--------------------------------------------------------------------

Welcome to the Church of The Reverend Cotton Mather.  This story is
the sole property of the author, and may not be copied or downloaded 
for the intent of profit. Permission is freely given for anyone to 
download or copy for their personal pleasure or use, as long as 
there is no intent to charge money or barter for the privilege of 
acquiring this material.

   (Copyright 2005, revisions c. 2007, R.C. Mather)

E-Mail all comments to RevCottonMather at hotmail dot com
Don't be shy!  I enjoy hearing from you.

---------------------------------------------------------------------


THE COMPETITIVE EDGE:
PLAYING THE GAME III

A Novel

by R.C. Mather



- 48 -

THE COMPETITIVE EDGE



'Life is good.'

I could only thank my lucky stars each and every night.

Was my charmed life perfect from that moment on? Of course not. Was
life good, no matter what? Absolutely.

Kayla lived in the dorm her freshman year, even though she spent a
lot of time at my apartment, and a lot of nights in my bed. Heather
had the advantage of having a roommate who didn't spend a lot of time
in her room. Spencer and I learned to cope with finding female
products in our bathroom.

That fall, we went 13-0, leading up to the Georgetown tournament. We
had a mishap that hurt us the second half of the season, when Sugar
and Rico both got hurt in a collision during a corner kick. Rico
elevated to head the ball when Sugar came out of his goal, leapt up,
and grabbed it out of the air. Rico fell hard and blew out his knee.
Sugar landed awkwardly on the ball, and his shoulder popped out of
its joint. Just like that, our defensive unit was decimated. Our
backup keeper was a freshman named Andy Smith, and he wasn't ready to
take over the position. I reassigned myself to play in front of him,
and a lot of our movement on the field suffered because of the shift.
We lost the championship game on a shootout. For the balance of the
regular season, we split. We won five, lost five, as Sugar and Rico
could only watch from the sidelines. We won the SEC tournament, but
lost in the NCAA in the second round.

We were all very disappointed with the results, of course. Pick,
always looking to the future, was unconcerned.

"Nex' year, boys, we gonna scream through everybody, just you wait
and see."

It was an attitude that didn't mollify Luke and Jeremy, our
departing seniors.

There were bright spots to the season. Up until the injuries, we
were ranked third in the nation, our highest ever. Lightspeed and
Goldman joined me as first-team All-SEC selections, and I was also
honored as a second-team All-American for my junior year.

For her sophomore year, Kayla and Heather once again roomed in the
dorm, though Kayla spent even less time in her room than she did her
freshman year. For all intents and purposes, she was our third
roommate, a welcome addition to our apartment. We did all we could
those two years to wear out the bedsprings.

True to his word, Pick guided our season my senior year to a much
more successful conclusion. Everybody stayed healthy, and we made it
all the way to the semifinals of the NCAA before falling. I would
have liked to win it all, but making it that far felt like a real
accomplishment.

Kayla chose Marketing as her major, vacillating between Early
Childhood Development and her eventual choice before deciding she
could help Jake and her father better run Lehigh Drugs. I also began
to rely on her for promoting Porter Enterprises, even though we were
continuing to experience phenomenal growth simply by word-of-mouth
and localized advertising.

The summer after my graduation was our first year in the new Spring
Lake Sports Complex. We moved as many of the community clinics as we
could to Spring Lake, and I was able to let Theo and Trent take the
lead on running everything there. I traveled a lot, from Maryland to
Texas, Florida to Michigan, Kentucky to Wisconsin, doing coaching
clinics, referee clinics, and getting to know as many of our
attendees as I could. 

With help from several people, I began transitioning Porter
Enterprises from a summer venture into a full-time, year-round
business. We expanded in a big way into the South. With the publicity
surrounding my selection as a first-team All-American my senior year,
Elena, Eddie Whitehead, and I were able to parlay that hoopla into
wintertime clinics in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Texas. Rico and
Jorge helped me tremendously in setting up several sites in Texas,
and Lightspeed, Trent, and Eric worked on the Southeast. With Eric,
Trent, and Jorge running the winter clinics in the South and
Southeast, I was able to take advantage of an invitation that came my
way after my senior season had ended.

Duane Olchick, one of my steadfast supporters from early on, had
called me and invited me to come to Germany.

"I can't promise you anything, Sean," he warned me. "But you'll have
tryouts available to you with just about any team here in the North
you would like, and you can stay here with Francesca and me."

"That would be wonderful," I said. "How are Anik and Yuri?"

Duane chuckled. "Anik is in love. He is being stupid right now, but
he will enjoy seeing you again. Yuri is just the same. In fact, he
has been working with Regensberg, and he wants you to spend a week or
so with him."

And so, I went to Germany late in September to work out with Duane,
Yuri, and many of the best players in Europe.

It was awful. I enjoyed the time I spent with Duane and his family,
and his brothers were both very generous with their time and their
expertise. European players, however, were generally quite arrogant
and rude. They had no respect for American skills, disparaging
everything they heard about "fussball" in America.

I stuck with it, however, and even won over a few players from
England, Germany, and France. I kept my cool, I watched and I
learned, and I wrote down everything. I had a plan.

The American game was looked down upon, and rightly so. If Sean
Porter was supposed to be one of the best, it was a poor group of
scrubs indeed. But the pool of talent in the States was incredibly
deep. If the U.S. soccer fraternity wanted to compete on the
international stage, they needed somebody to come in and offer
international-level training.

Oh, yes, I had a plan.

I spent four months in Europe. I took it all in, observed firsthand
how the best teams gained their competitive edge, and how I could
help craft the American future. When I got back home, just before
Christmas, I was just about ready. It was a long-range plan, but I
had already seen what could happen, seen it through what my clinics
had already accomplished.

Porter-trained players were everywhere in the Midwest. Four of the
top ten high school teams in Indiana had at least three clinic
players in their starting lineup, and seven of the top ten in
Illinois used at least two of my players. The top-ranked team in the
state, my alma mater, was building a dynasty. Coach Neville
incorporated as much of my system as he felt his players could
handle, and he let my instructors take over the skills drills during
the summer clinics we ran alongside him. Every player on both the
varsity and junior varsity teams attended at least the school-
sponsored clinics, and most of them were summer clinic members, also.
As a result, Coach Neville's teams were never out of the top five
ranked teams in the state, and were consistently ranked in the Top
Twenty nationwide.

The system was proving itself out, and people were taking notice.
"Soccer Today" did a big story on us, comparing the training offered
by Porter Enterprises to the club programs run by the best European
soccer organizations. They did a follow-up story six months later,
listing the results Porter-trained teams were experiencing in junior
travel team competition.

That series of articles kicked off another huge growth period. Kayla
and some of her friends from Marketing and the Art Department worked
on designing uniforms that would stand out, in green and red. I began
a sponsorship program for recreational teams and travel teams of all
ages. If a team had more than half their players enrolled in my
clinics for at least one year, I would provide them with warm-up
suits and two sets of uniforms for everybody, including the coaches
and assistant coaches. They had the Porter lightning bolt logo on
them, and the distinctive colors made the teams really stand out.

Of course, dressing the part was mere deception if the teams
couldn't back it up on the field, and that's where the Porter-trained
teams helped to build our reputation. Teams in red or green, with
lightning bolts down the sides of the uniforms, began taking trophies
all over the Midwest, the Southeast, and the South. Rec tournaments,
travel team tournaments, three-on-three tournaments, middle school
through high school competitions, even some adult leagues that were
formed by parents and volunteer coaches, began to show up and take
hardware home from nearly every competition they entered. Did they
win every one? Of course not, but they played well enough, and
finished high enough in the rankings so consistently, it became
commonplace to see photos of teams dressed in Porter colors holding
aloft trophies or ribbons. It was expensive for us to provide
uniforms and sponsorships like that, but the publicity was worth it
all.

It was a start. It would take years to implement my plans, but I had
learned patience. I had learned it very well, indeed.



* * * * * * * * * *



Eric, Trent, and I spent a lot of time setting up our Southeastern
operations when I returned from Europe. I bounced from home to
Baltimore to Gainesville and back. It seemed like I was living out of
my suitcase.

Kayla was renting a house with three other girls at school. She had
her bedroom in a loft up two flights of stairs, with enough privacy
for us. I stayed there as much as I could, which wasn't much because
of my schedule. She had her car at school, so she would pick me up at
the airport or the train station whenever I came to town.

One time, during her senior year, I was coming in from Chicago on a
late flight, through Atlanta. I was dog-tired, and the weather was
turning sour. Thunderstorms had rolled through, and more were
predicted for most of northern Florida. I gathered up my luggage and
trudged out to the curbside. Kayla pulled up and parked the car. She
looked great, as usual, as she hopped out and came over to give me a
kiss. She had a long trench coat on, buttoned up against the wind and
rain. I tossed my bags into the trunk and walked over to the
passenger side, but Kayla was already there, so I got around and
opened the driver's side door. I got in, fastened my seatbelt, and
dropped the car into gear. As I pulled away from the curb, I glanced
over at my girlfriend. She had a mischievous gleam in her eye.

"What?" I asked.

She smiled and casually crossed her legs. The trench coat parted to
the lowest button, showing nothing but smooth, silky leg. It piqued
my interest, no doubt about it.

She still didn't say anything, but she was turned slightly in my
direction.

"You're quiet tonight," I said, glancing from the road to her legs
and back again. 'Don't want to get into an accident here.'

She just shrugged nonchalantly, playing with the top button of her
coat. The next time I looked over to her, the top two buttons were
undone. I saw nothing but skin where the coat gapped.

I raised one eyebrow at her, a trick I worked hard to develop. She
smiled and gestured with her head toward the windshield. I hurriedly
looked back to my driving, correcting my steering to get back in my
lane. "Good thing it's late and the traffic's light," I muttered.

Kayla still didn't say anything. I glanced over, and all the buttons
of her coat were undone. She had her right foot up on the dashboard,
and she was casually holding her coat open. The sight nearly made me
run off the road, because she was completely naked underneath her
trench coat.

"Good thing," she said with a smile.

I stared at her for a moment before tearing my eyes away. I floored
it, suddenly in a hurry to get to her apartment. Kayla laughed
delightedly at my sudden need for speed, but I thought I could detect
an undercurrent of lust in her chuckle. It made me hurry all the
faster.



* * * * * * * * * *



Over the course of her college years, we had talked about marriage,
and kids, and our future together. It was a foregone conclusion, at
least on my part, that we would get married. We even window-shopped
at jewelry stores as we wandered through malls, both in Florida and
at home. I knew her tastes in jewelry well enough I was confident I
could pick out an engagement ring. There was a prominent jeweler in
Maryland I knew well enough, whose three kids were all heavily
involved in competitive soccer. All three were regular attendees of
Eric's camps, and I had met him on several occasions when I was in
the area. Early in the spring of Kayla's senior year, I picked out a
good diamond, and put rubies on either side of it. When it was ready,
I picked it up, but didn't tell her I had it. 

Kayla's parents, along with Jake and Jaimie, had come down for the
graduation ceremony, and we all pitched in to help her pack up her
apartment for the move back home. We convoyed back, taking three days
on the road so I could stop in Macon and Baltimore to visit with the
instructors who were setting up for the summer clinics. It was also a
chance for me to show Irwin Lehigh the progress we had made, since he
was so instrumental in helping me get going.

We got back home and unloaded everything at her house.

"This will never fit back into my room," complained Kayla as she
stood beside the cars, surveying the clothes, linens, books, lamps,
and other stuff that were boxed and stacked in the driveway.

"We are your beasts of burden," intoned Jake. "Tell us where to
stick it, and it shall be done."

Kayla gave him a baleful look, as if she was really going to tell
him where to stick it. Instead, she sighed. "Clothes upstairs,
everything else in the basement, I guess," she said.

I picked up a floor lamp. "I just had a thought," I said. "Instead
of stuffing your basement, let's store what you don't need right away
over in my storeroom."

"You have room there?" asked Kayla.

"Sure, lots of room," I said. "Most of my stuff is being kept at
Spring Lake, and all the summer clinics already have their equipment.
It's practically empty right now."

"Okay, if you're sure it won't be in the way," said Kayla.

"I'm sure," I said. "Let's load it back up and drive it over right
now."

Kayla and Jaimie repacked her things that were going into storage,
while Jake and I took her clothes and linens upstairs to her room. By
the time we were done, it was nearly dinnertime.

Kayla's parents watched us put the last boxes in the car. "Can we
come along?" asked Mrs. Lehigh. "I haven't been over to your office
lately. Then maybe we can go out to eat."

"Good idea," I said.

We got into two cars and drove over to my second-floor offices. I
pulled around to the back, and Kayla and I walked hand in hand up the
stairs, turning on the lights as we went. When we got to the
storeroom, I could hear music from the front offices.

"Elena must be working late," I said. "Let's go say hello."

Kayla nodded, and let me lead her by the hand. I opened the door
leading into the office area and led Kayla into the darkened room.
The windows were even dark, covered with thick black curtains.

"Sean? What's..."

We heard a needle drop onto a record. There was a slight scratching
sound as the needle found the groove, and then the incomparable voice
of Nat "King" Cole, singing "When I Fall in Love," came drifting out
of the dark. Six flares of six matches struck surprised my Luscious, 
and six candles were lit by six hidden people in the room.



"When I fall in love,
It will be forever,
Or I'll never fall in love..."



I led Kayla into the middle of the open space, now softly lit by the
candlelight around us. I could see my mother and my father, each
standing behind a candle. Irwin and Margie Lehigh were there, too,
standing away from the candles they had lit, having snuck up the
front stairway to get there ahead of us. Jake and Jaimie, our best
friends, were standing behind the last two candles. I faced my
Luscious, and dropped to one knee.



"When I give my heart,
It will be completely,
Or I'll never give my heart..."



Kayla's eyes got huge as she took in the surroundings. She stood,
one hand over her mouth, as she watched me reach into my pocket and
draw out the velvet box holding the symbol of the most important
thing ever to enter my life.

I had to clear my throat before I could speak. "Kayla Lehigh, you
are the most precious thing in the world to me. You have been by my
side for a long time. You were with me, even when I was foolish and
stupid, sharing with me some of your incredible strength. Now," and I
glanced over to where Irwin Lehigh was standing, "with your father's
permission..." I paused, and Irwin nodded and smiled at me. "...I am
here now, at your feet, proclaiming in front of the people most
important to us. I love you, Kayla. Will you marry me?" I held my
breath.



"And the moment I feel that
You feel that way too,
Is when I fall
In love with you."



Kayla smiled as tears welled in her eyes. "Yes," she whispered. "Of
course I will."

I scrambled up and picked her up in my arms. She squealed, but it
was cut short by my kiss. The others in the room, now applauding,
faded away while I held my Luscious, my bride-to-be, my partner for
my lifetime.



"...is when I fall
In love with you."






(Continued in Epilog)


  
CE48