National Tournament

All they need is one more win, the women’s team is going to the national tournament.

The crowd in the stadium is larger than you’ve ever seen. The team rises to the occasion and wins in fine style. There is a party atmosphere in the locker room after the game, which includes many of the girls’ family and friends. As per usual coach slips away unobtrusively, keen to avoid any fuss.

Next week is hectic for you as you already have a lot of assignments and exams to deal with. Unfortunately, there won’t be any time for you to attend any of the practices.

Coach Dyer and Claire ask you to come by one evening to help plan some things and that’s the only chance you get to see Claire that week. However, you two still manage to stay in touch through phone calls and text messages. Although they are all about planning the trip.

The plan is to leave on Friday, play in the tournament Saturday and Sunday, then drive back on Monday. Your mind is a flutter with thoughts of potentially spending 3 nights in a room with Claire. Unfortunately, the team accommodation had been booked by the tournament organizers, so you know there is little hope for that this time.

This time instead of a hotel you are all staying in a lodge. You arrive at a large building that is part of a sprawling suburban accommodation complex a short walk from the tournament venue. The lodge consists of a large central living room including a kitchen and dining area. At one end there was a door to a single large bathroom area consisting of a row of hand basins and mirrors, with numerous private shower and toilet stalls. Off the main living area there are several doors leading to small bedrooms, each containing two single beds. An extra cot had been crammed into one of the rooms to meet the needs of their eleven strong party.

Coach Dyer is more careful this time to consider the sleeping arrangements. Her husband Mr. Dyer, who had traveled with the team this time, suggested that, since there were two males, that you and him should probably share a room together. However, Rose with her quick tongue did some math, there are X number of girls, Y number of rooms, Z number of cots, and in a flurry made both Coach and Mr. Dyer’s eyes glass over. “Which means that you Mr. Dyer can stay with coach in the room with the king size bed, and John, will be safe and sound over there.”

Whether it was exhaustion from the long trip, or just not wanting to go through that again, Coach Dyer just agreed, and she and Mr. Dyer retreated to the large bedroom together.

Once they left Rose grabbed you by the shirt and lead you to the room at the back. “You’re stay with me.” She informed you with a stern look on her face. “And no funny business tonight. I need my girls well rested for the tournament tomorrow.” And with a poke to your sternum added, “You got me.”

“Yeah, of course,” you quickly reply before grabbing your bag and retreating into the room.

As the tournament begins it becomes clear that the teams here are on another level. They are soundly defeated in their first match and manage a draw their second. Looking at their point total, a lot of things would need to fall just right for them to advance. There is a noticeable air of disappointment among the players Saturday night.

Sunday morning as they arrive at the fields, they discover that things did not fall the way they hoped, so no matter what happens in their last game, they will not be moving on. Much to your surprise this actually causes a relaxation of players and seems to lift their spirits heading into their last match. Instead of focusing solely on victory or defeat, they intend to use this opportunity as an excuse to simply enjoy themselves and let loose.

Teams are supposed to sit and watch the semi-finals on Sunday afternoon; however, the girls manage to persuade Coach Dyer to take them for some sightseeing instead. Afterward, you all return to the lodge to discuss your evening plans. Once again Rose uses her quick tongue and in no time convinced Mr. Dyer to take his wife out to dinner. She assures them that the team is planning on ordering pizza for dinner before going to watch the tournament final.

By the time the Dyer’s leave for their evening out, you and the girls had already finished your pizza and are busy getting ready to go to the game. You notice that the girls are dressing far nicer than you would expect. Once the coach has been gone for about ten minutes, you become aware that there is no soccer in the girls’ plans for the evening. A few of the girls drag a dining table over to the edge of the lounge part of the room. Two dining chairs are placed behind it, and one chair is placed to one side of the front of it. The room reminds you of a court room - an accurate guess as it happens.