It wasn’t just Meridell that needed them, though. Hard times fell on numerous other lands and Yooyuball teams, including the one from Roo Island. After suffering an injury at practice, Clutch Billaban started worrying that he was getting “too old” for Yooyuball. Ethel Boortz, the elderly Ixi on Team Meridell famed for her toughness on the field, decided to show him that wasn’t the case, and invited him to live with her while he recovered and rehabilitated from his injury. Naturally, her team was completely behind her on this decision, and welcomed Clutch with open arms (or feet, in Yoris Obbles’ case).

According to team captain “Wizard” Windelle, one of the reasons that Team Meridell so often places in the single-digits is thanks to Ethel herself. “We don’t take our youth for granted, and Ethel makes sure of it. She leads us in our warm-ups and exercises, teaching us how to be kind to our bodies even as they start to change with age.”

“We ‘old fogies’ just can’t push ourselves like we used to,” Ethel added as she led her team (and Clutch) through some of the exercises Windelle mentioned, “but we can find ways to work with our bodies instead of against them. We have to be kind to ourselves if we want to live long, happy lives, after all!”

Where that kindness to oneself fails, Ethel Boortz is there to make up for it. But who takes care of the caretaker? Ethel herself has admitted that, despite finding workarounds for her age and “not pushing herself”, she’s slowing down. Furthermore, she has lived alone for many years now, a widow with no children or grandchildren of her own to keep her company. And while her teammates stop by often to check in on her, she has admitted the time spent with Clutch has been the happiest she’s been in years. Clutch reportedly feels the same, and thus has made the decision to split his time between Roo Island and Meridell, with the majority of his time spent living with Ethel in Meridell.