Interpromotional tournament (C. PT3 Prelude)

[Moka26]

Coming from being a futsal keeper (and clearly not one of the best in my own team) was never an easy task. Even though I had a short spell training with them as a rookie in uni, I would not have considered myself the slightest when that recruiter approached me, two seasons ago.

When I finished recovering from the lost playoff final, I was puzzled. I heard that the draft graphics workload was already taken care of, and with a few more days to spare before the offseason training camp I did not know what much to do.

Then I received a call. It was one of my uni friends and the futsal team captain, Emeric. Our alumni network organized an inter-prom maracana tournament. It was the perfect occasion to decompress and have fun. One thing was sure, if he called me that meant they weren't enough players on the team, and that meant I was guaranteed (kinda) to play.

At this point I have to mention, the variant of maracana we used to play doesn't need a GK or playing with hands, so I presented myself as a right winger/midfielder/finisher (the guy in the scoring zone, because it's "maracana zone").

With the details clarified, it was time to fly back to Abidjan for some practice and friendlies with the team. 

(Cool training montage)

Then came the tournament day, and since some of the futsal team were from my promotion, we had a decent chance at winning it. I was considered as a rotation player, which means I was guaranteed at least 10 minutes per game on the pitch (or half game, maximum) in the early phases. I played, learned some passes and communication, and I even discovered myself some skills in positioning and decisions, as I smartly and swiftly scanned the pitch for some cool passes. I did not have pace, as it was less required of me at club level (and the one time I tried to rush out it was embarrassing how I conceded), but I even had fun trying some outside-of-the-foot passes when I got in the flow.  

We lost to the promotion that was in their senior year when I started uni, the ones with which I did my stint as a third choice keeper in the football team. It was more fun than pain overall, and the next day I was in a flight to London. I made sure to pick a passenger class where I could sleep comfortably during all the flight.