Seventh grader Lily James IS the star of her soccer team, but when she disobeys her coach’s direction in a game to pass the ball and takes the shot herself, she is suspended for two games.  This means Lily will miss the championship game.  Frustrated with the coach, and missing the opportunity to make a select team, Lily doesn’t understand why the consequence needs to be so severe.  Benched, and sitting next to her coach for the final two games, however, Lily can see for herself the value of teamwork.  She realizes what a selfish player she had been and says, “Believe it or not, I’ve learned more about being a team player by getting kicked off.”

The true test of this lesson comes at the end of the book when the coach puts Lily back in for the OT (technically, the overtime is time “beyond” the two game suspension) in the championship game.  Given an opportunity to score the winning goal, Lily unselfishly passes to a teammate, who scores to win the game.