A Ball Boy's Dream

Micah Hamilton; The Ball Boy’s Dream

By Noah Solovey

This story is dedicated to Francis Lee - You’ll Forever Be A Legend.

Poetic Introduction ~

I thought back to when I was the City ball boy.

Life

Long

Fan.

Why was I on the team b u s?

Why was Phil Foden sitting next to me?

De Bruyne is behind me.

Haaland in front of me.

I didn’t belong here.

I took the wRoNg bus.

This was too much.

I thought again.

Rico Lewis

Oscar Bobb

They used to be with me.

In the

A c a d e M y.

I thought again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

How And again.

And again.

And again.

Did And again.

And again.

And again.

I And again.

End And again.

And again.

And again. Up

And again.

—--- And again.

—--- And again. Here

The

Bus —------

Kept

Driving

Until

I

Saw

It.

The fans were waiting to greet the team

I slowly walked out of the bus

Step

After

Step

After

Step

After

Step.

I then saw it.

The Red Star Belgrade’s Stadium.

It was right in front of me.

The start of something big.

For

My Club.

It’s

My day.

To

Make

My

Debut

–

Narrative ~

It felt like a dream. Or was it? Was I really with the Man City first team, about to appear in a Champions League game? Was I? I still couldn’t believe that I sat with world-class, amazing players on the way to the stadium. I was frozen. I kept talking with my friend Rico Lewis, a graduate of the Man City Academy and EDS. After stepping off the bus, there were millions of fans holding their hands out to high-five the players. Like I used to. Just how far had I come?

It was an hour before the match against Crvena Zvezda, a Serbian club in Man City’s Champions League Group Stage. I took a seat in my locker room seat and listed to Pep announce our starting lineup. We were playing our B-team because we already qualified for the round for sixteen. “4-2-3-1, Stefan, Rico, John, Manu, Sergio, Kalvin, Mateo, Micah…” Sundennly, the line-up stopped. My heart stopped. The team started clapping, I started smiling and Rico and Oscar were overjoyed. Am I hallucinating? Making my Man City debut, my Champions League debut, I’m so worried, but excited, honestly, I can’t wait for today. Thoughts ran through me like a marathon. “Let me finish the XI, Matheus, Jack, Oscar.” Oscar Bobb and Rico Lewis were both in the XI with me! I was almost about to faint, but then Pep came up to me and gave me some words of encouragement: “Micah, just enjoy it. Get out there and do what you do best. Don’t think too much. I remember when I was like you, and the best advice I could give is just get out there. You got this, I see it in you.” Coming from Pep Guardiola, it was a dream come true. He believed in me. I believed in me. “Hey, don’t mean to interrupt but Micah, you got this, go out there and crush it. Remember you debut for the academy? It’s just like that Mics, get out there, brother.” Rico’s words of encouragement made this day even bigger. Everyone soon seemed to be whispering about me, then, out of nowhere, Kevin De Bruyne came up to me. “Micah, I remember that day when you we’re the ball boy and Pep came up to you, that always stuck with me. I want you to go out there and show the world Micah Hamilton.”

Poetic Flashback ~

A ball boy’s job is simple

A ball comes out of play

A ball boy throws

A Ball into a player

A sign of keeping the game going

But if a 

Ball boy does something wrong

By the archives of history

Be ready for a player to come mad at you

Can’t take your eyes off the ball

Cause, you always have to be ready

Can’t delay time when a team is losing

Days become bad

Dirt in his eyes

Earth revolving around Pep’s Guardiola, he called me over to him and told me, “Speed the game up, throw the ball in faster.” He gave me a nudge on the chest 

As the players watched on as

Ball boy was told something

Cool from the

Dazzling manager

Eek

Now I’m

Here

With the first team

Here

About to make my Champions league debut

Here

Narrative ~

The tunnel team talk was over and it was game time. I walked out of the tunnel, prayed to god, jumped up and down, and sang the national anthem with my team. Let’s do this. I kept telling myself that there was nothing to fear. “WHHH!” The whistle sounded and the game was on. I began pressing. It seemed like no time until I had a few touches and was keeping up a fine game. Suddenly, the ball was fed to me in the box and I couldn’t even think, I took my shot, and into the net it swished! I had opened the scoring by scoring on my debut! I did it!

Running

I forgot to practice my celebrations in the mirror

Hallucinating

It was in my dreams it couldn’t be real

Praying

I knew I did something no one else could

I bent on my knees as Oscar stood behind me

Emotions over and over again

Rico jumped on my 18 year old back

I had just scored in the UCL

Emotions

Calls from my family flooded

Was I ready to move on from the Academy

And become

Micah Hamilton

And accomplish

A Ball Boy’s Dream?