wicked fun.
The last day with Dad we were gathered around his bed: me, Mom, Jaimes, Whitney, and Roma. His bed was a hospital bed moved into the living room. And even though he couldn’t talk anymore and his left fingers had long since stopped moving, I could tell by the look in his eyes: he couldn’t love another team any more than the one we had. His body wasn’t strong anymore, but his mind and heart were. And in the end, that’s what we needed most; I never once thought about his bench press stats. He was still the man.
There was something better—this feeling—that engulfed our entire room.
You don’t give up on me and I don’t give up on you.
And I didn’t. I swear I never did—not even at the very end when he had lost so much weight and the only things he could voluntarily move were his eyelids. One blink for yes, two blinks for no.
“I love you,” we said.
One blink for yes, for each of us.
He also smiled. I saw it with my own eyes.
Dad would say, In the end, what is soccer?
It’s just a game.
It’s air in a leather ball.
It’s kicking a ball across lines painted on a field.
Just a game.
But for us, it was always more than that.
It was how Patrick Maroni and Coach taught us how to live.
How to be a team.
How to say good-bye.
I’m still working real hard on my ten thousand hours, getting closer and closer by the day.
And even now, when Benny and I are running down the soccer field and the wind is blowing through my Messi hair (which finally grew out) and the crowd is chanting my name (hey, I can dream, right?) and the sun is shining on my face and I’m going so fast I feel like I’m flying—he’s with me.
My dad.
I feel him everywhere, but especially on the field.
With me.
His Golden Boy.
Acknowledgments
Something I’ve learned while watching a friend battle an incurable disease is that the human body, like a family, is both resilient and fragile. I’m so grateful to have both.
Thank you, Eric, Heidi, Annika, and Britta Johnson, for teaching me so much about life and love and silver linings. To learn and read about ALS advances and research, visit www.als.org.
This story was also inspired by my son, who, as a middle schooler, idolized soccer star Lionel Messi. Like Messi, he was small. Like Golden, he zeroed in on the idea that hours and hours of practice would lead to greatness. To later watch him and his middle school teammates play together in high school “under the lights” was simply awesome. Also: they may publicly deny ever shanking and “get wrecked,” but we know better.
Thank you to the AEMS seventh-and-eighth-grade soccer team: a rotating cast of athletic characters. The wins and losses, goals, penalty shots, cleats, Secret Circle, captain’s band… it’s the best. You keep growing up, which is annoying, but I adore you all. Thank you for making fall so glorious for so many years.
In his 2008 book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell wrote that “ten thousand hours is the magic number” to achieve greatness. Popular culture has seized upon this notion, as did my fictional character Golden. While Gladwell was clear that this number does not apply to sports, I wasn’t about to tell Golden that, geez. Anyway, I believe that enough practice will get you just about anywhere.
Thank you to my first readers: Andrea McDonald for your attention to detail; Kate Johnston for your ability to push me on story structure; Jon Beard; Julia Tomiak #thewordnerd #writingbuddy for holding me accountable every Monday morning; Heidi Johnson for your final-pass reading, ALS fact-checking, and extraordinarily positive outlook. And to my very last readers: Nelson and Paige for “you can’t say that” and the final green light.
Paige, thanks for keeping me fed during the long writing and editing stretches.
Nick Ho, thank you for lending your name to one of my favorite characters, Benny Ho, for insight into Chinese and Western culture, and for being one of the really good guys.
Thank you to my editor, Alexa Pastor, who stuck with this story when it took nearly ten thousand tries to get it right! You made it so much better. In addition, thanks to Justin Chanda, Barbara Perris, and the wonderful Simon & Schuster team for bringing books into the world. Once again, Abigail Dela Cruz, I love the cover you created.
Thank you to literary agent Zoe Sandler, who champions and empowers me on the daily; I am so grateful.
Thank you to the coaches who spend hours volunteering and mentoring our youth; many of your inspiring pep talks and coaching moments were woven throughout this book. Female coaches, you have a special place in my heart.
Thanks to my parents, Steven and Mary Nelson, and their enthusiastic role as unofficial publicists. Thank you, best father-in-law Arthur, who helped grow Nelly Mak with nightly bowls of oatmeal.
Thank you, Meredith, Mindy, Lindsey, Chloe… my girls on the field. I’ll meet you there. Anytime, any day.
And to Gregor, the original Dragon-Ball G. You’re an amazing teammate, my other half. Furthermore, to our children, Cope, Nelson, Brynne, and Paige. The moments spent with you on and off the soccer field have been the best of my life.
More from the Author
The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair
About the Author
Amy Makechnie is the author of the critically acclaimed debut novel, The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair. Her Second novel, Ten Thousand Tries, was written for all the kids who have ever had the audacity to try and try and try again. Stay in touch with Amy by subscribing to her newsletter at amymakechnie.com and follow her on Twitter and Instagram @amymakechnie.
Visit us at simonandschuster.com/kids
www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Amy-Makechnie
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Text © 2021 by Amy Makechnie
Jacket illustration © 2021 by Abigail Dela Cruz
Jacket design © 2021 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
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Interior design by Irene Metaxatos
Illustration of soccer ball by iStock
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Makechnie, Amy, author.
Title: Ten thousand tries / Amy Makechnie.
Description: First edition. | New York : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, [2021] | Audience: Ages 8 to 12. | Summary: Twelve-year-old Golden Maroni starts eighth grade determined to be master of his universe, but learns he cannot control everything on the soccer field, in his friendships, and especially in facing his father’s incurable disease.
Identifiers: LCCN 20200
44410 | ISBN 9781534482296 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781534482319 (eBook)
Subjects: CYAC: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis—Fiction. | Family life—Fiction. | Soccer—Fiction. | Friendship—Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.M34685 Ten 2021 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020044410
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