borderline ocd Did I say borderline I meant crippling Ha Okay focus My name is Lucy Graves and I am a rugby player Who am I Well right now I’m an emotional wreck because if I don’t get my team to the finals and if I don’t win then I won’t secure my status as the best fly-half Blue Mountain High has ever seen and I won’t get an athletic scholarship and I won’t go to college to play rugby and I won’t get the education that my mom can’t afford and I won’t see the world and I won’t get a good job and I won’t ever become anything important and I might as well curl up and die right now because as the great Mariah Carey would say my future is bleak bleak bleak My name is Lucy Graves and I am a rugby player God why can’t I get past this thought Stop thinking about it Lucy I shift my focus to watching video replays on my phone of last season’s games against our main rivals the Riverside Grizzlies They’re the ones we’re playing today and I am not looking forward to it 4 Brooke Carter
As I listen to the sound of rugby through my earbuds it transports me back to the last game we played against the Grizzlies Mud squelching players yelling to each other whistles blowing The ball hurtles toward me as I run through the pouring rain I reach for it with fingers numbed by cold and feel its textured surface make contact contact There’s no time to hesitate I plant my posts deep in the slippery field to secure my footing in the mud before hugging the ball close and taking off down the pitch Blood whooshes in my ears My body burns hot Push past the pain in your knees Lucy Push past the pain in your lungs The con stant pain in your neck The opposing team thunders toward me as I weave through their huge defensive players Their props and locks aim to take me down hard throwing their bodies at me with abandon as I run past My teammates shout to one another along the length of the field waiting to catch the ball if I toss it back to them They keep just behind me so we don’t drive the play offside I’m almost there 5 Lucky Break
Hard Coach Stevens yells from the sideline I’ve got to pour it on now Footfalls pound behind me gaining on me The other team is close but I’m closer With a final surge I cross the try line I stumble and feel the rough embrace of my pursuer on the back of my jersey We fall in a tumble of knees and elbows and cleats but it’s too late for the other team I’ve scored the winning points of the game with only seconds to spare I’d jump up and celebrate with my screaming teammates but I’m too gassed out to move I lie on the soaking-wet grass feeling alive sucking air covered in mud and grime and sweat I taste blood on my lower lip I must have bitten it but it doesn’t matter The pain is worth it It’s always worth it Watching the video I can see just how close I had been to being taken down Half a second slower and I would have been toast I could have passed the ball during my charge several times but I was too 6 Brooke Carter
focused on myself When I’m in the zone I just can’t help it I had to run to the try line I had to win TOP FIVE THINGS I LOVE ABOUT RUGBY 1 The contact I love to get tackled and I love how rough it is 2 Running nothing makes me feel more alive 3 Scoring what can I say I live for the glory 4 Outsmarting the other team so satisfying satisfying 5 The temporary calm I feel after a match the only time I feel calm The Blue Mountain Eagles the girls rugby team at my high school is one of the best in the district but the Riverside Grizzlies have us beat in the size department by a wide margin The last time we played them was not pretty We won barely and we were hurting for weeks 7 Lucky Break
