Broken arm doesn't keep girl from soccer contest
Leonard Hayhurst
Community Content Coordinator
Bridgette Bible, 9, will compete in the Elks Soccer Shoot regional finals Saturday in Maryland.
Bridgette placed second for her age group at the regional level last year.
Bridgette went through the local, divisional and state rounds with a broken arm.
The Keene Elementary School student also plays softball and basketball.
KEENE – A broken arm didn't keep Bridgette Bible from advancing to the regional round of the Elks Soccer Shoot for the second consecutive year.
The 9-year-old and her parents, Chad and Christy, left Thursday for Frederick, Maryland. On Saturday, the Keene Elementary School third-grader will compete in the U-10 girls group by kicking a soccer ball into a sectioned-off net. Different parts are worth varying amounts of points, with the corners being worth the most.
"Dad told me to stand with the ball, then go over a little bit, then go left, right, left and kick the ball," Bridgette said. "I always go for the corners."
Chad has always been a big supporter and coach, but Bridgette admits with a sheepish grin that he wasn't too happy with her when she broke her arm for a second time about 10 hours after getting her first cast off. Chad just rolled his eyes and laughed at the memory.
Bridgette broke her arm falling down stairs originally, then after getting her cast off, she broke it falling off her bicycle. Bridgette giggles that her arm looked like a banana the second time it was so bowed out. Her arm is healed now.
A broken arm would have been a good excuse to sit out the soccer shoot this year, even though she made it all the way to the regional level and placed second in her age group last year. However, the bright pink cast was on Bridgette's right arm, not her foot. She put having a broken arm out of her mind and focused on kicking the ball where she wanted it to go.
"It gave me something to do," Bridgette said of the shoot out. "I wanted to compete."
She admits the cast limited her upper mobility some, but she quickly learned how to work with it. Bridgette and her parents joke the cast might have been a good luck charm and maybe she should have kept it.
The local competition was at the Himebaugh Lot, the divisional round was at Dover and the state tournament was at Kids America. The regional round is the highest level participants can go to, and Bridgette will be competing against state finalists from Kentucky, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, New Jersey, and the grouped Maryland, Delaware and Washington, D.C., area.
Bridgette admits she was scared and nervous to compete in the regional contest last time, but this go around, she's nothing but excited because she knows what to expect — and so do her parents. Registration Friday night features a pizza party, and there is an awards banquet Saturday evening.
Chad and Christy said Bridgette became interested in soccer around age 3 and became serious about playing around age 5. She plays soccer at Kids America and through the Soccer Organization of the Coshocton County Area. She also plays softball and basketball.
Her older siblings, Anthony and Abby King, also compete in athletics. Chad and Christy said it's important their kids don't sit at home with their eyes glued to the television or a cellphone. Chad said e appreciates the Elks have the same goal with their soccer and basketball programs.
"I don't think people realize what the Elks all put on and do for the kids," Chad said.
llhayhur@coshoctontribune.com
Twitter: @llhayhurst