II. Goalie - Poisonball (2)

In grade school, I played the games in Physical Fitness class in a different way from my classmates. One of the favorite games for my class, and even for me, was Poisonball. Now none of the children were really poisoned. We just imagined that the soft balls that each team threw were poisoned. Anyone who was hit by a flying ball was out and had to sit on the side of the field until someone on their team got someone out on the opposite team. I stayed in the back, gathering the balls that fell until I alone was left on my team's side, holding every ball. Then no one could hit me and I had all of the power in the game. My team cheered and I was the center of attention. But as soon as one of the balls I threw hit someone on the other team, my happiness was cut short. Then the team cheered for the new classmate who was let into the game, and they did not cheer for me. I returned to the back of the field and waited out of sight.

But when the time came for a game with a goal I could block, I did wonderfully. I could block very well. I blocked so well, in fact, that the goalie who was protecting the goal would yell at me to get out of the way and let him have the ball. Yes, I was not the goalie whose job it was to protect the goal. I was the strange person standing in front of the goalie, stopping the balls before they could even get to him. He would grow more and more angry that I was in his way, so I missed a few balls to make him feel better. Ever since I was very young, I have always stood beside the goal in such games. Since there was nothing else I was better at, that was where I belonged. I could not do any better than this. But a surprise waited for me when I started at the university, years later.