breakthrough (1)

I remember the first time I headed a football.


I used to be terrified of heading, I couldn't even do it with a bouncing ball, I was always under the impression that it hurt, but my dad was really good at it and often I wondered why I couldn't get past my mental block. I would siam faster than you can blink if a cross came screaming at my head. Yes, I used to be a gay wuss in football. I remember my friend William used to say that I'd rather the ball hit me in the dick than my head cos I felt less pain there. Maybe I do... but NEVERMIND!

Then one day...

It was one of those usual evenings where my friends and I would go to the basketball court in Oleander Towers for some football! I still remember them fondly, we fought and argued as only young immature boys did at the secondary school age. That was when I didn't even have a handphone and my Gameboy Colour was my best friend.

Anyway, the game was getting along normally, everyone running like mad trying to emulate the skills of their favourite players.

Then that moment came.

It came from a cross-cum-clearance from either Ahn (Vietnamese dude) or my dad, I can't remember.

What I remembered is imprinted in my mind like time cooled to honey flowing, the ball rotating from the right back position as it elevated, swirled and dipped towards me as I was playing up front. The cross was a little behind me, I took a step back as I had only the keeper in front of me. Somehow my eyes never left that circular object accelerating towards me. I can't say what was going on, I was not in control of my body, it wasn't my mind telling me what to do because my mind would have screamed "DUCK YOU ASSHOLE!".

It was instinct. Pure instinct that I'd somehow never had before. I didn't even think, a step back, neck arched, I generated enough power as the ball approached and I cracked it towards the goal. It thudded off the post and went out.

Then I think everyone was staring at me because I've never headed a ball in my entire life. Then my friends were like "eh pain anot?". I smiled weakly, but inside I knew I had broken my mental block. And I had a new weapon to add to my arsenal.

Gosh I just wrote so much about something that happened in 2 seconds. FML.

Formatting my terrible lit assignment now, may God bless me and let me pass man! :D