The Footballer Who Never Gave Up

“The Footballer Who Never Gave Up” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Aahil Kaizar Ramji, Al-Muntazir Boys Primary School, Tanzania.

The Footballer Who Never Gave Up

He could hear everyone screaming his name. He started getting nervous now but he kept everything away and kicked the ball very hard, then he closed his eyes. Suddenly he heard everyone screaming Goal! Goal! He opened his eyes and saw the ball had gone inside the goal and everyone in the stadium was screaming his name, he was so excited.

He played 6 games that month and he was the top scorer in every game, but one day in the seventh game, he got an injury! He fell on a sharp stone and cut his leg very deeply. It started bleeding. This did not stop him from playing, he played even when his leg was hurting and bleeding, halfway through the match there was so much blood coming out of his leg. The referee had to stop the game and call for doctors on the field, after checking him the doctors announced that he will not be able to play for the rest of the game, he was sad. His team also lost the match that day.

His team kept on losing all the matches until they finally had to ask him to play, he was more than happy to play even with his injured leg. Everyone told him not to play because he would get more hurt, but he did not listen! Instead he told everyone that he will play and he will score even with his injury. The match started and he was still in pain, he was not sure if he would be able to play. He was so scared until he remembered what his father told him NEVER GIVE UP ON SOMETHING ESPECIALLY IF YOU LOVE DOING IT. With that in his mind he went and played his game, his team still lost 2 – 1, His coach told him that he should not have played, he told the coach- “I will never stop playing football.”

The next month was the month of the final game. His team played another game, the coach again told him not to play, he was so upset! The match began and the first half went by - the team was still losing, the whole crowd was booing the team, it was horrible.

After a lot of thinking the coach decided that maybe it was time to let him play, he entered the field in the second half, 5 minutes in the game and he scored a goal, he could hear the whole crowd finally screaming his name, screaming about how nice his goal was. Finally the team was back in the game!

At the 81st minute, the team had an opportunity to score a penalty. The whole team including the coach asked him to take this shot, the score was 4-4, this shot was going to decide whether the team would make it in the league or not, He was scared. He closed his eyes and remembered what his father had told him. He knew he could not miss this shot. He opened his eyes and kicked the ball with all his strength, he shut his eyes and he didn’t want to see the ball.

He heard the crowd go very quiet. He was so scared, did he miss the shot? He wanted to cry.

Then he heard the whole crowd scream GOAL! GOAL! He opened his eyes; he had scored the winning goal. The match continued for the last minutes, the other team could not score. The referee finally blew his whistle which meant the match was finally over! They had won the game!

All the team mates celebrated, they had finally won the game, and they had finally won the title. Everyone was happy! Everyone wanted to take a picture with the top scorer of the game. The coach walked to him and told him that he was a great footballer, the coach asked him how he played with such a big injury on his leg, he replied “Football is my dream and nothing will stop me from playing!”

A few months later, he travelled to different cities playing different matches whenever people saw him, they would ask for his autograph and a picture with him. He became one of the best football players of his time. His name was James JR. The footballer who never gave up!