The B Team
When I was younger, I was a part of a recreational soccer league with another little girl who was very small for her age. We got along really well but I found out that the kids at her fancy private school picked on her a lot. She wanted to join the competitive traveling team, but they told her she wasn’t good enough. So, her mom decided to start a “B” team that was a little less competitive for her and others who wanted to play. One day, she called my mom and asked if I would try out. I did and I made the team, but their traveling league was too expensive, and we couldn’t afford it. It was too late to apply for a grant, so my mom told her that I wouldn’t be able to play. Later that day she called my mom back and told her she had been able to secure me a late scholarship and I would be 100% covered. When I was a little older, my soccer coach admitted to my mom that this woman paid for my year of soccer herself. Her family barely knew me but wanted us to play together.