As I got stuck into the training session I instantly felt the difference. I mean of course it's going to be harder than my team in Wentworth. We we're currently in teams of 6, well 5 if we exclude the keepers because their not in a team they're just rotating around, in my team was Leah, Katie McCabe, Gio Queiroz, Stina Blackstinius and myself. We played quite an attacking formation, going for a 1-3-1 so I knew I'd be dropping back to help Leah quite a bit. On the other team was Rafa Souza, Lia Walti, Kim Little, Caitlin Foord and Viv Miedema. Looking at that team it was very good. I'd really have to prove myself in this mini match.
We started with kick off and Stina passed it back to Katie who dribbled forward before passing it off to me. I was near the touch line and had the Arsenal skipper Kim little in front of me. I faked passing the ball back to Leah and sprinted at a diagonal to the box, looking up Stina was in a good position to finish the ball and she did. 1-0 let's go I thought.
The game was quite a physical one which I wasn't surprised based of the competitivity of everyone here. Since the first goal the other team had gone more defensive and we were finding it difficult to break their defence and find gaps but after much waiting and passing the ball around, a opportunity opened up on the left wing for Gio to drive into. Kim's team couldn't deal with the pace of the other youngster in the team and were desperately trying to get the ball but Gio whipped in a cross which went of Stina's head and went through the box allowing me to control it on the other side of the box. I was free of any marker meaning I could shoot but it was a tricky angle to score from. I didn't have long to decide whether to shoot or not as Lia Walti was running towards me. The ball left my left boot and looked like it was going out before curling into the keepers top right corner. It was an absolute screamer. Everyone on the pitch just stopped and stared at me making me slightly uncomfortable. "How the hell have you done that?" Caitlin's Foords Aussie voice said. I chuckle it off and smile and smirked at her and replied "Practice makes perfect." All I could hope was that one of the coaches saw that banger off a goal.
Jonas announced that there was 5 minutes left of the 5 aside matches, 5 more minutes to prove that I deserved to be here. Kim's team had switched from defensive to attacking and pressured us a lot in attempt to get at least one goal. The ball was consistently going from one end to the other making me feel knackered but there was no way I was going to stop. I looked over at Gio and saw that she also looked tired from the constant running box to box.
We were on the defence now and Caitlin Foord was running towards our defence. I was sprinting from their box down to ours in attempt to not concede a goal. My legs were going to fast for my head, I felt like I was going to trip any minute now and go flying which would be very embarrassing. Foord was now within a few meters and as long as the defence could hold her off for 1 more second I will be there. I angled my run so that when I slid for the ball it would definitely not be a foul. The edge of my foot collected the ball sending toward the sideline but I wasn't letting it out as this would be the last play. Before the ball went out I hopped of the grass and passed the ball to Gio who had already anticipated what was going to happen she received the ball and chipped the keeper making it 3-0. Not long after this Jonas blew the whistle for the end of the matches. We gathered in a circle to listen to what Jonas had to say "Great session today everyone, the intensity was great and I saw some brilliant football so overall the coaching staff and I are happy. If we keep this up it will me a great next season." He dismissed the team and we started our walk to the change room.
On our way up to the change room Steph Catley said "Ella." "Yes?" I questioned "We're having team bonding tonight would you like to come?" "Yeah sure." I felt like they felt obligated to invite as I was here for the week but I didn't want to be rude and turn down the offer as they have been nothing but kind to me since I've arrived. "Great, I'm sure Leah will tell you everything. Right Leah?" "Yup." Leah shouted from the front of the group.
AN: the showers are cubicles
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
As we entered the change room I had a quick cold shower just like normal and dried myself off then realised I didn't take a top of of my suitcase. Silently swearing at myself I unlocked the door and carried my training backpack out to the main part of the change rooms. I tried not to attract any attention to myself as I my top half was dimly wearing a sports bra but that didn't last very long when Beth immediately whistled my way which made everyone's head swivel toward me. I carried on walking to my cubby when Beth said "look at those abs." If people weren't originally looking they definitely are now. I could feel my face going red and picked out the first top I could see and quickly put it on. When I sat down in my cubby I could see everyone raised eyebrows. "What?" I questioned them "You are ripped." Beth said again. I wasn't quite sure what to say so I just shrugged my shoulders and smiled. "How?" She followed up "your like 16" "Yeah so? Doesn't mean I don't work out." "How often do you work out?" Leah contributed to the conversation "Once a day usually" I said casually because to me it was normal "And what about football?" Leah asked again "Once a day" the likes a bit shocked but I wasn't sure why "And your still in school?" Beth said questionably "Yep" "How do you have that much time?" Leah said "when I was doing my GCSEs I was so stressed it's not even funny" I chuckled at this because it truely was stressful. "We'll I'm out of bed for 6am on a school day, have a workout in the morning, go to school from 8:30-3, football from 4-6, then if I'm working go to work but I usually bring my revision stuff because my boss doesn't mind as it's not extremely busy most of the time, or if im not working I just go home and revise." "What the fuck," Beth said "you work?" "Yeah I need money." I said trying to skip the topic which didn't work "What for?" Viv miedema asked "To buy stuff and go out." I lied to them, they didn't need to know what I do. "What time do you sleep?" Leah asked "When I'm working I usually and in bed at 12:30 earliest but when I'm not working I try for 11." "Ella," Leah looked at me disappointedly "you need more than that, especially with the exercise you do." "Nah I'm fine, all I've gotta do is my GCSEs and I'll be fine." Thank fully the conversation moved on from me then Leah said to me "time to go Ella." "Alright, bye everyone."
