Powderpuff was around the corner and the leadership team was taking sign ups. I had no hesitation to sign up for the team, I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I thought it was going to be fun and everyone had a good time. WRONG everyone was competitive and they wanted to win. They were determined to put in the work so they could win. 

When it was our first practice, I was nervous because I didn’t know what I was capable of. Coach Maka gave us the ball and we had to show him what we were capable of, of course I didn’t know what to do so I hiked the ball. The ball went flying between my legs landing perfectly into Zaylen’s hands. Ever since I was a hiker, I was really nervous about it at first but once I did it more and more, I was confident. 

We had practice everyday because our coach didn’t want us to lose our touch, he wanted us to feel confident when we played. Everyday when the lunch bell rang everyone met on the field and we would go over our plays. But when Coach Maka told me this I was nervous; “You have to block whoever is in front of you and protect Kilikina.” When I heard that I didn’t feel confident because I had to tackle people and it was not your ordinary fun pushing, it was tackle till you fall. Coach Maka made sure that I wasn’t scared and made me feel more confident about it. 

A week went by and it was the preliminaries day. We went against 11th grade. There were a lot more girls than us. I was nervous because there were girls that looked like they could take me down, but when Mr. Mitchel blew his whistle I blocked with all my might protecting Kilikina while she threw the ball to Jill making the run. Unfortunately we didn’t win but we wanted to redeem ourselves so that Tuesday night we could play without feeling doubt. 

Tuesday night came, feeling confident but a little anxious. Zaylen and Akyrah were hyping up the team, making us feel excited that we get to play, if we lose or not. I’ve always wanted to do the dots on your face with the paint and Zaylen made that happen. I never had that feeling before; feeling ready for the game by putting paint on our faces and legs, making us feel special. 

While we were doing our drills I lost my touch with hiking the ball. I didn’t know what was going on with me. I practiced all week for this and I was asking myself ,“Why am I not hiking  the ball like I normally do?”  I realized it was because I was nervous. I never get this nervous. Maybe it was too much paint or maybe I drank too much water but I had to just calm down.

When it was game time they called our names one by one and when my name was called “KAYILE HINOKAWA ” of course I wasn’t surprised that they said my name wrong, but who cares. When It was time to play, we got the ball first and boy, let me tell you I was nervous! I hiked the ball as best I could into Kili’s hands and blocked with all my might. As the game went on I was getting thrown, pushed and punched but I kept a smile on my face even though we were losing I kept the positive in me. When the buzzer rang that was it! The torture was over.

Even though we lost we still were happy. Our goal for Powderpuff was to have fun. At the end we all soaked Coach Maka with water balloons and made sure he went home soaked! I was walking off the field with Jennalyn and we both had the biggest smiles on our faces. Even though we lost we still smiled.