Keep one's eye on the ball…to remain alert to the events occurring around oneself.

Earth Kingdom Dictionary, 2nd Edition (excerpt)

Eye on the Ball

The bell goes off,

The match begins.

To fire, to dodge,

To more forward, to spin.

…

I dodge and I weave,

Then…meet your eyes?

But then I'm hit by a disc,

Caught by surprise.

…

You yell something at me,

The words don't reach my ears.

I'm feeling strange,

No anger, no fear.

…

Back to the game,

Water meets fire.

We gain a zone,

You lose your ire.

…

You let out a grin,

And I smile back.

But then our opponent,

Goes on the attack.

…

Fire and water,

Earth discs move through air.

What was jubilation,

Becomes despair.

…

Eyes on projectiles, eyes on the scene.

That's what I say in this waking dream.

I'm losing focus, our line's starting to break,

And when I'm left in my zone, I start to shake.

…

It doesn't last long, now we're all in zone 3.

You let out beratement to both Bolin and me.

I begin to retort, let lose my words,

As I start to think of the bees and the birds.

…

The image is lost as I enter the drink,

As round 1 is lost, as our hopes start to sink.

Birds and the bees gone, nothing else to do,

But get back in the ring, and begin round 2.

…

Fire Ferrets assemble, back on the ring floor,

You quickly point out what we're playing for.

Playing to win, your motivation well known,

But I begin to wonder, is it also my own?

A/N

Minor note in that was written before Spirit of Competition. Think my shipping preference might have changed due to that episode, but as I usually take pairings with a grain of salt, no biggie for me in the end.