Although Nick’s weekly coffee was one of his few sacred rituals, poor weather today necessitated an unwelcome change to his routine. With a sigh of disappointment Nick walked past his usual outdoor table and instead decided to search for a free seat inside. As Nick entered the building the cold morning frost followed him into the café.
His parea was already seated at one of the back tables waiting for him. Stav was struggling to navigate something on his phone and Dimi was taking up all the table space with his newspaper. Nick sat down to joined them, late, as usual.
‘Ela boithes.’
‘Kala are you gonna keep us waiting every week?’ grumbled Stav
‘Sorry, guys,’ Nick took his seat. ‘It’s been a shit week.’
‘Don’t stress man, we’ve already ordered your coffee,’ said Dimi looking up from his paper.
Three sketo Greek coffees and a slice of spanakopita arrived at the table. Before long the caffeine began to power the friends’ usual weekly routine. Dimi went on a brief tirade about local politics and Stav vented about the struggles of raising three young girls. This week though Nick remained unusually quiet, lacking the keen ear and easy laugh that he usually brought to the regular coffee catch up. Finally Dimi prodded.
‘What’s going on man, you’ve barely said anything today.’
‘Yeah man, ti ginete, you look tired,’ chimed in Stav.
Nick shifted in his seat. ‘I’ll be honest guys it’s been a pretty miserable week. You know how Kosta tried out for Maribyrnong Olympic this month?’
‘Of course, it’s all you’ve been talking about for the last few weeks,’ said Dimi
‘Yeah, well, he got in.’
Stav lit up. ‘That’s great!’
‘Yeah congrats man,’ said Dimi. ‘What’s the problem!?’
Stav laughed ‘Can’t be bothered driving him to extra training sessions?’
‘Yeah! Are you scared he might actually get better than his old man?’ teased Dimi.
Nick returned a weak smile. ‘Nah man. I wish.’
Four weeks ago
The school bell rang and the hallways filled with students. Along with the rest of the kids, Kosta grabbed his bag and made his way off campus, followed closely by his friend Sam.
‘I’m telling you, my cousins don’t get any homework!’ complained Sam. ‘Their school doesn’t give students any homework until year 9!’
‘Maybe if you didn’t procrastinate so much you wouldn’t be so behind!’ replied Kosta with a laugh.
The two had met on the first day of high school and had been close ever since. Sam was always complaining and Kosta was always laughing along. The topic of their conversations invariably revolved around the same two things, school and soccer. Today as always though, they were forced to part ways at the Moonee Ponds Bus depot.
‘Catch you tomorrow Sam, enjoy soccer,’ said Kosta
Sam waved as he crossed the road to his bus stop ‘Enjoy Greek school, nerd!’
Kosta shot back a wry smile ‘Good luck finding time for your homework!’
Kosta needed to travel east towards Brunswick, where he went to Greek school on Monday nights. Sam on the other hand was travelling west with a couple of the other boys for soccer training at Maribyrnong Olympic. Kosta watched on enviously as the soccer boys boarded their bus, kitted out in their blue and maroon training gear.
Maribyrnong Olympic was a dominant social force at Queens Park High. It’s players seemed to have status in the school yard and walked around campus with a swagger that was revered by the other students and even some of the teachers. Worse still for Kosta, was that he simply couldn’t keep up with them at their lunch time soccer games. Try as he might to practice in the back yard by himself, or occasionally with his Dad, Kosta was never good enough to compete with the Olympic boys. However, with the year finally coming to a close, Kosta decided that next year would be different. Next year Kosta decided he wanted to play for Maribyrnong Olympic.
‘It’s not happening. I’m sorry but it’s just not,’ repeated Sophie.
Kosta stubbornly shot back. ‘Mum you don’t understand! I’m missing out! I’m made to play soccer!’
A thud from the front door disrupted the argument as Nick returned home from his 12 hour shift. His muscles were aching, his back was stiff and all he wanted to do was crash on the couch and watch some TV.
‘Ela guys, what’s the fasaria!?’ Nick asked
‘Nick, your son wants to stop going to Greek School.’ Sophie replied
‘That’s not what I said,’ interjected Kosta
‘Hang on, hang on, slow down.’ said Nick as he tried to calm the room. ‘What’s going on?’
‘I want to try out for Maribyrnong Olympic next year.’ said Kosta
‘Maribyrnong Olympic?’ said Nick, struggling to contain his smile.
‘Yes – but they train four times a week,’ lamented Sophie, ‘which means no time for Greek school and no time for study!’
Kosta was partly ready for this point of contention
‘No, no, I can study I promise!’ Kosta shot back. ‘Sam played there this year and he did great at school! He said you can manage it if you study before training or do more work on the weekends.’
‘Well, what about Greek school?’ asked Sophie
This was a question Kosta had no answer to, in fact it was one that he was wrestling with himself. He loved Greek School and his friends there, but since they reached high school years he had seen many of them drop out. These days there were just a few of them attending on Monday nights and it didn’t feel the same as it used to.
‘You know Sophie, I don’t think it’s a terrible idea’ said Nick to the room’s surprise.
Sophie was taken aback ‘What?’
‘I mean we’ll need to talk about it a bit more but I’m serious. Kosta’s always wanted to play and the backyard isn’t big enough for him anymore.’ explained Nick
‘Of course you make it hard for me.’
‘No that’s not what I mean, the timing might actually work out. My brother George’s kids actually play for Olympic and he told me that they are doing trials this month for next year’s teams.’
‘What are you saying?’
‘Greek school is wrapping up for the year soon anyway and the trial is only a four week commitment through November. Maybe we can use this as a chance to test things out.’
Sophie paused to think things through ‘I know this is important to you Kosta, but you need to be able to balance school.’
‘I will, I will’ chimed in Kosta ‘I’ll study hard and show you I can do it next year! Just let me do the trial!’
‘What about Greek school’ asked Sophie to Nick.
Nick laughed, ‘Sophie, half the kids at Olympic are Greek anyway.’
Kosta couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
Sophie couldn’t believe it either.
Sam was almost as excited as Kosta when he heard the news.
‘You realise that means we can play in the same team now!’
‘I know! I know! I can’t believe it!’ replied Kosta who had been on cloud nine since the conversation with his parents last night.
But the excitement soon turned to nerves as the lunch bell rang. Although trials were still a week away, Kosta felt that today was his first test. Every Tuesday the year 8’s were allocated the school sports field at lunch time and this meant Kosta would have to face some of his potential team mates where it mattered, on the pitch. Kosta scoffed down his lunch and made his way to the sports field to join his class mates.
Leon arrived from the sports office with a soccer ball and Danny quickly set up the teams. When they first started at high school they would take time to split players into different groups each lunchtime, but after just two years of playing together a new delicate balance had emerged. The teams were now essentially fixed, constructed along friendship lines, following a hierarchy each of the boys intrinsically knew, a hierarchy that Kosta always felt at the rock bottom of.
‘Three bounces! Let’s go!’ yelled Leon at the boys, before kicking the ball high up into the air to commence the game.
Almost immediately, Kosta felt lost. Try as he might, he couldn’t get close to the ball. He was always out of position or simply pushed off his running path. The Maribyrnong Olympic boys were having no such trouble, with Leon and Danny in particular playing well on the opposing team. With just minutes to go until the school bell, the Maribyrnong Olympic boys made their presence felt. Leon collected the ball out wide and crossed it to Danny. With a single fluid motion, Danny struck the ball first time past the keeper to give his team the lead.
Kosta sunk into himself dejected. Time was running out to get a result and there wouldn’t be another lunch time game until next Tuesday. Suddenly with just minutes to go, Sam won a tackle in the middle of the pitch and deftly touched the ball past Leon into free space. Kosta saw his chance and began sprinting across the field into an attacking position, calling desperately to his friend to play him the ball. Sam heard the call and with a perfectly weighted pass sent the ball into Kosta’s path.
Kosta lunged to seize his moment. As the ball arrived in his direction he took a guiding step to steady himself, planted his left foot for balance and swung his right boot with everything he had… only for the ball to graze his heel. The poorly timed shot saw Kosta lose his balance and land painfully on his side, leaving him on the ground to watch in slow motion as his attacking opportunity slipped passed him.
Soon after, the bell rang to close the lunch break and the boys walked from the field. After quickly collecting their things, Leon beelined to Kosta and left some parting words as they walked back to their separate classes.
‘And you think you can play for Olympic, huh?’
It had been nearly a week since the school yard soccer game, but the shadow of the loss followed Kosta as he made his way to his first trial session at Maribyrnong Olympic. It was only a short bus ride but Kosta was so nervous he lost sense of time. Leon and Danny kept talking up their school yard heroics which only amped up the pressure for Kosta as he sat at the front of the bus, replaying in his mind his most recent school yard embarrassment.
Hopping off the bus, Kosta found himself in an unfamiliar environment on the other side of the neighbourhood. As a group, he walked with the other boys through suburbia and towards the soccer club. They eventually arrived at a wide green cricket oval by the river with two soccer goals in the middle. The club house was open but the only people inside were a couple of people setting up the canteen for the night. The boys were there early, straight from school, and the trials wouldn’t start until 6pm so Kosta was left with a couple of hours to kill.
Daniel, Leon and Sam grabbed a ball and started having a kick on the pitch, but as he promised his mum, Kosta stayed in the clubrooms trying to concentrate on his text books and do some homework. Try as he might though, Kosta could only absent mindedly turn the pages, he was unable to focus on anything but his nerves and immediate surroundings.
As the trial grew closer, the clubrooms filled with chatter from parents and with aromas from the canteen souvla. The quiet park Kosta arrived at just a couple of hours ago was now filled with kids playing soccer, coaches planning sessions and even locals taking their dogs for a walk after work.
Mercifully a little before the trial was due to start Kosta’s cousin Manny arrived with his dad George, offering a much needed laugh before Kosta’s moment of truth. Thio George’s booming voice met Kosta from across the club rooms.
‘Ela Kosta welcome to Olympic! We were so happy your Dad finally let you join up! How are you feeling about the trial?
‘I’m very nervous actually’ replied Kosta timidly
‘You’ll be fine. What position do you want to play?’
‘I don’t know, maybe striker?’
‘I hope you don’t play striker, that’s my spot!’ chimed in Manny. ‘You can play in the back, we should play together. I don’t want one of us to miss out!’
‘And don’t’ play goal keeper,’ suggested Thio George. ‘the team already has a great goal keeper!’
The final two comments made Kosta’s heart sink further as he realised the nature of the trials. The cost of someone making it would be someone else missing out. This wasn’t simply a measure of if he was good enough, it was a measure of himself against the other boys.
After a couple of weeks Kosta’s focus had narrowed and his life began to revolve around the trials. He had been spending more of his free time in the backyard practicing with his Dad, whilst also working hard to prove to his Mum that he could manage his study. The truth of the matter though was that Kosta was starting to slip behind at school and this new balancing act probably wasn’t sustainable.
However his new focus was paying dividends at the trials. Although initially it was his natural athleticism that attracted the coaches’ attention, Kosta started to differentiate himself from the pack through sheer hunger. Even when he had nothing in the tank Kosta would seem to make the extra effort that set him apart. In the new structured environment Kosta also seemed to be improving his tactical knowledge and positioning, previously weak points in his game, and as a result he began to grow in ability and confidence.
The trial process translated into the school yard too, where the weekly lunch time matches had taken on a new edge. They were more competitive and even become a little mean spirited. But Kosta was stayed focused on his objective and began worrying less about the games at school and more about being selected for Maribyrnong Olympic.
Tonight’s trial session as always was broken up into two parts. Skill work at the start followed by a mini match. Kosta managed the skill session comfortably, displaying an assured first touch and accurate passing. These drills though were conducted in a no pressure environment, it was rather the mini match against the other trialists where Kosta knew he needed to impress.
Unlike the other players who had played for Olympic last year, or who had parents talking to the coaches, Kosta felt he needed to work even harder to stand out, and displace his fellow trialists for a spot on the team. Eventually, the mini-match commenced and the coaches began barked orders from the sidelines to rotate players into different positions. Kosta was placed in defence.
It was a tense match. Many of the players were scared of making a mistake, some were so scared they seemed to avoid the ball entirely. No one wanted to give the coach a reason to cut them. This atmosphere of fear was exacerbated by the arrogant established players who were dismissive of the new trialists and peppered them with verbal and physical jabs throughout the game, often off the ball, and out of the sight of the coaches. Kosta though remained focused, he wasn’t scared of making a mistake, but rather was looking for the ball come to his feet. He simply wanted the chance to prove he was worthy of the team.
Lining up against him on the opposition team was Leon, who as always, saw a lot of the ball. Late in the game the scores remained level and no player had seemed to make a clear impression to the coaches, that was until Leon won a tackle in the midfield. Leon took possession of the ball and began sprinting towards the goal himself. He easily dribbled passed Manny (who as usual was found wrong footed in the midfield) and soon Leon was beating down on Kosta in the last line of defence.
Kosta back tracked with the play slowing Leon’s dribble and forcing him into a one on one challenge. Leon feigned to the right, but Kosta didn’t lunge. Leon changed his pace, Kosta tracked him perfectly. With the window of opportunity closing, Leon took a shot at goal, but just as he was to make contact the ball Kosta slid across the grass to win the ball, leaving Leon swinging at air.
Getting back onto his feet, Kosta took possession of the ball and played it out of defence with a perfect pass to a team mate, turning a defensive move into an attacking one and leaving Leon in his dust.
Christmas was in the air and summer was in sight. The trials were over and school was winding down for the year, leaving Kosta with more free time then he knew what to do with. Sam had come over for the day and the two boys were playing soccer in the backyard. In the past they would take turns practicing their shooting, but after the broken window incident they were forced to limit their backyard soccer to juggling practice.
‘You know I think you will make a great centre back,’ said Sam
Kosta continued juggling the ball. ‘I don’t really care where I play as long as I make the team.’
‘You know pre-season should start after Christmas so they’ll need to select players soon.’
‘Do you reckon you’ll make it?’
‘For sure! I’ve been at the club since mini-roos and I scored 7 goals last year! They always prefer to keep current players.’
‘Well, then do you think I’ll make it?’
‘I hope so! But I don’t know, I just want us to play together.’
The boys continued to play until Sam’s mum came round to pick him up. Kosta spent the rest of the early evening helping his mum with dinner. Kosta’s cousins were coming over that night meaning there was a lot to do. Just as the oven opened with the fragrant mousaka there was a knock at the door. Kosta ran to open up and soon his cousins had filled the TV room arguing over what to watch while the parents caught up in the kitchen.
‘Happy birthday Soph! Thanks for having us over! How’s it going, where’s Nick?’ asked George
‘He’ll be home soon, just wrapping up work. Don’t worry about him though, the food’s ready to eat!’
The parents rounded up the kids into the dining room, and just as they started serving food there was another knock at the door. Nick had returned from work.
With a booming voice George greeted his brother. ‘Finally, adelfe! We’ve been waiting for you to come home!’
‘Doesn’t look like it,’ said Nick looking at the half eaten food.
‘Well I’m glad you’re home anyway, we’ve actually got some news.’
‘Really? What is it?’
‘Well I was speaking to the coach at Olympic after training the other day, and they have finalised the team selections for next year.’
‘Jeeze George, let’s not talk soccer tonight’
‘No no no it’s good, they’ve selected Manny!’
‘Congrats, another year at the club.’
‘They’ve also selected Kosta!’
Kosta couldn’t believe what he had just heard. He was flush with a feeling of elation and didn’t know how to use the surge of energy suddenly flowing through him. He turned to his Dad, and then to his Mum who returned his joy with huge smiles.
‘That’s fantastic!’ said Nick
‘Well done Kosta!’ said Sophie
Kosta’s cousin Manny was even more excited ‘Does that mean we’re playing together?’
‘Of course! You know you already got selected!’ replied George
Radiating happiness, Kosta got stuck into the food, it had never tasted better.
‘So he made it, that’s great right?’ Asked Dimi
Nick looked down at his empty coffee cup
‘What’s the problem?’ chimed in Stav. ‘Kosta’s a great kid, and a good player. Most importantly he’ll love it!’
‘George didn’t have anything to do with this, did he?’ asked Dimi suspiciously
‘No, of course not,’ fired back Nick. ‘Kosta earnt his way, he’s a great player!’
‘So what’s the issue?’
‘Well I called the club today to understand how it works.’ explained Nick. ‘You see when I played for Olympic it was a bit different, yeah? Back then it was two training sessions a week run by parent volunteers. These days we’re talking four sessions a week pretty much all year round with paid coaches and even a doctor’.
Stav looked back at Nick. ‘A doctor really? For an under 14s team?’
Nick explained ‘I mean the doctor covers the whole club but that’s not the point. The point is that the club has a physio, assistant coaches, a technical director, an accountant, even a council liaison. It’s a very different environment.’
Dimi was still confused ‘Are you worried about school or training? I’m sure George can help with the pickup and drop off.’
‘Nah nah Kosta’s good to get there with the bus and Soph can manage the pickup,’ replied Nick
‘Ela re Niko what’s the problem?’ asked Stav
Nick leaned back into seat looking at the ceiling. ‘The problem is that registration costs $4,000 a year.’
There was stunned silence from the table.
‘$4,000 a year?’ asked Stav.
‘And that’s just rego – when you include gear, team events and extras it’s just too much. We can’t do it,’ lamented Nick.
‘Have you spoken to the club?’ asked Dimi
‘They had 40 kids at the trials re.’ replied Nick. ‘They don’t care if Kosta can’t play because there’s a dozen other parents who would gladly pay the fees.’
Stav shuffled in his seat. ‘Have you thought of -‘
‘We’re not paying fille.’ said Nick decisively. ‘We can’t. That’s not the issue.’
‘Jeeze Nick, then what’s the issue?’ asked Stav
Nick sorrowfully looked to his friends and sighed.
‘The issue is telling Kosta.’
It was the last week of school which basically meant it was a student free-for all.
Orientation week had passed and offered Kosta a taste of next year. For the most part, year nine actually seemed pretty different. There would be new subjects, new class rooms, even an extra day allocation on the school sports field, but critically there was one thing for Kosta that would remain the same.
The other day his parents had explained that he wouldn’t be playing for Olympic next year and Kosta had needed a couple of weeks to fully accept the news. There were tears and arguments but eventually Kosta accepted his place and his home life settled down again.
For the final time in the school year the bell rang for lunch and Kosta headed to the yard with Sam. The usual boys gathered around the sports field with Leon joining them late after fetching the ball from the sports office.
Leon and Sam had both been selected for Maribyrnong Olympic next year, but Danny was moving to Parkville Azzuri after his Dad got into an argument with the Olympic coach.
The lunch time games had felt different since Kosta heard the news from his Dad. Although the trials had sharpened his football abilities and built his confidence, since finding out the news his hunger on the pitch had diminished and his focus had widened to other things.
He and Sam were still inseparable but in the past few weeks his relationship with the other boys had actually improved as well and they had begun to hang out more frequently as a group. As the group grew so did areas of shared interests and as a result soccer more frequently took a back seat to other conversations ranging from school subject selection to summer plans.
After a couple of years of High School Kosta finally felt that the environment had started to make a little more sense to him, but he also began to see the Olympic players around campus in a different light. The blue and maroon training kits weren’t as vibrant, and the swagger they seemed to carry themselves with seemed a little hollow.
As the boys assembled on the sports field for their final game of the year many of the same rituals were observed. The same hierarchical team structures were in place but crucially there was always room for new players regardless of their ability, as long as they were prepared to face the competition.
Kosta lined up with his mates and Leon double checked that everyone was ready to go. Finally with everything in place Leon kicking the ball high up in the air.
‘Three bounces! Let’s go!’
ehhere 
Leave a comment