Jocks Are Inspiring Too by Sarahlyn Bruck

Pop culture enjoys pitting the jocks against the dorks, the popular kids vs. the outcasts. As book lovers, we know which set we’re supposed to identify with–the ones who spend hours in libraries, who kill time browsing bookstores, who fritter away a sunny afternoon indoors on the couch reading a book. We’re the introverts, the nerds, the loners. 

The bookworms. 

As someone who lives many of my waking hours in my own head making up stories, these lifestyle choices resonate for me and yes, inspire me. I love it when the quiet girl in the corner is the one who discovers her inner heroine and saves the day. But I’m also–gasp–a sporty-type. You must be thinking, Wait, how can a book nerd also be a person who enjoys sports? I get it. It’s weird. But not only do I like sports, I’m inspired by them, too.

Let me explain.

Athletes are human beings. Just like bookworms, geeks, stoners, and D&D enthusiasts, sporty types face challenges that can seem impossible, even to them. They not only have to play a physical game, but a mental one, too. In fact, aside from dealing with injuries, the biggest hurdle for athletes can be the mental game.

Over the summer, I watched the Women’s World Cup, a tournament that is made up of top athletes from around the world who are in the best shape of their lives playing the most important games of their careers so far. As the teams are whittled down from the group stages to the knock-out games–where if you lose, you go home–a viewer can really get a sense of what these players are made of by how they handle the pressure of being center stage for 90+ minutes. For those who don’t follow soccer, starting with the round of 16 teams, games are 90 minutes in length. If at the end of that initial 90 minutes the score is tied, then the teams must play an additional 30 minutes. If it’s still tied at 120 minutes, the teams go to penalty kicks. 

Penalty kicks are brutal. BRUTAL! After two hours of both teams playing their guts out, the end result of the game comes down to penalty kicks. The goalie stands in the goal at the goal line, while a player from the other team prepares to shoot the ball at them from 12 yards away. This scenario places both players in terrible positions. The goalie is at an automatic disadvantage because it’s impossible to reach every angle that ball could go. But the kicker is truly in mind-fuck land. Whatever they’ve done in practice cannot possibly prepare for the situation that has rolled out for them there on the world’s biggest stage. A win or loss—moving on or going home—falls on this one kick. 

Whether the player makes the shot or chokes, I see a story there. Triumph is an easier story to tell, but it’s the misses that pull me in. When the kicker fails—the ball is stopped or the shot misses the goal entirely—we are with them in that moment. We know they will never be able to forget. They will replay this moment in their heads for the rest of their lives. 

I read a thousand different emotions on their faces as they slowly turn away from the goal in shock and walk back to their team waiting at the half line. My heart breaks for them because I’ve been there too. Not literally, but I’ve definitely let other people and myself down when I needed to triumph. Immediately, my brain tries to imagine what the coach will say after a hard loss like that, the conversations with family members, the sad bus ride back to the hotel, the sleepless night. The tears. The regret. And then? I hope they pick themselves back up and move forward. At least those are the stories I like to tell myself. And those are the stories that I write. 

We all have our own version of missed penalty kicks. In fiction, authors create these high stakes for their characters so that whether they triumph or not, it has meaning. The readers become invested in the same way soccer fans become invested when their team goes to penalty kicks. We all stumble and fall…and when we do, we will have another story to tell.

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Sarahlyn Bruck is a writing professor and the award-winning author of three contemporary novels: Light of the Fire (January 2024),  Daytime Drama (2021) and Designer You (2018). She lives in Philadelphia with her family. For the latest book news, events, and announcements, check out her website: https://sarahlynbruck.com. Follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter: @sarahlynbruck.

LIGHT OF THE FIRE

In this heartrending story about healing from past mistakes, two estranged friends face the twenty-year-old accident that forced them apart—and the consequences of the secret that still haunts them.

Twenty years ago, an out-of-control prank ended in an accident that destroyed the high school gym and threatened the futures of star athletes Beth and Ally. They move on with their lives carrying their secret while someone else is blamed, but the years reveal that no one truly comes out unscathed.

Now, both women are at a crossroads: Beth returns to her hometown after a concussion ends her professional soccer career, and a surprise pregnancy disrupts Ally’s idyllic family. The only thing either of them are sure of is their desire to mend their estranged relationship.

But the old friends aren’t just battling new problems when their former classmate Jordan begins to investigate the crime for which his father was convicted. As their secret comes back around to threaten their futures once more, Beth and Ally will have to decide whether to run away from the truth again or face it once and for all.

PREORDER HERE

 

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