KULBA tale 4:

The extra team members

By Pepin

It is during the grade school years when a boy or a girl becomes more active to do things, like playing with friends, messing around the classrooms, bullying others, or doing sports.

Jerson, a football player wannabe from Iloilo City, was already involved in a rigid training at age nine. He can kick, do defense, and run as fast as he could. In fact he was one of the favorites of the coach to be part of the school’s varsity team for football.

But training was not always fun and challenging for him and his fellow players. One day, back in 1998, his coach called for a second try-out. It was five in the afternoon, and the class was already over. But Jerson and other hopefuls decided to extend for another hour for the last try-out.

They were divided into two teams. One team called themselves “Supreme Fighters” and the other one was “Extreme Kickers.” The practice game started out fine, and everyone was enjoying every moment of it. There were a lot of sweats, and even trash talks, but these made the game more exciting.

However, in the middle of the game the coach of the Extreme Ballers kept on calling for a time out. He was a little bit confused with the other team, and complained to the referee, saying “Our opponent has two players more.” The referee, also puzzled, counted the players of the Supreme Fighters, and found out that it has the exact number of players required for the game. The protest was a sham, and so he decided to resume the match.

Jerson, who took time out himself from the play, heard about the complaint, and he became observant with the other team. He knew that this was impossible because the members of both teams were counted prior to the start of the game. But he cannot be sure, because he also thought that the other team might be playing tricks to win. And so he monitored the game closely.

But he was staggered to note that the other team did have two extra members playing in the field. He can’t explain why. He immediately approached the referee and whispered to him, “Kindly count the players.” The referee did what Jerson asked of him, and he was surprised that there were indeed two extra players in the Supreme Fighters team.

He whistled and asked everyone to pause in the middle of the field. “Stay where you are, players. Do not move!” he shouted. Then he counted the players of both teams. He was more flabbergasted, because both teams have the exact numbers of players required for the game after he finished his counting. “Then who are the other two?” he asked, but no one answered him back.

At that very instant, the coach, Jerson, the referee, and everyone else were terrified. They can’t explain where did the two players, who wore the same uniforms and kick their way on the game, came from. They decided to end the try-out match and decided to resume it the next time around. It was about six thirty in the evening then.