Naoya

Last week we were doing a new topic in the textbook with the Ni Nen Sei kids.

I think----.

What do you think?

I think so too.
I don't think so.

There was a choice, you see- I think so. I don't think so.

Naoya is one of those kids who commands a fair amount of respect from the others. He gets on with stuff, most of the time, he's got an older brother who all the kids look up to who comes along to football practice a lot. He's got hair that's a little wild, thick and too long for Hitoshi Sensei who told him to get it cut the other day. I don't think he has yet. He's a good kid. Last week we did the question 'Do you think studying English is important?' and all the kids respond together, as one higgly-piggly voice. God forbid they voice an opinion alone, in a classroom, in front of everyone else...no no no, that's simply not how things are done here!

Except, this time, Naoya raised his voice, practically shouted actually, 'I don't think so' amongst the chorus of unidentifiable responses. The lesson continued, Naoya got on with it all.

I kind of felt a little sad at that. There's nothing like taking a language and using it against itself for impact. There's nothing life taking a language and using it.

So last weekend was the Kentaikai- a wee while back the football boys went and got to the final of the Shinjinsen tournament, came second but won a place in the Prefectural tournament. They got through the first round, but not the second. They looked a different team in that second game. Gone was all the verve from their game. Nervous on the ball, anxious without it, they went down 1-3, I think. It was an entirely forgettable performance, and it was without Naoya, the little general, the fulcrum of the team, won runs at the opposition and backs himself not only to beat men, but to then take it all the way and pelt the ball away to the back of the net. And he bloody does it too.

But not in the second game at that tournament last weekend. He sat that one out, the team spirit not so much dropped as vanished, we went out to Kaminoyama Minami Chugakko: coincidentally the school the kids' old football coach and Industrial Arts teacher, Shoji Sensei, got sent to at the re-shuffle in April.

Naoya got floored from behind in the first game when they were already winning 3-0 or so. It was a heinous challenge, right in front of all of the supporters. Yellow card, Naoya dropped his head, and got flattened again seconds later. No card or free kick that time, and he was pulled off soon after. He showed me the graze on his calf after the match.

No, it's not for me to second guess just how bad his injury was, whether it was painful enough to keep the little general out of the second game...but I got to ask, could he have played in that second game?

I think so.