Sports day, p.6
Sports Day,
p.6
As I’m running alongside this tall fast girl, I suddenly know exactly what I need to do. When the moment is right, I pounce, swiping the ball away from her with my left foot and she stares at me in shock. I can’t help feeling a tiny bit smug. It’s one of the huge perks of being ambidextrous, tricking the opposition when I use the foot they were never expecting.
With the ball back in my possession, I’m determined not to lose this chance. I’m going to take the ball all the way to our goal and boot it into that net with every bit of strength I have. There’s no one on me so I do exactly what Ted told me to do at half-time. Instead of passing, I run straight towards goal and, when I’m in range, pull my right foot back and kick it as hard as I can. The goalie tries to grab it, but the ball flies past him and straight into the right corner of the net.
GOAL!
The ref blows her whistle to signal the end of the game and the Knights supporters go wild with cheering, clapping, whistling and woo-hooing. Dylan’s mum and dad start shouting and jumping up and down alongside Indi and my family. I laugh and wave to them all, and when Dad blows me a kiss, I almost burst into happy tears right there and then.
We did it! We made the finals!
I run towards my teammates and straight into their waiting huddle.
‘SAM! BACKFLIP! BACKFLIP! BACKFLIP!’
I turn around to see my family and friends all beaming and chanting at me.
‘Go on,’ Chelsea says, grinning and rolling her eyes. ‘Gotta give your fans what they want!’
As I break away from my teammates and prepare to do the best backflip of my life, I turn back to Chelsea and grin.
‘OUR fans,’ I say. ‘We’re a team. The best team in the WHOLE WORLD!’
And in that moment, I truly believe that we are.
COMING SOON!
Available in print, eBook and eAudio in November 2022 Read on for a sneak peek!
CHAPTER ONE
MY HOUSE
SATURDAY
5.30 pm
‘Oh, look!’ Maddi says, pointing out the window. ‘They must be our new neighbours!’
As Dad turns into our driveway, we all turn to look at the family standing on the front lawn of the house next door. The Harris family moved out a few months ago and a SOLD sign went up out the front a few weeks later. We’ve been waiting to find out who our new neighbours will be and there they are! A mum, a dad and two boys – one who looks my age and the other a few years younger.
‘Let’s go and say hello,’ Mum says, unclipping her seatbelt.
‘But I need to have a shower!’ I groan.
‘You can say that again,’ Maddi says, screwing up her nose.
I’m not smelling my best right now. We went straight from today’s game against the All-Stars to Ted’s house for a BBQ to celebrate our epic win in the semi-finals, so yeah, Maddi’s right.
‘You can say hello first, Sam,’ Mum says firmly. ‘Then you can have a shower.’
‘Do we have to go over, too?’ Levi grumbles.
‘Yes, you do,’ Dad says. ‘It’s the neighbourly thing to do.’
We all step out of the car to walk across the driveway that separates our two houses and Mum lifts her hand to wave as we approach them.
‘Hello,’ she chirps in a friendly voice. ‘You must be our new neighbours!’
The mum smiles. ‘Oh yes, hello!’ she says.
The mum is wearing khaki shorts and a white singlet and has a nice smiley face, but the dad just gives us the kind of tight smile you’d give a stranger on the bus.
‘I’m Roxanne,’ Mum says, ‘this is my husband, Roger, and our kids, Sam, Levi and Madi.’
‘Lovely to meet you all,’ the mum says. ‘I’m Lucy, this is my husband, Spike, and our boys, Jake and Will.’
The boys are both small and have messy brown hair that flops down over their eyes. The small one keeps pushing it back behind his ear, but it keeps flopping forward onto his face again.
‘They’re starting at the school down the road on Monday,’ Lucy continues. ‘Will is in grade four, and Jake in grade six.’
‘That’s where Sam goes,’ Dad says, jerking his head at me. ‘She’s in grade six, too.’
‘Oh, that’s nice,’ Lucy says. ‘We just moved from Melbourne and the boys don’t know anyone here yet.’
‘It’s a good school,’ I say, smiling at Jake. ‘I can show you around on Monday if you want?’
‘Okay, thanks,’ Jake says with a grin.
‘I’m in grade four,’ Will says loudly. ‘I’m going there, too.’
I smile at him. ‘I can show you around too, Will.’
‘Okay,’ he shrugs. ‘Cool.’
‘Do you play soccer, Sam?’ Lucy asks, nodding at my uniform.
‘Yep,’ I say. ‘With the Knights. Our home ground is at Bruce Lee Oval, just down the road.’
‘Her team got into the finals today,’ Maddi says. ‘It looked like it was going to be a draw but then Sam did her ambidextrous feet thing and tricked the opposition. She kicked the winning goal!’
I stare at Maddi in amazement. I had no idea she was paying that much attention to the game. I thought she was just doing the ‘good sister’ thing by coming to watch. Maddi isn’t exactly what you’d call a soccer expert. I’m not the only one who’s shocked either. Levi makes a sound that’s halfway between a snort and a laugh, and Dad arches one eyebrow at Mum.
‘What?’ Maddi says, seeing our expressions. ‘I do watch the game you know! It was exciting!’
It was SO exciting. The game was hours ago but the buzz still hasn’t worn off. We all played so hard to get into the finals and we did it!
Afterwards at Ted’s we couldn’t stop talking about the match. We replayed all our favourite moments as we sat around the outdoor table cramming Cheezels and potato chips into our mouths.
‘How about when Chelsea dodged around that All-Stars player and sliced the ball to James?’ Archie said.
‘Oh yeah, that was wicked!’ Toby agreed.
‘And that goal, James!’ Ky crowed. ‘BOOM! Straight into the back corner!’
‘Liam, you were on fire, today!’ I added.
‘But your goal was the best, Sam!’ Cooper said.
I’m not gonna lie… it was an epic goal. But it was definitely a team effort. Chelsea passed the ball to me right at the perfect moment, which is the only reason I could make the shot. I still can’t believe that we’re going to be playing in the finals!
‘Congratulations,’ Spike says now. ‘That’s fantastic!’
It’s the first time Jake’s dad has opened his mouth so I’m guessing he’s a soccer fan.
‘It was a great game,’ Dad says proudly, putting his arm around my shoulders. ‘We’re more of an AFL family, but Sam here might just turn us around.’
‘Us too!’ Jake cries. ‘We barrack for the West Coast Eagles.’
‘You’re kidding!’ Mum laughs. ‘My son plays for the Eagles.’
‘No WAY!’ Jake’s eyes almost pop out of his head. ‘Who?’
‘Daniel Kerr,’ Dad says.
Spike looks like he might explode with excitement. ‘Oh, he’s sensational!’
As the adults start talking football, Levi and Madi make a sneaky getaway back across the driveway and into our house.
Will looks up at me with eyes as big as saucers. ‘Does your brother really play for West Coast?’ he asks.
‘Yep,’ I say. ‘Sure does.’
‘But you don’t play footy,’ Will says, frowning at my uniform.
‘No, but I still love AFL,’ I grin.
‘I don’t know anything about soccer,’ Jake says, frowning. ‘Is it fun?’
‘Heaps of fun,’ I say. ‘I only started playing this year, but I love it. I can teach you a bit about it if you like?’
‘Cool!’ Jake’s expression brightens. ‘Thanks!’
When I first started playing soccer, I didn’t know anything about it either. There are so many rules to learn, like ‘Offside’ and ‘Penalty Kicks’ and ‘Fouls’, and it took ages to figure it all out. Now I can’t imagine not understanding the game.
‘Can we go inside now?’ Will says, looking up at Jake. ‘You promised you’d help me set up my Lego table.’
‘Yeah, okay,’ Jake says. ‘In a minute.’
‘It’s okay, I have to go get cleaned up,’ I say, pulling at my dirty jersey. ‘See you on Monday!’
‘Come on, Jake!’ Will says, tugging at Jake’s sleeve.
‘I’m coming,’ Jake says, turning to go. ‘See ya, Sam.’
Maybe I’ll introduce Jake to Dylan and Indi on Monday morning, I think as I walk away. I reckon they’ll like him. He seems like a good kid and I might even have someone else to kick the ball around with in the off season.
A someone who lives right next door!
ABOUT SAM KERR
Sam Kerr is the captain of the Australian women’s national soccer team – the Matildas – and a leading goal scorer for Chelsea in the English FA Women’s Super League. She burst onto the W-League scene as a fifteen-year-old playing with Perth Glory. In 2016, she played for the Matildas at the Olympics in Brazil, and she was the top goal scorer in the 2017 Tournament of Nations. Since joining Chelsea in 2019, Sam has positioned herself as one of the best female strikers in the world. She was named 2018 Young Australian of the Year. In 2021, Sam became the Matildas’ all-time top goal scorer at the Tokyo Olympics, and she is currently preparing for the FIFA Women’s World Cup to be held in Australia and New Zealand in 2023.
www.SimonandSchuster.com.au/Authors/Sam-Kerr
ABOUT FIONA HARRIS
Fiona Harris is an Australian actor and author who has written numerous children’s book series including the Super Moopers, Trolls and Miraculous. This is her third book in the Sam Kerr Kicking Goals series. Fiona has also written a picture book with AFL star Marcus Bontompelli and is the author of two adult fiction books, The Drop-off and The Pick-up, both adapted from her internationally award-winning comedy web series, The Drop Off. Fiona has co-written and starred in TV sketch comedy shows including, SkitHouse (Channel 10), Flipside (ABC TV) and Comedy Inc – The Late Shift (Channel 9) and was head scriptwriter on ABC3 TV’s Prank Patrol. For more information on Fiona Harris please visit fionaharris.com.
SIMON & SCHUSTER
SimonandSchuster.com.au
www.SimonandSchuster.com.au/Authors/Fiona-Harris
SAM KERR: KICKING GOALS: SPORTS DAY
First published in Australia in 2022 by
Simon & Schuster (Australia) Pty Limited
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© Sam Kerr and Fiona Harris 2022
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher.
ISBN: 9781761100918
ISBN-13: 978-1-7611-0092-5 (eBook)
Cover design: Meng Koach
Cover and internal images: Aki Fukuoka
Photo of Sam Kerr: Football Australia
Typeset by Midland Typesetters, Australia
Sam Kerr, Sports Day
