BALLER FROM BULGARIA // a UCONN story

3. training and Q

There was a lot of noice in the locker room, as I sat and did my hair. A braid, leading into a high pony.

I was wearing my prosthetic ear, with build in hearing aids, but my other hearing aid stayed at home. It was too exposed during basketball, bringing it at risk for breaking. When I played my hearing wasn't as good, but I got really good at reading the situation to understand what everyone was saying.

I put on my practise jersey, over the compression shirt I was already wearing. I always wore it when playing. I looked down at the number 18 and smiled. Boyan would be proud. I don't know if he would be happy if he knew I chose his passing date as my number, but in my defence, I didn't have a lot of important dates in my life.

"Yo, earth to Nataliya." I look next to me and see Aaliyah sitting on my wrong side, I could barely hear her.
"You here?" She asks laughing. I turn towards her, so I'm actually able to follow her as she talks.

"Coach asked me to take you to the court a bit earlier. You ready?" I nod and put away my stuff. I felt ready. I loved basketball, and couldn't wait to play at this level.

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"looking good there! Alright, two sprints for those missed free throws and we'll scrimmage for a bit!" Geno stood to the side while yelling out directions and god knows what else. After the sprints, in which I finished third, we took a sip of water while coach explained.

"Okay so I made two teams, you can check them out on the board," he said while pointing behind him, "team one is on this court, two is on the one over. You'll play against the boys ofcourse," he points again, to the group of practice players standing next to us. "go check out your teams and have a little talk. Paige and Nika are captaining."

After learning I was on Paige's team, we went over to the second court. I was to play as guard, which was my position back home. I had to guard a guy I learned was named Josh in a simple man to man defence. Should be fun.

"Mine!" I yell as I close out on Josh, successfully stopping him from shooting. She shot clock runs out.

"Nice! Take 5 and talk to your team guys!" Geno calls out from the side of the pitch.

We were playing really well, and we were up 26-20. I had scored two three pointers and a two, bringing my total at eight. 'alright girls,' Paige spoke up, 'we are looking good, lets keep playing aggressive and with discipline, we got this.'

Back on the court, we were playing like a true team when Geno calls out practice is almost over. The other court is done with playing, but we got a few more minutes. The other girls and guys are now watching our game. When switching because of a screen, I manage to steal the ball away from a tall guy whose name I have yet to learn. Sprinting down the court, he manages to keep up with me. He is right next to me as I prepare to take my two steps. Most girls would back down from going up with a guy twice my weight, but I never back down from a challenge.

As I jump to make my basket, he jumps into me, surprised I jumped towards the rim instead of straight on. When releasing the ball, I'm thrown against the sponge board. I turned in the air, making my back slam into the board, and falling down hard. Our assistant coach, who is serving as ref, blows his whistle and a lot of people run up to me.

The guy kneels down next to me, 'are you okay? I'm so sorry.' I smile at him as I put my hand out for him to help me up. 'don't sweat it, part of the game! I'm good.' Nika now appears next to me, carefully putting a hand on my back, and looking at me worried.

'Are you okay? Do you need medical, that fall was hard.' I smile at her, while more people are next to me now. 'I'm good!' I repeat, while coach calls training.