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mar twenty-fourth '23
"Let's all give a warm welcome to the newest addition to our sports training and therapy department, Valentina Keem." The average-height woman presented Valentina as if she were a new recruit, making her feel much more of a spectacle than a fly on the wall, as she wished she was.
The attention of the room shifts over to the 5'7 woman, all eyes on her, causing her to squirm a little. Not that she hasn't been in a position like this in her early career; she has many times, yet it carries a different weight when you are standing in front of your dream.
"Now this young woman here is very special to me; I've known her all her years and expect the best of care from her ladies." Janelle Francisco lectures towards the younger players of the Uconn women's basketball team. The many unique faces didn't fail to fade into one as the light of the room stood out to Tina. Yet she remained neutral; it would be embarrassing to let this girl get to her on her first day.
"Yes, ma'am," they all respond in unison.
"Perfect, so Tina here will be leading stretches today so y'all can get to know her and she can get to know your body, not from a file." The older woman walks off into the sports medicine area of the gym, leaving Tina to hold her own weight.
The moment Valentina was dreading had finally come—the time she would have to actually speak to this intense mass of girls all in her same age range.
"Uhh.. cool, well, my name is Valentina Keem; most call me Tina, as you heard from Freanny, but you can also call me V. We're going to start with the stretches, and as we go on, I'll tell you some stuff about myself, and then you can ask me questions." Despite the heavy weight of anxiety sitting on her chest, Tina spoke with the most confidence she could muster.
She moved the group of young women to the center of the court.
"Okay, I'm about to bring you back to elementary school, probably, but this is the way I've done stretching with my tiny toots my whole life, so I'm forcing you to just think about this one time. So if you all would get in a circle around Jonny, here for me." As the group moved to the center, creating a seated circle around the husky, Valentina remained standing.
Most of the girls found much amusement in this; seeing as she wasn't wrong, the last time they could remember this style of stretching was in fact elementary.
"Damn, you really are taking us back." The twist-headed freshman jokes causing a little giggle out of V.
"That's all I know; I can't help it. But anyway, let's start with hamstring stretches. I'll tell you when." Waiting for the queue of everyone in the position to do the stretch, she started to spiel about herself. When she noticed that everybody was in the groove of their stretch, she started to circle the group, observing the many intricacies of the players bodies. Soon after, she started to talk about herself.
