Lilly

The other night, my soccer coach announced that we’d be practicing against an older girls’ team. I was pumped for the challenge, and looked forward to testing out my skills and confidence against more-experienced players. Then he called out our names and what positions we’d be playing. When he got to me, my heart sank: “Lilly: center back.”

OK. A little exposition: I have always played forward. A forward’s job is to score goals. If I can’t do it myself, I get the ball to a teammate who can. I have spent hours upon hours training to play aggressively and offensively, always looking for a way to put the ball into the net. Center back, on the other hand, is almost exactly the opposite of the position I play. It’s the last line of defense before the goalkeeper, and mainly concerned with making sure that the other team’s forwards don’t score. Telling me to play center back is like telling a trumpeter to play the tuba.

I was nervous as I ran onto the field. My first big test came when one of the other team’s forwards broke away with the ball, closing down on our goalkeeper. I caught up to her and got goalside (a spot between the ball and the goal I was defending). Because of my experience as a forward, I knew exactly what she was thinking and could anticipate her moves. And that’s how I was able to stop her, wrangling the ball away as soon as she tried to get it past me.

“I’ve never played defense before,” I told the coach afterwards. He laughed and said I did fine.

Since then, I’ve gotten better. To the point where I might actually become my team’s official center back this season. It’s an intimidating prospect, but I like to think I’m up for the challenge. I’m not saying tuba is an easy instrument, but this trumpeter just might be able to learn. ♦