He had every intention of following the coach’s advice. And he did try his best to — but no matter what he did, his kicks were always off. It came as no surprise when Ted returned to the game, sending Alan back to the bench.
There were still five minutes left to the game, but Alan had had enough. When he was sure no one was looking, he slipped off the bench and hurried away from the field.
That night, Alan was picking at his dinner when the phone rang. It was Bucky.
“Hey, Alan, where’d you get to today? I looked for you after the game, but didn’t see you anywhere!”
“I —I just came home, that’s all,” Alan said, knowing he was only telling half the truth.
“Yeah, well, listen. I know you were having trouble with your kicks today,” —Alan winced —“and I thought you might like me to help you work on them.”
Alan was surprised. He wondered if the coach had put Bucky up to this. Then he realized he didn’t care. Bucky was a good friend. He was offering to help because he wanted to, not because someone had told him to.
“That’d be great, Bucky,” Alan said. “What did you have in mind?”
“Come over tomorrow morning, and we’ll get to work,” he said. “See you then!”
Alan hung up. He felt better than he had all day.
Chapter 7
Bucky was rummaging around in his garage when Alan biked into his driveway the next morning.
“Hey, Alan, go on into the backyard!” he called. “I’ll be right there!”
A moment later, Bucky came out with what looked like a big lump of plastic and a bicycle pump. Alan watched with curiosity as Bucky inserted the tip of the pump into the plastic and started pumping.
Soon, the plastic blob had changed into a tall blow-up clown. Bucky gave the clown a push. It toppled over to one side, then sprang back up straight again.
Bucky tossed the pump aside.
“Who’s the clown?” Alan joked.
Bucky grinned. “Kicking practice.” He grabbed a soccer ball and moved to the center of the yard. “I’m going to kick to you. You stop the ball and kick it as hard as you can at the clown. If you knock him to the ground, you’ve hit him hard enough. Okay?”
Alan nodded. Bucky kicked the ball toward him.
Alan ran forward and stopped the ball. He tried to kick it, but just like in the game, it only dribbled forward a few feet, then stopped. Bucky retrieved it.
“Try again!” Bucky yelled. He fired the ball to Alan.
This time, Alan missed completely. He started to groan, then saw that Bucky was looking at him with a puzzled expression.
“What?”
“Alan,” Bucky said slowly, “do you know that you close your eyes just as you’re about to kick the ball?”
Alan stared at Bucky, dumbfounded. “I what?”
“I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure you close your eyes just before you kick the ball,” Bucky repeated. He squeezed his eyes shut to demonstrate.
“That’s ridiculous,” Alan protested. “Why would I do that?”
Bucky shrugged. “Search me.” The boys were silent for a few minutes, puzzling over Bucky’s discovery. Suddenly, Bucky snapped his fingers.
“Alan, remember when Amanda was hit in the face with the soccer ball and got a bloody nose?”
Alan nodded. “Yeah, it was gross. So?”
“She couldn’t head the ball for days after that because she was afraid of getting hit again!” Bucky reminded him.
Alan suddenly understood what Bucky was trying to tell him. “Do you think I started closing my eyes because of the accident?” The image of Eddie lying on the ground with blood on her chin popped into his head again.
“You’re doing it right now!” exclaimed Bucky.
To his amazement, Alan realized Bucky was right. He’d squeezed his eyes shut when he thought about Eddie.
“Well, now that we know why you do it,” Bucky said, “we have to get you to stop doing it!”
“And how are we going to do that?” Alan wanted to know.
Bucky bounced the soccer ball off his knee and caught it. “We’re going to keep doing the drill,” he said. “Only every time you’re about to kick, I’m going to yell to you to keep your eyes open. Okay?”
Alan got up. “Okay, I’m ready if you are.”
His first tries at knocking the clown over failed. He either missed the ball or gave only weak kicks. But with Bucky’s encouragement, he soon started to kick harder and on target.
“Yes!” he cried happily the first time the clown flopped over. After that, he hit the clown more than he missed.
They practiced for another hour, then opened the plug on the clown and took turns stomping on him until he was deflated.
“Thanks again, Bucky,” Alan said.
“No sweat,” Bucky answered. “Just don’t forget what you learned before our next game!”
Chapter 8
Alan’s kicking was put to the test the next day. The coach had called for a practice.
“I’m happy to report that Eddie is back and ready to play again,” Coach Bradley said after everyone had arrived.
Eddie grinned as the team applauded. “Thanks, everyone,” she said. “Your cards and everything really cheered me up last week.”
“Did she like your flowers?” whispered Brant to Alan. Alan glowered at him.
“In honor of Eddie’s return, I thought we’d work on defense today,” the coach continued. He separated them into teams of five — two offense, two defense, and a goalkeeper.
Alan was paired up with Brant. They were defending against Lou Barnes and Jerry Dinh. Bucky was their goalkeeper. They were the third team in line.
The coach tossed the first group a ball. “Offense, I want to see you working those passes. Defense, try double-teaming the player with the ball or marking the offense man-to-man. Whenever you get the ball, kick it as hard and as fast as you can to clear it from in front of the goal. Ready? Begin!”
Stookie Norris dribbled forward a few feet, then passed the ball to Amanda Caler. Ted and Bundy Neel swarmed her. Amanda immediately passed back to Stookie Norris. Stookie tried to dribble forward again, but Ted stole the ball and kicked it out of reach.
The coach blew his whistle. “Good work. Next group!” he called. Eddie and Lisa took their positions against Dewey London and Roy Boswick.
“Going to cheer for your girlfriend?” Brant grinned wickedly at Alan. Alan just glowered at him.
Dewey and Roy fought to reach the goal against Eddie and Lisa. Eddie had a look of determination on her face. With a quick jab of her foot, she captured the ball from Dewey. Then she booted it clear.
“Yes!” she said, pumping her fist in the air.
Brant leaned in to Alan. “C’mon, aren’t you going to give her a hug or a kiss or something?”
Alan opened his mouth to retort, but he didn’t have the chance. The coach was calling their group.
Brant smiled sweetly. “It’s our turn. See if you can’t kick the ball better today than you did against the Torpedoes, okay?”
Furious, Alan took his position. I’ll show you, he said to himself. He tensed as Lou and Jerry started to dribble and pass. As they neared, he repeated the same words over and over to himself.
Keep your eyes open, keep your eyes open, keep your eyes open.
Suddenly he saw his chance. He zoomed forward, stole the ball from Lou, and pulled it to one side with a quick move of his right foot. Now all he had to do was boot it clear.
He took a quick deep breath, pulled his leg back—and connected with the ball for the hardest kick he could ever remember making!
The ball soared down the sideline, finally bouncing to a stop well past the midfield line.
“Whoa!”
“Holy cow!”
“Nice kick!”
His teammates all congratulated him. Bucky gave him a big smile. Alan was thrilled. He’d licked his problem!
“Not bad,” Brant said as they go
t back in line. “Of course,” he continued, “this is just a drill. Let’s hope you can do the same thing during a game.”
Chapter 9
Alan’s heart sank. Much as he hated to admit it, Brant was right. What if he couldn’t kick during a game?
Well, I can’t worry about that now, he said to himself. I’ll just have to try my best, that’s all. He hoped he could follow his own advice.
Practice ended fifteen minutes later. Bucky and Alan started walking home together. Eddie caught up to them.
“Hey, Alan, I was wondering if you’d like to come over and play some more Chinese checkers? Bucky, you can come, too, if you want.”
The boys agreed. On their way to Eddie’s house, Brant passed them on his bicycle.
“Uh-oh, is someone trying to steal your girl, Slugger?” Brant called over his shoulder. Laughing, he pedaled away, leaving Eddie and Bucky puzzled and Alan blushing behind him.
“That Brant can be such a pain,” Eddie said. “Know what he calls me sometimes? Big Red.” She shook her red hair.
“Really?” said Bucky. “I never heard him call you that before!”
“He’s always careful only to say it when no one else can hear him,” Eddie said, frowning. “Bet he never makes fun of you guys!”
“Huh! Guess again!” Alan blurted out.
Eddie and Bucky turned to him, surprised.
“He —he started calling me Slugger the day I kicked you,” he admitted. He hesitated, then told them about Brant calling Eddie his girlfriend. To his relief, Eddie just rolled her eyes.
“Good grief, you were just being nice! And I would have been bored to death if you hadn’t visited me,” she said. “Now, is that all, or did he say something else that bugged you?”
“Just one other thing,” Alan said. “He —he said he wondered if I’d be able to kick during a game.” He told Eddie about the troubles he’d been having with kicking and how Bucky had helped him with the problem.
Eddie laughed. “Boy, kicking me has caused you more trouble than it caused me! But I think I’ve got an idea that will help you solve both problems.” She grinned. “What if every time you go to kick the ball, you pretend it’s Brant? You can get out your anger at him —and you’ll be sure to kick with extra power!”
The boys laughed, too. Alan wasn’t sure he’d follow Eddie’s suggestion—as mad as he was at Brant, the idea of pretending to kick him didn’t seem right—but it sure was good to know others understood how he felt.
Chapter 10
Two days later, Alan, Bucky, and Eddie were sitting on the bench together, waiting for their teammates to show up for the game against the Tadpoles. One by one, the others appeared. Brant was one of the last to arrive.
After some warm-up drills, the teams took their positions.
Alan was determined to play his best. Eddie was starting the game because Lisa was home sick. Alan glanced over at her. He could see a look of determination on her face as well.
“Try to pay attention to the game, not your girlfriend,” Brant whispered to Alan just before the ref blew his whistle.
Alan gritted his teeth. Then he caught Eddie giving him a look that said “forget about him.” Alan grinned and nodded to her.
Alan wasn’t too worried about playing against the Tadpoles. Their offense wasn’t usually that good, so most of the play occurred down at the other end of the field.
Today, however, the Tadpoles took the ’Cats by surprise. They started off strong, sending the ball back and forth across the field with short, crisp passes. Before the ’Cats could recover, the ball was near the ‘Cat goal!
Eddie and Alan rushed to double-team the player with the ball, just as they had practiced earlier in the week. Alan freed it with his foot. He knew he had only a moment to clear it from the goal before the Tadpole tried to take it back from him.
He pulled his leg back. The split second before he was about to kick, he remembered Eddie’s suggestion. He couldn’t help it—as his leg swung forward, he imagined the ball was Brant.
Wham! The ball left his foot and flew down the sideline. It was traveling so fast, one Tadpole ducked to get out of its way. Lou Barnes scooped it up on his foot and started off for the Tadpole goal.
After that kick, Alan didn’t look back. Although he didn’t imagine the ball was Brant again, he played the best game of his life, clearing the ball with solid kicks and dogging the offense so much that they started making mistakes.
Even Brant was impressed. After the game, he admitted he’d never seen him play better. “That first kick of yours in particular was amazing,” he said. “You must have been showing off for your girlfriend!”
Alan glanced at Eddie and Bucky. “Actually, I just pretended the ball was something that makes me mad,” he said innocently. “And, boy, did it feel good to kick it!”
“By the way, Brant, you played a good game, too,” Eddie said. She slapped him on the back.
“Gee, thanks, Big Red,” Brant said. “Well, see you guys later.” He turned and walked away.
Eddie nudged Alan and pointed at Brant’s back. Alan looked and doubled over with laughter.
When Eddie had slapped Brant’s back, she’d left something behind — a sign that read “Kick Me!”
SOCCER ’CATS
#1 The Captain Contest
#2 Operation Baby-Sitter
#3 Secret Weapon
#4 Hat Trick
#5 Master of Disaster
#6 Heads Up
#7 All Keyed Up
#8 You Lucky Dog
#9 Switch Play!
#10 Kick It!
SOCCER ’CATS
#10
Kick It!
Matt Christopher
Illustrated by Daniel Vasconcellos
Alan Minter plays fullback for the Soccer ’Cats, which means he needs a good strong kick to clear the ball from in front of the goal. But when that kick sends a teammate to the hospital for stitches, Alan suddenly finds he can’t kick very well anymore. At the same time, he finds himself the brunt of another teammate’s teasing. Will Alan be able to kick his problems, or will they sideline him from the game he loves? Here is the tenth entry in the Matt Christopher Soccer ’Cats series, an exciting line of first chapter books perfect for sports fans ready to start reading on their own.
Matt Christopher is the name behind more than seventy-five bestselling sports novels for young readers. For a list of books in the Soccer ’Cats series, please refer to the last page of this book.
Kick It! Page 2
