They should have won today! What more can we say?
It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon. They were playing in this fantastic gymnasium in Malakoff (a southern suburb of Paris). The referee - name of Junior - was on their side...
...that's Junior there with the red halo around his head.
The girls were covering the field really well...
...looking alert...
...Their goal keeper - Marie-Ange - who's probably a natural at "Stick'em up" by the way - was doing really well. She stopped at least 10 goals while we were there. And on top of everything else...
...Stella had a whole new box of purple, elastic hairbands to hold her hair back with. And she was actually using them! Well, not the whole box at the same time, of course.
They were even playing with new balls...
...um, maybe they were last year's new balls...When Mom and I arrived, at the beginning of the second half (just a tad late...well, cheez! Malakoff is not exactly the next metro stop after Ménilmontant, you know) the score stood thus :
They were just one point behind! Later on in the game...
...they were even tied...So what happened, you're wondering? Well, the other team had more girls AND they would all sit in a nice, orderly circle around their charismatic coach, and drink in his coachly council...
Although our girls made a good effort...
They got butterfingers in the end! Couldn't catch a ball if it was levitating in front of them! Couldn't keep a decent guard on the other team's one good scorer! Couldn't score a goal if the cage came and ate the ball out of their hands! They were all pretty tired, especially Marie-Ange! And, they had only two fans in the stands : Mom and me - Henry that is. So the final score was :
Close, so close...And then there were tears...
...and much disappointment.
Hang in there Ladies! You win some, you lose some. That's just the way the handball bounces.
"Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. Sometimes it rains."
ReplyDelete--Bull Durham
No rain-outs in handball, I suppose, so that quote doesn't really help at all. I guess about all all they can do is learn what you can from the defeat, then move on to the next game.
P.S. Nice hair scrunchies, Stella!
Next time, Stella, you should insist that those balls are not last year's new ones.
ReplyDeletePlease also let us know when that next game is so we may send our cheers and good vibes across the Atlantic to add to those of your many other fans.
I'll say "win or lose, it's how you play the game. That's how the cookie crumbles." Always enjoy the game!
Oh, what an exciting looking game. It is always hardest to loose the ones that are so close.
ReplyDeleteWish Stella's team more successes in coming games! Looks like a nice team. And, at least there were two supports in the crowd!