Serek awoke as the sun dribbled its first light of the day across Radet-Ashru and immediately bounded off his pallet in anticipation.

It was the third, final, and therefore most important day of the year's Iyasu, the day upon which all the teams would compete in the much idolised sport of Keron. It was Serek's fifth games, and he had the dubious honour of being the team captain for the Echpek¹ despite his relative youth of nineteen Yer^2.

The Echpek had been the worst performing Keron team in living memory^3, and it was typical for youth to join the team merely to play competitively for their first time in order to showcase their talent before being adopted by other, better teams. Serek however had refused to leave it despite numerous offers to join the more rightfully famous Datu or Panaeoli, having cited that he would not abandon the team that his grandfather had been a founding member of.

This year the Echpek promised to be different. The annual raids into old Diplotia had given Serek the unprecedented opportunity to practice with his prospective team members far more than was usual as they had met up prior to departure and played during the evenings following days of raids. Far from being strangers, then, this year's Echpek were a tightnit gang of youth that had boasted of their looting and successes in the southern land and joked together until well after the sun had set.

Serek smiled at the thought of those chilly spring evenings they'd spent around the night fires together as he stepped onto the rectangular field that would host their first match (and the first match of the day at that) against the Balu, a once great team that had seen many of its best members retire recently.

Serek greeted his team warmly and they embraced one another in a circular huddle before complimenting each of them on their strengths and delving into game strategy. He finished with a simplification. "We're the Echpek - if we behave like our namesakes, we'll win."

The game was opened with a brief intonation from Unone officials who spoke of the day as one "upon which to be proud to call oneself Radeti," followed by a theoretically impartial referee throwing the ball straight up into the air from the field's center.

Traditional Keron players held that the net-sticks they were permitted to use were a low priority, instead preferring to take possession of the cow-leather ball in play through tackles and grappling, forcing players to relinquish the ball through tearing it from their grip if necessary, immobilizing their opponents to give their teammates free reign of the ball.

That was not the way the Echpek had practiced. Serek surged forward from the center of the field before turning side-on to slide between two Balu players as his tallest team-mate Ruu caught and threw the ball with his stick in one smooth motion, sailing it into the upheld net of Serek, who then deftly passed it to their third man Kren on the right wing. The bewildered Balu had reacted in a typical fashion and had brought both Ruu and Serek to the ground mere moments after their plays, but it was too late. Kren had passed the ball through the Balu net, and thus the Echpek were a point up mere moments into the game.

The second play of the match saw the Balu preempting Ruu's second catch, sending him to the ground before he could make it and leaving a Balu in charge of the ball, running unopposed towards the Echpek net. Upon throwing the ball, however, Tayren of the Echpek intercepted with his net and promptly arced it through the air down the majority of the field, where it was put in its place by Kren.

The Balu learned quickly and thereafter were fast in their attempts to immobilise as many of the Echpek as possible, utilising the greater size of most of their team to simply cow the smaller dolphins into submission and run the ball down with whichever player wasn't holding an opponent down. However the dexterity and flexibility of the Echpek approach won them more confrontations than it lost them as they bobbed and weaved away from tackles, and the game eventually concluded 12-9 in their favour.

The Echpek's next opponents were the Linos (snakes). Not considered the most proficient team in Radet-Ashru, the Linos nevertheless showed that they had rapidly accommodated the Balu's improvised tactics into their own, leading with tackles and brawn, but the Echpek again achieved a victory scoring nine to the Linos' seven goals.

The Echpek's spirits were high after their two victories, which had very much surprised and enthralled the crowds which were by now bellowing for greater success from their dolphin underdogs, but were dampened somewhat after their next opponents were drawn; the Datu.

The match that followed was a brutal slog, the versatile Datu living up to their reputation through not only pinning down the Echpek with timely and efficient tackles but also intercepting the ball and contesting it with their nets. When the match finally ended with the datu more than a dozen points up, the Echpek were bruised and bloody.

Yet the crowd didn't care. The spectacle of their new style of play had been stunning to the onlookers, who even now chanted for the defeated dolphins and not the victorious cats. Serek shared hugs and words with his teammates who managed joyous smiles despite their swollen faces.

Nobody would forget the Echpek any time soon.

1. Literally 'excited fish', more accurately 'dolphins'.
2. My years are named after a girl called Yerda and I should remember that more often.
3. In the Iyasu league, at least. Most teams have hundreds/thousands of members, it's just only the best compete at the Iyasu. There's hundreds of casual and semi-serious Keron games throughout the year.

P.S. If the sport sounds dumb, that's partially because it is in its relative infancy.