1 minute read
I’m a Girl, not yet a Woman
By Fallon Dern, Allegra Drago and Emmy Zhang
Every Saturday morning, Fallon gets up at 8 a.m. to watch the Tottenham Hotspurs face off against other teams in the Premier Football League. 22 hours later, Allegra’s entire family will sit in the living room to watch AC Milan play. Emmy just watches TikToks where the players look handsome and occasionally pretends to care about soccer to make her dad happy.
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Despite our inability to play the sport—either for lack of stamina or, in Allegra’s case, having been barred from participation since ninth grade for reasons she can’t publish— watching soccer teaches us about resilience, humility and sportsmanship, as well as strength in the face of losses.
Such strength was exhibited when we sat, eyes glued to our phones, as Brazil’s national team demolished Korea in the 2023 World Cup. For Allegra, it was a great day. Fallon, Emmy and their respective celebrity crushes were devastated.
“No matter how this game ends, one of us is going to be irritable,” Fallon said in a text message to our junior Chronicle staffers. “Be on your best behavior this layout week. We love you. Sorry about this.”
Though Korea lost 4-1 to Brazil’s national team, Son Heungmin and Richarlison were seen hugging it out after the game; their loyalty to the Tottenham Hotspurs outweighed their pride during the international break. We did the same– and yes, we’re comparing ourselves to professional soccer players, but hear us out.
As a trio, the team we’re most devoted to is the one we’ve built together. The Chronicle’s been looking better than ever thanks to us, and doing better than ever thanks to the rest of our players.
We’ve got Coach Montgomery, a stellar set of strikers who supervise our sections and executive editors in the midfield, ensuring our Print Managing line of defense has fewer errors to block. If all else fails, we’ve got our goalies, the Editors-in-Chief who make sure no mistake gets the best of us. The qualities we admire on the pitch are the ones we mirror in the workrooms, and the ones we teach our junior players so they’re ready to sub in when our time is up.
