Put Me In, Coach!

"Put Me In, Coach!" by Jeremy Frank

Beep. Beep. Beep. Kat growled and rolled over. "Remind me to smash that stupid alarm clock," she thought. Blearily, she sat up in bed. It was still dark out as she got dressed, but she wasn't the least bit surprised. Kat got up early every morning to practice her ice skating at the rink before school. Kat was a gifted figure skater, but her heart just wasn't in it.

But today was not another day of triple lutzes and twirls. Today was a very special day down at the local rink. Today was the day of the hockey league sign ups. After many a long morning of figure skating practice, Kat would often nurse her bottle of water and her sore feet while she watched the hockey team run drills. Kate was filled with wonder at the way they moved on the ice with both grace and raw power. Even more amazing was the way the puck would shoot across the ice with beautiful coordination. It was right then and there that she decided she wanted to be a hockey player.

There was already a crowd at the rink when she arrived. The boys, in their pads and helmets were pretty intimidating, but she walked past them and over to the sign-up list taped haphazardly to the glass of the hockey rink. As she signed her name, she could hear snickering. She looked up at the boys who were standing around her.

"What are you doing, girlie? This is hockey! It's not for girls. Why don't you go put on a tutu and figure skate with all the other girls?" they said.

Kat was hurt, but didn't show it. "I guess we won't know until tryouts, will we?" she said, and walked home. She went, teary-eyed, to her mother and told her what had happened.

"Boys can be cruel," said Kat's mother, "but that's only because they're intimidated of you. They're not used to having to compete with girls."

"So in order to get them to like me, I shouldn't compete with them?" Kat asked.

"No, you need to crush them!" Her mother pounded her fist on the kitchen counter and Kat jumped a foot in the air.

"Mom!" gasped Kat, "I've never seen this side of you!"

Kat's mother sighed heavily and slumped down in her chair. "I've never told you this, Kat, but when I was about your age I wanted to be a professional baseball player. Unfortunately, back then girls weren't allowed to play on any of teams, so I had to give up on my dream. I won't let my daughter give up on hers. If you really want to play hockey, then don't let anyone stop you!"

That weekend, Kat strapped on her pads and slung her skates over her shoulder and headed out to the rink. The boys hollered and jeered as she laced her skates and took to the ice.

"What are you doing here? Do you really think you can make the team?" asked one of the boys.

"I don't think; I know" she said. The coach blew his whistle and divided the athletes into two teams to assess their skills. Kat squared off in the center against one of the mean boys who had made fun of her. The coach blew his whistle and Kat took off like a rocket, whizzing past her defenders with a dodge and a twirl like a crazed ballerina. She shuffled the puck back and forth until it was just a black blur on the white ice. With a graceful spin she shot the puck between the goalie's legs. Before the boys knew what happened, they heard the deafening buzzer as Kat skated past them and back to her side, sticking her tongue out at them. "Your puck."