Rocco’s Smallest Team in the Cup
A tiny village team faces a mighty club in the cup. Can heart beat height?
The Lime Leopards were the smallest team in the whole village cup. Their pitch had more daisies than grass, their goalposts leaned, and their ball had a patch on it.
‘We’ve been drawn against the Great Big Wolves!’ shouted Coach Vera. The team gulped. The Great Big Wolves were enormous. They had matching boots, shiny shirts and their own bus.
‘We might not be big,’ said Rocco, ‘but we can be clever. And we can practise.’ So every morning, before the dew had dried, the Lime Leopards trained on the daisy pitch.
They learned to pass quickly. They learned to dribble round cones, and then round each other. Maya practised shooting at a flowerpot. Each day they got a little better.
Match day came. The stadium was loud, and the Great Big Wolves looked like towers. Elsa the elephant laughed. ‘Are you lost?’ The Lime Leopards stuck together and shouted ‘One, two, three, believe!’
The Great Big Wolves were big, but the little team was quick. The ball zipped between them, and they couldn’t catch it. At half time, the score was 0-0, and the crowd was on its feet!
With one minute to go, Maya flicked a pass through a gap. Rocco ran faster than ever before. He shot with his left foot, and the ball curled into the corner. GOAL!
The final whistle blew. The little team had done it! The villagers cheered. Elsa shook Rocco’s hand. ‘You are not small,’ she said. ‘You’re the biggest-hearted team I’ve ever played.’
The little lesson
Practice, teamwork and a never-give-up spirit can take you very far.
Let’s talk about it
- What does ‘underdog’ mean?
- What do you think was the team’s secret?
Finish stories to collect Rocco as a sticker in your Sticker Book.
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