In Virginia, high school football is a way of life. It's bigger than Christmas day.
Up until 1971, in Alexandria, there was no race-mixing. Then the school board forced us to integrate. They combined the white school and the black school into one ca...
"Everything we're gonna do is changing." Coach Boone said as we did up-downs. "We are change. We're gonna change the way we run. We're gonna change the way we eat. We're gonna change the way we block. We're gonna change the way we tackle. We're gonna change the way we win."
After warming up, we broke off into offense and defense and started conditioning.
"Defense is desire! Fire and desire!" Yoast yelled from the sidelines.
"Defense! Come on!" Sheryl yelled as we worked on our tackles. I watched as Grace swiftly pulled Sheryl to the side as some of the guys came flying out of bounds as they got tackled.
"Jump on that ball carrier like a starving man on a Christmas ham," Yoast said. I snorted at the analogy.
After a few hours of conditioning, Boone started grouping us into practice teams to run drills.
"Hut!" Yelled Rev and we started to run the play.
I breeze past Ray. It was pretty easy to do since he's not even trying to block for Rev. I make my way to Petey and tackle him to the ground.
"Fumble! Fumble!" I yell as I roll onto my back. I look up and see Boone storming up to Petey as he gets up.
"What is wrong with you?" Boone asked furiously. "Why are you fumbling my football?"
"My blockers were bad," Petey said. I rolled my eyes. Bad my ass, we were pretty damn good.
"Your blockers ain't got nothin' to do with you holding the ball!" Boone barked. "Did your blockers fumble the football, or did you fumble the football?" He asked.
"I did, sir," Petey responded.
"All right. How many feet are in a mile?" Boone asked. Before Petey could answer Boone hit him upside the head, repeating the question. "How many feet are in a mile?"
"I don't-- I don't know." Petey stuttered out.
"5,280 feet! You pick this ball up, you run every one of them!" Boone said before throwing the ball to the ground. "You're killing me, Petey! You're killing me!" Boone yelled out in frustration.
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Petey turned to pick up the ball and began running. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed someone run up and join him. Grace. They both were smiling and laughing as she ran alongside him. I feel a trace of bitterness rise up in me, seeing them look at each other so happy.
"Julius. Focus up, come on." Yoast yelled. I groaned as I got up and walked over to the sideline to watch the next practice team run their play.
~ Grace' POV ~
"Petey!" I call as I run up to him. Petey turns slightly to see who called his name. Once he noticed me he slowed down a bit but kept jogging.
"What do you want, Grace? I got a mile I have to run." He said exhausted.
