Love Runs Deeper Than Blood

USWNT CAMP- training

BEEP BEEP BEEP the alarm sounded in the Krieger-Harris room. It was 6:30 in the morning, and they had to get down to breakfast for 7 before 8 am training. Today was the day where Sammie was gonna tag along and train for a little bit, and she was feeling so many emotions. She was nervous, excited, happy, but especially nervous. She really wanted Hope to be impressed by her. To have the number one female goalkeeper to ever play the game tell her that she was good, it would make her life. She already had one of the best goalkeepers, Ashlyn Harris, adopt her and tell her she was good enough. 
"Hey princess, time to get up." Ashlyn whispered to Ali.
"I'm up. Go wake up Sammie."
"Hey Champ. Time to get up let's go."
"I'm up."
Once everyone was dressed and ready, they all grabbed their bags with their cleats, shin-guards, socks, and for Sam and Ash, their gloves, and headed to the elevator. They met up with Tobin and Alex in the elevator. 
"Hey Sammie! Are you excited for today?" Alex asked
"I'm more nervous than excited." Sammie responded.
"Aww, chill out Sammie. I've seen you play. You're awesome." Tobin encouraged. 
"So have I." Alex said. "You're gonna do amazing out there."
"Thanks." Sammie responded. Once they got down to breakfast, They sat at their usual tables and got their food. Once they finished eating, they loaded onto the bus. Sammie sat in between her parents, basically shaking because she was so nervous.
"Hey Sammie-girl?"
"Yeah, mommy?"
"You gotta calm down. You're gonna play great. Also, you don't have to worry about making every save, because A: You are nine years old, in the sense that you're a better athlete than most twenty year olds, and you re not expected to make every save. Hope, you mom, and Alyssa are not expected to make every save. and B: You are nine years old, in the sense that you re not going to start being looked at by any of the national teams until you are at least 12, so just enjoy it."
"I get it mommy."
"Good. We're here now, just go out and kick butt!"
"I will"
They all took the field, and Jill separated the groups by position, so Sammie went to watch the goalkeepers. Today they were working on covering breakaways, and judging when to come out, and when to not. Paul would dribble in, and sometimes make a bad touch to tip the keepers off as to when to come out. Sammie was sitting to the side absorbing all the information, until she heard her mom call her.
"Hey Champ! Come here!"
"Coming."
"You want a turn?"
"Yeah!"
Sammie positioned herself in the net, and Paul dribbled towards her. The first time, he took a touch far out in front of him, and Sammie pounced on it, using perfect form, she dove out and corralled the ball, even diving the right way by having her legs covering the goal. 
"Nice form, kid." Paul complimented. The next time he went at her, he kept the ball controlled, so Sammie held her line. He squared up, and hit the ball head high to Sammie's right. She dove and hit it away. Hope and Alyssa were very impressed, and both of them went right up to her.
"That was amazing!" Alyssa said.
"Yeah." Hope agreed. "Keep up the good work! You'll go far, kid."
"Hey, Sammie!" Paul called. "Come hop in again. I want to see some things." 
"Ok."
"I want to test your form, and Hope here will tell you if you need to change anything."
"Ok, fire away."
He started by shooting them lightly on the ground at her feet, progressively getting harder and harder. Then he moved to chipping them to her hands, and Hope stepped in. 
"Sammie, when you catch the ball, try and catch with a 'W'. Paul hit me one to my hands."
When Paul hit it, she caught it with the 'W', and showed Sammie. "It's so that you get the most use of the space of your hands and it helps to cradle it. Also after you make the catch, bring it to your chest so the other team can't knock it out of your hands."
"Got it." Paul hit another one, and she executed it perfectly. Once she mastered it, Paul went to diving saves on the ground and in the air. She did let a few in, but she remembered what Ali told her on the bus, and calmed down. Paul went and hit one at her shins, and finally found something that needed coaching. She just hit it away with her feet, and Hope and Ash picked up on it immediately. 
"Finally!" Hope said sarcastically. "There actually is something you need to work on!" She laughed. "When there is a ball hit at your shin, you want to corral it. To do so, you use the 'upside down W'. Flip your hands over, and let the ball hit them. Then you roll it up your wrists, as you start to fall on your knees, eventually bring it into your stomach, and fall onto your elbows. I'll show you. I don't know how to do this in slow motion, so Paul, can you film it with your slow-mo camera on your phone."
"Sure. Ash shoot it at Hope."
Ash lined up and hit it at Hope, and she demonstrated how to do it. Paul got it on camera, and showed Sammie. Once she watched and re-watched it she was ready to try it. She executed it very well for her first time, and only continued to improve. Paul wanted to see her punts, so she got ready to go. She ran up, and hit the ball pretty well, but it only landed around the bottom of the circle, and she knew she could do better, so she went again. When she went to run up, she hit weak spot on the sub-par turf field and turned her ankle. She cried out in pain, and she hit the turf hard. Ash was by her side immediately, followed closely by Hope. Alex actually noticed before Ali, and took off running to Sammie, and JJ actually pointed it out to Ali, who took off towards her daughter. 
"Sammie, what happened?" Ashlyn asked kneeling by her daughter.
"I hit a weak spot and my ankle gave out."
Alex came by her side and held her hand, 
"Hey Sammie-girl. What happened?"
"My ankle."
"Can you walk?" Ashlyn asked
"I'll try." She said as she tried to get up and walk. She wanted so badly to be brave, but it hurt too bad, and she collapsed into Alex's arms, just as Ali got to her side. 
"Ash, what happened?" Ali asked as Sammie cried into Alex. 
"Well, this field sucks first of all. Second of all, she hit a weak spot in the turf, and rolled her ankle. She can't walk on it."
"Alex! It hurts!" She cried
"I know it does, Sammie." Alex said picking her up. "Ali, where do you want me to bring her?"
"Bring her to the locker room, the trainers can look at her there."
"Ok," Alex said as she carried a hurt Sammie to the locker room. 
"It hurts!" Sammie cried out.
"I know sweetheart. I know. We are gonna bring you to get it looked at." Alex consoled, followed close behind by Ash and Ali. 
Once they got into the locker room, they set Sammie down on the table, And Alex went to get the trainer while Ali and As sat with their daughter.
"Hey Champ. It's gonna be ok. I promise." Ash said.
"I know you'll be ok." Ali said.
The trainer came in and took off Sammie's sock, and they were greeted by a colorful sight right underneath her ankle bone. They all grimaced at the sight.

AN: UPDATE COMING TOMORROW!! I had to get a dig in about the bad field conditions in in one of my stories!! Haha!! Thanks for reading!! Also, if you want you can check out my Presston fic, PRESSTON - Full Circle... (The first three chapters are in my USWNT Oneshots book...) Votes and feedback are appreciated... I tried to add a little drama to this chapter, like you guys asked, so what did you think of it. Any other type you had in mind let me know. Also, I am absolutely in love with the relationship between Alex and Sammie. Let me know what you think, do you want to keep seeing it, or do you want me to tone it down a little. I'll tone it down if that's what you guys want, because I want to write what you want to read. If I ever needed feedback on something, this is it. Thanks in advance!!