Soccer Moms -- Part 3
[Author's Notes: 1) there are underage characters in this story but they will neither have, see nor even hear any sexual activity; and 2) this is a work of fiction and so certain aspects of this story involving youth soccer programs are not completely accurate but they advance the storyline. Please try to look past that to the more important aspects of the story]
The Blue Lightning had advanced to the tournament playoffs that week. The first game was a hard fought 2-1 win which got them to the finals. The afternoon began with bright promise, but it went unfulfilled. Early in the final game, Melanie got upended by a rather hard tackle. She was hurt by this and while she was able to come back and play the second half, she was nowhere near 100%. She also was not able to send corner kicks into the box.
In the second half, Katie again committed a hard foul that drew a yellow card. Coach Hochbauer immediately took her out of the game and she did not play anymore that day. The team was out of sync from the moment Melanie got hurt and Katie's exit from the game led to some mental mistakes and people trying too hard to pick up the slack, leading to a 2-0 defeat. When Coach Hochbauer finished her post-game meeting, Katie went straight to the car without saying a word to anyone. Jen had to help Melanie who was able to walk on her own to their car, although she was clearly favoring her left ankle and Coach reminded Jen to make sure she got more ice on it when they got home. The result of this was that Carol and Jen had not had much time to talk that day to discuss what they would do the next week as the parents in the team room. And what they would not be able to do.
Carol tried to get Katie to talk on the way home. Usually Katie would talk with her Mother at times when she was upset or unhappy. Carol was thus disturbed that she was only getting one-word answers to her questions and realized she was not going to get anywhere and let it go.
Sunday night sex was becoming a regular thing and Carol and Paul both enjoyed this new intimacy and the uptick in sex. And it wasn't just that one night a week anymore. Paul idly wondered if he should be worried about this sudden increase in libido but realized that Carol was in the room with Jen and he was sure that there was no way that Carol would bring someone in there or not sleep in that room. So he just was thankful and tried his best to keep up with his wife.
Carol and Jen went for a walk at Tuesday's practice so they could talk. They both agreed that while it was a little disappointing that they would not be able to continue their joint activity this upcoming weekend, that maybe that was a good thing. While neither of them wanted to admit it, this had all progressed very rapidly and a week off would help them relax about things a bit. However, they both confirmed that they enjoyed it very much as well. This wasn't either of them wanting to stop it. It was just a pause. "Besides" Carol noted "if I can't go without it, that means it is becoming something of an obsession. And then I would start to worry about it."
"Well, it's easier for you to say, you have your husband to help you pass the time." Carol felt very sorry for her friend and realized that maybe all her talk about her and Paul was not fair for Jen. She knew she certainly wanted Jen to be as happy as she was.
By Friday night the next tournament was ready to commence. Carol noticed that Jen and Melanie were not there until one of the last families again. Almost as soon as the Smith girls had arrived everyone started to turn in and so Carol, Jen, Katie and Melanie went to their room. The routine was pretty well set by now, everyone took their turn in the bathroom and came out dressed for bed. The lights went off and everyone went to sleep.
The games the next day were tough for the girls. Coach Hochbauer had tried to put in some new things that week. She did not say it was because of how things went with Katie and Melanie both out, but she clearly wanted more people involved. The girls were trying to implement the new patterns and they worked well when they finally got used to them. They eked out a win in the first game. Once again Melanie had taken a pretty hard foul but she was okay. Katie had also committed another hard foul and got a yellow card. She would have to be on guard the rest of the tournament as another one would lead to her being disqualified for any more games. Coach Hochbauer sat her out the rest of the game.
The team played much better in the second game. They were getting used to some of the new patterns Coach Hochbauer had installed and they won big allowing them to advance into the playoff round again. Dinner had been pleasant and now it was time for the girls to go to the team room and watch some film.
When everyone was heading to the team room Coach Hochbauer stopped the group outside. "Ms. Smith would you please stay out here for a few minutes with the girls, I need to speak with Ms. Rogers alone for a few minutes." Carol walked into the room while behind her a series of "Uh ohs" and a "what did you do Katie." came from the girls. All in a good-natured way.
When Carol went in she saw the usual set up she had seen over the years for this. A couple of laptops were set up and one had a cord running to the tv. Coach Hochbauer called her to one of the ones not hooked up to the TV. Carol looked and asked "Is this from the first game." "Yes. There is something I wanted you to see." The Coach took the remote and fast forwarded to a time stamp. Carol noted she had a few of them written down on a piece of paper. When the Coach stopped the tape, Carol watched as Melanie was fouled hard. She had not noticed it earlier but the girl from the other team had two very long braids in her hair that flopped around as she was running to try to catch up to Melanie. The girl then slid in and took Melanie down.
"Okay, now look at this." Coach Hochbauer said as she fast forwarded it some more. When she hit play, Carol knew what she was about to see. She expected that the Coach wanted to talk to her about the hard foul that got Katie the Yellow Card. There was Katie running quickly toward, as it turned out, the girl with the two long braids. "Well Katie got a lot of the ball as well on that play." she said defensively for her daughter.
"Okay but now look at this." the Coach said as she opened a different file and went to the next time stamp on her list. This was the from the game the previous week. When Coach stopped the tape, it was Melanie again being taken out by a defender. Coach again started to fast forward but a thought was already starting to come to Carol. Sure enough, when the tape started to play again, there was Katie knocking over that same girl who has taken out Melanie.
Coach Hochbauer stopped the tape and turned to Carol. "I've gone back and looked. There are some that didn't even get called. But she is purposefully going after any girl who knocks Melanie down. And she is not doing it for the other girls. I know those two have become really tight and I know you and Jen are friends as well. I get the instinct, but we don't need an enforcer on this team. And these yellow cards are going to come back and haunt her if she keeps it up. She's got real talent and I am sure she will be able to get a scholarship to a decent school if she just plays her game. I tried to talk to her about it but you saw how good that worked last week. I just think maybe you need to say something to her."
After promising she would do that, the Coach went and got everyone else in and they started going over the games and watching how the new patterns looked on camera to help everyone get even more comfortable with them. There was no talk about yellow cards or fouls.
With everyone in the room, Carol had no time to talk to Jen. In the morning, Carol and Katie were up early as usual. Carol told Jen that she wanted to talk to Katie a little and that they would leave now and meet everyone at the field. On the drive to the field, Katie would only offer that she wasn't trying to hurt anyone or get even for anything with the recent foul trouble. She claimed to have no idea that it was only when someone had hurt Melanie and she still even denied she was doing anything intentional.
Finally Carol had to ask the one question that was really troubling her all night. "Katie, you know I am good friends with Ms. Smith. You wouldn't be doing this for me as a favor to my friend?"
"Mom I am not doing anything for anyone. Just drop it." Carol realized she was not going to get anywhere with Katie and left it at that. The fact was that Katie really didn't know herself why this was happening and why she was reacting this way. All she knew was that she felt like she had to protect Melanie and if anyone did hurt her, Katie wanted to make them pay for it. However, watching the second half from the sideline had impacted her and she was going to keep herself on the field.
Finally having a moment to talk while the game pulled the attention of the other parents, Carol said to Jen "So what do you suppose Coach Hochbauer wanted to talk to me about last night?"
Jen turned to her and said "I don't know...the fact that your daughter keeps faceplanting anyone who takes out my daughter?"
Carol's jaw dropped and she asked "Did Coach talk to you about it as well?"
"No." Jen replied "it's just that I tend to notice who it is that does that to my kid and I tend to watch them after that point. So I've noticed that Katie usually finds a way to get them back."
Carol seemed a little concerned about all this and asked "Has anyone else noticed this?"
"I don't think so." was Jen's reply. "Coach did because she watches the whole game like a hawk. I think that maybe some people are starting to notice that Katie has become a bit more aggressive in her play and her having to sit out yesterday probably will get some people to pay a bit more attention. But I gathered that was what you and her talked about on the way over and hopefully it won't be an issue going forward and no one will notice."
Jen added "Carol, one thing I worried about with whole "Blue Lightning Way" was that with everyone angling for scholarships that the team would only be a team to the extent that everyone's individual situations were improved by the whole and that it would be an amalgam of people rather than a team. Katie is looking out for Melanie. How can I not be thankful for that?"