FICTION
A Hope Called Sports
Dreams Into Reality
His eyes stayed fixated on the face. His legs seemingly trembled. His hands trembled more. He looked at his gloves. Can he do it? He looked again at the face. Fierce, focussed, cruel, confident. Ready to shoot the best penalty kick of his life and take his team to the next round. What might be going on in his mind? Which side of the net shall he shoot? A legend like him must be knowing what is going on in the mind of a rookie goalkeeper standing with a fear-infused face. He must be smiling inside. Fear, tension, repercussions, the legend knew all of it. How to handle every bit of it. Then, what about him? Shall he give in easily? Wasn’t his mind being fed with so many inputs from the technical team and his coach on how to handle the shot from this legend once he faces him? Wasn’t he told how to read the mind of his opposition shot-takers by studying their faces, their eyes minutely till the last minute? Yes, how would he control his ebbing fear? That is slowly taking the centre stage. Alleviating, rising. He inhaled some cold air, slowly and then exhaled, slowly. Continuing it a couple of times. To calm his nerves. This works, all the time. He can still see the legend discussing something with the referee. A bit of extra time to focus. So, the situation of the game is such that if he saves this shot, they win and continue to the next…
