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// Learning the tactics 
// Story: Diamond Tiara the hoofball coach 
// by MichelleTwistaloo 
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The first step towards getting her team to win the big game (as they had begrudgingly accepted her as a “coach””, seeing as she was good at bossing them around, as proved when she was the editor of the newspaper), was to watch as many hours of hoofball as she could, in the short hours she had between finishing her homework (she had to be the best at school too!) and going to bed.

She tuned in to the sport’s channel. The Real Mareid  team was playing, and Diamond Tiara, from the few things she had known from hoofball before last night, she knew that Mareid was one of the best teams around. She looked at their tactics, as an official match for the Equestrian leagues, the team only had 11 players, but they were playing in a 4-5-1 formation, with the striker Coltiano Ronaldo playing as their finisher.

Diamond Tiara watched the entire game, their flowing game style and quick passes and dodging of opposing players, made the recess playing seem amateur by comparison, well it was amateur, but she looked at the game, forming plans.

It seemed their attack relied on speed, and their defense was based on tall and strong players...she had few tall players in her team...she had Twist, and she was thinking of putting her as a goalkeeper, after all, the goalkeeper was usually the tallest player on field. The quick passing from defenses to attack and dodging to pass to Coltiano Ronaldo so he could score was the key there, and Diamond Tiara took notice.

She had a few quick players. Rumble was one of them, and while it had been agreed that no one could use their wings, he could get himself in a real speed. Scootaloo was another, the little orange Pegasus was fast as they came, and while Pipsqueak was short, he was also surprisingly agile.

She had her  team formed,  the colts and fillies were in the same teams everyday, now she just needed to pick positions for each and every one of them, Normally they’d all launch themselves at the ball, but this wasn’t going to be like that. Diamond Tiara had tactics on her side and she was sure she was going to win!

Diamond Tiara was a very ambitious young filly, and she was ready to  kick the challenge into oblivion by using tactics. True she pushed her colleagues once in a while, but when it came to things she cared about, she really was ready to work her little head onto it.

After writing down their positions on sheets of paper, Diamond Tiara got back to thinking of a tactic to win the game. She wasn’t sure, but she thought she just might have gotten it. She watched another couple of games to be sure. But the Real Mareid tactic seemed to be the best, stand back when the opposing team attacked, and a quick counter-attack, while the other team struggled to come back to defense, and the score.

Diamond Tiara smiled gleefully, she was sure this was going to be the best game of Hoofball ever, she was as sure of it as she was sure that Diamond Tiaras ruled, very, and not just because they shared her name.

She was ready for this