Page 50 of Teaching the Kot'oll Coach

The students move the ships from side to side as they practice with the ball. Even though I’ve taught them floatball before, it looks like they need more practice before they can play against each other in a team sport environment and for the match to be meaningful.

Maybe next week. I want to make sure everyone can hit and catch most of the time before they play a match, otherwise, retrieving the ball from the edges all the time is going to be boring.

Or maybe they should practice hitting the ball into the goal first, that’s always interesting. Even though it’s not a competition, everyone likes to score points.

I wipe the sweat from my forehead. Even though I’m not playing with them, it is hot to be outside. There are times when I envy teachers whose classes are indoors.

I blow the whistle. “Class, it’s water break. Park the ships back to the grid and take a break.”

Floatball is good that it can stay in the air until something pokes it. The wind isn’t strong, so I guess we can just leave those in the air. “Don’t worry about picking up the balls. We’ll be practicing something else soon.”

The floatballs remain in the air above me as the students take a sip of their water.

It’s like watching balloons up there. Some competitions will turn on the light of the floatballs and make them shine. They said it makes the competitions more entertaining. I don’t know about that, but if that means we can keep having big tournaments, it is what it is as long as I can see the ball clearly.

The good old days...

I blow the whistle again after all of them have drunk. “Class, back to the ships and let’s practice scoring points!”

That’s my favorite topic, maybe they’ll like that too.

Meanwhile... I can only hope things between Winnie and I can get better.

Chapter 22

Winnie

I let out a soft sigh as I cut paper with Kime. Why must it be complicated?

Am I the one causing issues?

She and I are in the library, sitting at one of the reading tables.

There are other students working on their homework near us and a few reading on their own. I always love to watch them read and enjoy the stories or information. But for now, I’m struggling to focus on cutting the paper into small hearts so that Kime can stick them onto the card she is making Telke.

I wish...

The more I work on this project, the more I thought about him.

Am I too mean to him?

But... What if he won’t understand?

He is rash enough to run out and risk his life. Maybe he isn’t someone who will give things a lot of thoughts.

But he is good at floatball, which takes a lot of strategizing.

So...

I suppose I should make it clear to him, but... Part of me doesn’t think he will take that as an answer. But...

What if he won’t understand? With how we haven’t known each other for long, maybe he doesn’t care that much. But what if...

I halt before I cut my finger. I put down the scissors. Kime looks at me with her cute face. Even her tiny baby horn on her forehead looks cute. I say, “My throat is dry, my water is back on the counter. I’ll be back soon.”

“Okay. Thank you for helping me.” She grins and focuses on her piece of paper again.

Maybe I need some time on my own, which I won’t get until it is closing time for the library.

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