“No 7, Jobie Nymble, takes the lead,” cried the announcer. “Just one more hurdle (跨栏) and ...” Cheers broke out. “Jobie Nymble from Riverside Middle School takes first place in the girls’ 100-meter hurdles!” The crowd went wild.

“County championships (锦标赛), here we come,” screamed Jobie, patting her green track spikes (钉鞋). They were her lucky shoes and she loved them. “Next Saturday, we’re taking home the gold,” Jobie whispered to her spikes, excitedly retying them.

“Don’t forget, guys,” said Marisol, one of her teammates. “My birthday party is next Friday at Hidden Park.”

Next weekend couldn’t come soon enough. Jobie smiled with excitement all week long. At track practice, she leaped over those hurdles faster than she’d ever leaped before. And it wasn’t long before everything in her path was a hurdle: flowerpots in her front yard, sidewalk cracks on the way to the bus stop and even her little sister, Teka!

The day of Marisol’s party, Jobie put on her favorite outfit: her blue shorts, an old track T-shirt from her dad, and her lucky spikes. “Perfect.” She smiled at herself in the mirror.

The party was under way when Jobie arrived at Hidden Park. She stopped by the track first, planning to do some practice.

“Jobie!” Two of Jobie’s teammates rushed toward her, breathless and barefoot. “Come on,” they yelled. “You have to try the slide.”

Jobie looked toward the party area. Suddenly, she saw it. The biggest slide she had ever seen was on the far side of the park. Smiling kids zoomed down the slide at unspeakable speeds. Without thinking twice, Jobie took off her spikes and dashed (猛冲) toward the slide. Its ladder stretched to the sky, but she reached the top in no time, closed her eyes and let go.

Jobie couldn’t get enough. She tried again and again. When it was finally time to go home, she unwillingly made her way back to the track where she’d left her shoes.

As she eyed the area from a distance, panic set in.

The next day, Jobie turned up in a new pair of spikes for the championships.

Rivaldo was playing football from the age of 4. When he was 7, he joined a local football club. He attended the training regularly but never got a chance to play in matches. But the coach had faith in him. He told Rivaldo that he should focus on his training, and one day he would get the chance. Rivaldo had no other option but to continue training in the club. He was training very hard and focused on improving himself.

Even after two years in the club, he never played in a match. He was not even allowed to travel along with the team. One day their club had a charity match, where a famous footballer was a chief guest. While the team was planning to travel, one of the support staff who used to take care of kits got ill. So, they needed someone for this.

The coach thought this should be an opportunity for Rivaldo. So, he told him to travel with the team and take care of the kits. Other support staff objected to it, but he convinced them.

The team reached the stadium. There were a lot of crowds to witness the celebrity footballer. For Rivaldo, this is his first-time experience in the stadium. He was helping the other players with the kits for the pre-match training. The coach came for a chat with Rivaldo. He told Rivaldo, “You are playing today.”

Rivaldo, for a moment, got frozen and asked him why. He said, “One of the players from the team got injured while training. So, we are short of players. We need someone to be in the field to make it 11. But I know you are more than that. So, go and prove yourself”. There was resistance from the support staff. Luckily for Rivaldo, the coach, through the organizing committee, convinced Rivaldo’s team management to allow him to play.

When the match started, Rivaldo was running like a deer.

After the match, the celebrity footballer walked to Rivaldo.