OOF | Teen Ink

OOF

February 12, 2024
By RyanGregory BRONZE, Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin
RyanGregory BRONZE, Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

I hit the snowy and icy ground with a thud. Hi, I'm a rugby ball named Johnny and I just got kicked by a huge ninth-grade kid named Dayton Shady. He is the best kicker on their team. I'm flying through the air waiting to hit the ground, but one of the kids on the other team caught me and started running. But, as he was running Guardian Harris tackled him and I flew out of his hands hitting the frozen, rock-hard field really hard. In pain, I just sit there waiting to be picked up. Out of nowhere, I feel hands on me, Ryan picks me up. I'm glad I’m not on the ground anymore, it hurts being on the ground. But as he is running the wind blowing all over me I slip out of his hands onto the ground, BANG. Ryan gets tackled from the side and hits the ground with a boom. I felt the ground shake with guys all over trying to grab me from off the ground. And when I least expect it, I get picked up by the other team, and they run in and slam me on the ground for the score. They all jump around and celebrate, while I'm lying on the ground and the other team is getting yelled at furiously. But, now it's the PAT I’m always scared for them, especially if it looks like I’ll hit the crossbar. But something feels different, the hands feel very weird. I don't recognize them, But when I turn around I see a guy who claims to be a “highschooler”, he has a big bushy beard and he's built like the hulk. At this point I am terrified, fearing for my life.

He aims up for the kick, he drops me and he kicks right through the uprights. “It's good!” The sir says. The guy built like the hulk gives his teammates fist bumps and they say their good jobs. After, they score the PAT we line up for the kickoff. The score is 7-0, with the away team winning. I'm already in pain and we still have over an hour left in the game, but I still have to go through it it is my job. The away team lines up to kick it off, ready, ready, ready, kicked away!!. 

I'm flying through the air deep in the back right corner, I get caught by Liam. He’s running as fast as he can. While I am in his arms, wind flows in his hair, and his jersey, and I feel the wind all over me. He’s running so fast that I feel like I am going a million miles per hour. I see a guy chasing him from the side of the field, he is gaining momentum and chasing him running even faster. But, as I notice he gets closer Liam does a side juke and makes him completely miss him. Liam at this point is running like the wind and no one is even close to him, he runs to the try zone and places the ball down. SCORE!!!. As I watch Liam and his team celebrate and the coach is happy, the other team is hanging their heads low and getting all bummed out that none could tackle him. The sir grabs the ball and gives it to Liam so he can kick it away for the conversion. He grabs me and gets prepared to kick me away, he dropkicks me, and I’m up, up, up, and good!! He scores the conversion and makes the game 7-7.

Now the best kicker on our team Dayton, gets ready to do a squib kick to try and get me back so they can keep scoring and blowout this team. They line up with me on a tee, the quiet haunts the field like we are in a library and not supposed to talk. I'm sitting there ready to be kicked, then out of nowhere, a kid named Jerry White on the opposite team falls to the ground. Everyone rushes to him as I'm sitting on the tee confused that we aren't playing and I'm not feeling a big cleat hit me and launch me into the sky. But, then I get grabbed off of the tee and put on the sideline so that I'm not in the way. At this point I'm really confused, then all of a sudden everybody screams. I'm now really confused but when someone moved out of the way I saw that he was awake from being passed out but then started vomiting badly. So, then I heard what sounded like an army of firetrucks, ambulances, and police cars driving really really fast our way. I'm sitting here in disbelief wondering how this could have happened to this high- schooler that just got on the field and the game just started. The ambulances get here faster than I have ever seen them before, so something must have happened other than what I saw. Then, after they put him on a stretcher I saw even more of him. He looked really pale, sick, and just not good at all, I sat there in the grass just waiting to hear somebody talk about more of what happened. When, all the adults walked over one of them was talking to other adults about what happened, and what I heard was horrifying. Apparently, this kid took a bunch of pre-workout before the games thinking it would get him excited and ready to play. But, he took too much and almost died of an overdose on pre-workout. Even though I'm a ball and don't have organs, but I felt sick to my stomach and felt horrible for that kid and I hope he will get better and survive. After all of what happened, the other team did not want to continue the game. But, the home team wanted to keep playing because they trained really hard for this game and they felt down if all of that hard work paid for them just to forfeit.  But, the sirs did not wanna keep reffing a game that one team doesn't even want to play and one team that wants to play. And the refs came from their team and they ford just to give it a tie. But, with the home team furious they grab me not knowing I am alive and can feel everything they take their anger out on me. Throwing me, kicking me, chucking me but I could deal with that. But then suddenly, I feel a sharp pointed object go inside of me I start feeling pain like I’ve never felt before. I got popped. I slowly start feeling my body start to deflate and die. As I’m deflating everybody looks at me and the coach says “We can just get another one.” Those words angered me. But I can’t do anything about it, I slowly start to feel my anger leave me, and everything slows down. My heart isn’t beating as fast, I can hardly breathe. Then, I see a bright light. Suddenly everything goes black.


The author's comments:

I wrote this because I play rugby, and it is very fun. I play with other friends and over all it is just a fun hobby to do and a very tough sport.


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