They Laughed at the Barefoot Boy at Football Trials

They Laughed at the Barefoot Boy at Football Trials He came to the football trials with no shoes. And everyone laughed. Kofi had practised every day on a dusty pitch, with a ball made of plastic bags. At the academy trials, the other boys had boots that cost more than his family earned in a month. Go home, one of them said. This is for real players. Then the coach blew the whistle. And Kofi got the ball. He dribbled past one, two, three of them... and scored. The field went silent. The coach walked over, and asked him one question. Where are your shoes? I don't have any, Kofi said. The next morning, the coach gave him his first pair of boots, and a place on the team. Twelve years later, Kofi scored the winning goal in front of sixty thousand people. Today he gives free boots to every kid in his village. Because once, he came to the football trials with no shoes.