Fair Play | The Ink Well Prompt #159
Last season, Lesley won the medal for the best fair-play player. She had during one the matches, left the ball to help an injured player who was struggling in pain on the turf, despite that her team was losing the match. As the fair play awardee, she was to enjoy certain privileges before the commencement of a new season.
First, the concentration of local football, sponsored her to a week long all expense paid trip to SunCity in Johannesburg, South Africa. It was a great opportunity for Lesley to meet with other players from that part of the world.
On the day of her trip out of Nigeria, being the first time she will be boarding an aircraft, Lesley had batteries in her stomach. On one part, she wants to be at Suncity to catch all the fun she had seen on the adverts, and on the second part, she was scared of flying in an aircraft. She wondered how the aircraft, as big as it is built, would be suspended in the air.
A day before she would embark on the trip, Lesley packed all necessary stuff that would be needed to have a comfortable experience. She arrived at the boarding unit of the Murtala International airport with a host of other travellers.
Some guys were busy bantering about who is a better player between Messi and C.Ronaldo. As it were, their arguments were blind as they forgot to recognize that the two sportsmen were two different individuals, each doing well on the football pitch and staying relevant for over a decade consecutively.
They boarded and sooner than she knew, the plane got on the runway and into the air. Lesley closed her eyes and the Airbus lifted itself into the air, holding tight to the arm of her chair.
Six hours later, they landed at Pretoria, one of the provinces of Johannesburg.
A waiting Uber driver was already waiting for Lesley, to convey her to the hotel where she would be lodging for the next week while she experienced the pleasure of the wonderful city, the cuisine, large aquarium, and the Safari reserves.
At the reception, she noticed one of her admirers, Mafikizulu, the greatest striker of all time.
Hi, I am Lesley Ikeji.
Lesley put out her hand for a handshake with Mafikizulu, a well-known footballer who plays as a striker for Orient Football Club in France. The tall guy was all smiles when he turned to see how radiant Lesley appeared.
Hello, Lesley. I'm glad to meet you, finally. I have watched you play passionate football and I envied your character on the pitch.
Mafikuzulu posited.
Really? I am a good fan of yours too.
They both laughed while confirming their lodging. As soon as they had confirmed, Lesley and Mafikizulu exchanged phone contacts and promised to keep in touch.
A short while later, the doorbell to Lesley's apartment rang.
Room service!
She became skeptical as she had not ordered anything.
Good day, ma'am.
Enoch, the attendant greeted.
This is from an anonymous admirer.
He passed on a trolley load of different items including wine, food, greeting cards, cakes, and different kinds of drinks. Enoch shut the door silently and returned to his duty post. The first thing that Lesley could handpick was the greeting card. She opened it and read the content.
When a star rises in the cloud, it glitters, spinning the whole environment with its sweet scent and relief. Like a star, you light up my world
Her head pinned in joy while she read this. It was quite touching. Still, she feared touching any of the items brought. Later in the evening, she decided to take a stroll around the city.
She put on her jogging kit, entered the sports gym at the hotel and met Makizulu who was already sweating as he walked out. She was joined in the session by an instructor with soft music playing in the background. After about thirty minutes, the lawn tennis game started between two teams of two players on both sides.
The first team had a man and a woman who were older in age than the other team. The younger team were surprised that the older folks were beating them at their game.
This is cheating. I won't play again.
One of the players from the younger team complained. But as the umpire, Lesley had to speak to them.
It's just a game and not a do-or-die affair. When you play, you learn what you ought to learn and unlearn what you do not need.
By then, one of the members of the younger team had already dropped his racket on the lawn, trying to walk away from the game but on hearing Lesley's short speech, he picked up the racket and launched into the lawn and they all played the game with laughter.
At the end of the game, all the players shook hands and walked out of the lawn. The young man who wanted to walk away from the game, walked up to Lesley and said:
You'd make a very good coach. That short line spurred me back to the lawn. Thanks.
Lesley smiled as she shook hands with the young guy and said:
In the spirit of sportsmanship, we do not war with one another when we are at our game.
The young man smile:
That's another huge morale booster.
They both waved at each other and walked away.
This one week was fun-filled for Lesley. She toured the Sun City and thought of never returning to Nigeria but since the pre-season game was starting, she had no other choice than joined her already booked flight to Nigeria.
Lesley is a great example of how a good sportsperson should think and act. I loved that she left the game to help a fellow player and while on her trip, she found an opportunity to speak good words into the heart of the players and everyone enjoyed the game afterward.
She sure is. I wish that everyone who participates in sports are like Lesley.
At times, all that might be needed to set things in place and spike our spirit back to life are words. Lesley knew this and made use of it. Understanding is key✨
She did all that in the spirit of sportsmanship.
What a nice personality she has. Despite being good at her game, she is also kind-hearted, and I am not surprised she has secret admirers.
Such sportsmen and women eases through in their career.
hello @mrenglish before we can curate your story, please could you correct your image sourcing on your second and third images. There is no clickable URL link to follow. Thank you, The Ink Well team.
Done.
Once you have the heart to leave the sport and help a fellow human who is in the sport, then the display of sportsmanship has been done and that is what Lesley did there.
Little word of encouragement can change a person life and way of thinking
All players need Lesley in their lives, she will make a wonderful coach since she understands the language of sportsmanship and displays it at every opportunity that she gets.
hello @mrenglish I have to say that for the first time in a while, I struggled with this story of yours. While your piece did show some nice examples of good sportsmanship, it contains some glaring factual inaccuracies and grows a few random arms and legs that don't advance the plot. There were too many things distracting me to enable me to become fully immersed. A few examples just so that you understand what I mean:
Your MC is a footballer who ends up officiating a law tennis game inside a hotel gym. This provides an immediate disconnect for me on multiple levels. Why tennis? And how does a lawn tennis court end up inside a hotel?
As regards factual accuracy, Pretoria is not a province of Johannesburg. It is the capital city in South Africa. Johannesburg is also a city in South Africa.
You describe Mafikizulu as both the 'greatest striker of all time' and in the next paragraph as a well-known footballer who plays for a local French club. One would think that the 'greatest striker of all time' would be a household name not just 'well-known', and there would be no need to state this lesser accolade.
You include a story of Ronaldo and Messi that feels more like author opinion and intrusion as you don't relate it to sportsmanship and it doesn't contribute toward building the story.
The random meeting with another footballer also feels like a side story left undeveloped and not contributing to the plot.
I mention all the above so that I can identify for you where I feel your story strayed from its purpose and provided a distraction to the reader from what you were trying to achieve. On the whole I would say try to stay focused on which story you are trying to tell, strip out anything that isn't developed sufficiently and does not progress the plot and story line, and develop the actual theme of sportsmanship, and your MC's expression of that in your story. Grammar and spelling checks would also have improved your presentation.
We look forward to your next story in The Ink Well.
Yeah, that's true, no need for war at sportsmanship for games. It's fine she's back.
Lesley's words actually had an impact on her fellow players. She has a good heart and is a true sportsman or sportswoman haha.
The most adorable part of your story was that when you described that there was one more couple which was old. That means playing games is not only for youngers it's also for old people. So that they can stable theirself.
You keep body and soul together, sports brings everyone to the fore, the old inclusive.
Thanks for coming around.
Lesley was indeed an inspiration for them. Sometimes we need to make players feel relieved about lost and win, so they'd understand a win is good but loosing isn't such a bad thing as they think