The Grip Tightens

As he clutched his grip a little tighter,
he could feel the vibration in his ear drums resonates his name.
People were yelling, commanding and demanding.
Everything sounded blurry.
It was barely two minutes, but it felt like eternity.
His breath was playing catch-up with his heart, pounding ever so severely.

"Focus... focus...", he reminded himself mentally as he brushed off the sweat dripping down from his forehead.
The intensity of the game was building by the second and his body language affirms it;
The stiffness of his hands, the tensed muscles, his unmoving eyes.

From defensive, the opposing team switched to an immediate offensive blitzkrieg penetrating from the flanks.
A loose ball was found rolling in front of the goalmouth.
"Win the ball back!", he heard his players yelling.
He got to the ball first and managed to pull it into his control with the back of his blade.

"Steady... Steady..."

He looked around to find a space to pass but a player was closing him down real fast.
As he released the ball to make the pass, a blade intercepted.
For that split second, his whole body lagged in response.
And the next thing he knew, the ball was in the back of the net.

"Line change!"

He sat down on the bench, gulping down the bottle of water.

"What the heck were you doing?", he thought to himself as the game resumed on court.

The underlying problem has always been that he lacked confidence.
He was fully aware of that.
That is probably why he is always cautious and conscious of both his internal and external performance before, during and after the game.
He had the exact opposite of a Superstar-syndrome.
Where "Superstar" feels the pressure to perform due to the expectation that has been tagged along with them, he on the other hand, faced the pressure to perform because he knew he was not of such status.
Therefore, his pressure was to perform so that he could stay in the team.

He looked at his team mates who were on the bench, experienced players.
His mouth kept silent but his thoughts were bickering within.
Too many things to work on yet so little time in hand.
The present says he is weak but the future believes he can achieve.
The grip between the present and the future tightens.

"Line change!"

He grabbed his stick, uttered a silent prayer and stepped into the court.