My coach had called the Head Coach and she came huffing and puffing over from the gym cla.s.s and over to the track and fields. After explaining what had happened, both coaches wanted to put me to a test, based on my stamina and speed.

"Angelica Mae, from this day forth, we would like you to partic.i.p.ate in the ECA program just like the rest of your peers do, okay? You had the potential to represent the school's sporting meets and we would like to be part of it."

"Come, we need to try out your endurance and you may need to complete in the 2.4km run. Just 6 rounds around the circuit would do to complete the endurance run."

Hearing this, at first I am pretty reluctant to do it since getting all icky and sweaty is not my kind of thing. Furthermore, I did not bring any extra kit with me to change once I continue back in cla.s.s. Then I heard a low growl and a voice boomed in my head and said "Let's go, kid. Show them what we got...!"

I swerved around suddenly, thinking that the coaches or my peers were teasing me that time, but my coaches were busy charting something and my peers were either sprawled along the by stands or were taking a drink from the water cooler that I usually was manning.

"Alright, Angelica Mae. Head to the starting point and I would time you each time you complete a lap and also at the end of the endurance run."

My coach led me to the starting point and told me I don't have to get in a position like a sprinting pose. I scratched my head when I stooped down and place myself in the starting line as usual.

I raise myself up and just stood around amicably when she told me to face the outfield perimeter of the 400 meters circuit. "Get ready... On your mark... Get set..." I readied myself and once again I felt the hair raising around my neck and the quivering of the muscles on my legs, especially my thighs and calves.

The moment I heard the word "Go...!" and a slight tap on my shoulder, I sprinted forward as if I had never run in my life before. The explosive power that kicked dust with my legs and pumped my arms steadily made me sprint/run with ease and with peace.

I felt as though sprinting and running was my primary desire to live and survive and I do not feel the sudden need to breathe hard to catch my breath as I ran around the circuit a few times. My breathing was steady through the nose, even the jarring sensations of my heels. .h.i.tting the tracks did little to impact my running.

The feeling of the wind in my hair (ponytailed during school time) and around my skin makes me feel free... The kind of freedom one can express while running through the fields, barefooted, smelling the fresh gra.s.s on the ground and the scent of a stream nearby with the birds that flew above in the skies.

I grinned at my coach every time I pa.s.sed her and on my last lap, I ran over and cleared the hurdles before I approached the last 300 meters and stopped upon reaching the finis.h.i.+ng line. The exhilaration of the run made me pant a bit and I was sniffling as I rubbed my wet nose on the sleeve of my kit.

I was perspiring, and even though I felt a bit icky afterwards, but the feeling that's I've got within me was simply explosive and wonderful. I clocked slightly under 10 minutes in the 2.4km run (a Guardsman and could easily clock under 7 minutes running on half battle gear) and each lap, my coach had noticed that I had made long strides instead of an awkward kind of running a ten-year-old girl would normally do.

"How on earth could you run like that, Angelica Mae? You had not shown a single potential in the track and field before, and yet today you astonish me beyond words...!"

"You may take the rest of the school lessons off today. Head Coach and I would like to run a few more meets before calling it a day. How about you take a short breather first, at your usual spot before we proceed for the javelin and shot putt later on."

My coach suggested to me these two more uninterested ECA that I most looked down upon. Javelin...? That long iron pole with a sharpened edge at the end? Seriously...? And shot putt...? A piece of iron ball that needs to be placed at your crane of the neck before throwing it? Seriously....!?!

Yup... Just as I figured it out, these two sporting activities were really sucked and I had the worst distance covered on both the javelin and shot putt. It measured even the shortest even for the worst peer in my group. I can't help but chuckle when I fumbled with the javelin and shot putt after each unsuccessful tries.

I took a rest again at the by stand as instructed by my coach and I was offered a wet cooling towel by the Head Coach, which I accepted with much appreciation. they were discussing at the sides since they had made me skip my lessons for the day after discovering new talent.

"Come, follow me, Angelica Mae ..." my coach gestured me and I followed her every time she called by my full name. I'd prefer to be called Angie, Angel or Mae for short but calling me by my full names was like denoting me as making a very grave mistake and needs to be punished severely.

I followed behind my coach and wonders what she had in store for me. Throwing that useless javelin and shot putt doesn't bring any results that she had looked forward to. My coach brought me to a place called the broad jump.

I was told to make a single jump on the broad jump and hit the white wooden board to lift my whole body into the air and land a few meters ahead, on the loosely packed sand. I hadn't made a broad jump before and my coach showed me. She ran a few meters and stepped off in the white wooden board on the ground, and leapt into the air and landed in the sand, all in one smooth elegant movement.

She took out a measuring tape and measured her own distance from where she had taken off and landed and nodded approvingly as she said that she had made over 5 meters. Now it is my turn, as I sauntered over to the start of the rather short runway of about 10 metres or so.

At the sound of "Go...!" from my coach, once again the p.r.i.c.kly feeling in my neck and the burst of adrenaline shot right through me. I sprinted, taking long strides and when my foot touched the wooden whir board in the ground I leapt forward and brought my two feet forward as depicted by the example made by my coach.

I landed on my feet and turned sideways and laid on my sides. This time I was panting a little as I could feel the flight when I leapt and the sensation was tremendous, even for a ten-year-old like me that time. It was as though leaping through the air was primary for me that only the beasts inside of me could explain.

My coach was awestruck when she measured the distance that I had covered in that single Leap and she measured again to reconfirm. She then noted it down and brought the results on her clipboard over to the Head Coach. When she showed it to the latter, both walked briskly to me, who was still 'frolicking' in the sand and building some mounds on it playfully.

"Haish... Come on now, you're not on a beach making sandcastles you know. Head Coach here wants to speak to you and look at you once again."

My coach said as she held her hands under my arm and pulled me up and helped to shake off the sand off my b.u.t.t and part on the side of my body.

"Angelica Mae, you had indeed filled us in unexpected surprises today...! Not only you came tops with the 100 meters hurdle and the endurance 5.4km run, but you also made a 6.35-meter landing in your first trial jump. Even further than your coach, right now...! "

"Do you know what it means to the school and to you right now, Angie my dear...?"

The Head Coach was telling me the importance of excelling in sports rather than in academics and went on telling me about sponsors.h.i.+ps that could finance me all the way till uni.

With further grooming in certain areas that I could excel most, I could even be the Top Sportswoman at a tender age. There would be Regional sporting meets and finally the International ones like the Olympics, for example.

I listened and looked at her quizzically and I soon find that there were 2 other beings in me that I had never felt so strongly before, that were prancing around and swoos.h.i.+ng their tails about and sat down attentively thereafter, listening to the two humans speak and praising their prowess and I heard a voice said, "I'm hungry. Is there anything to eat around here?"