In her hands (ON HOLD UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE)

3

The next day was the start of practice or tryouts as they were called.

Natalie woke early and showered before dressing in her practice clothes and grabbing a light breakfast and calling an Uber. She arrived at the stadium where the "tryouts" were held 25 minutes early. She slipped out of her sandals and pulled on her socks as she was instructed to come in shin guards to the first day.

She stretched just trying to get her hamstrings as loose as they could be.She pulled her socks up before pushing them back down to tape her shin guards to her protruding claves. Once they were tight enough she pulled her socks up and went through her routine.

She placed her headphones over her ears and pressed play on her game day playlist filled with heavy rock and rap. A playlist that you would expect on a high schools boys playlist not a well mannered college graduate that graduated with a degree in psychology.

She bobbed her head to the blaring percussion as the screams filled her ears of the lead singer as she picked up a ball and started messing with it. Just flick ups and juggling trying to shake her nerves and silence her mind of doubts and the outside world.

In no time at all she was being tapped on the shoulder. She removed the headphones from over her ears and placed them on her neck still hearing the rather loud music as she turned to face the man. "The players are just getting here, you can start stretching if you would like."

"Okay." Natalie responded before removing the headphones and placing them in her bag after disconnecting her phone. She stepped onto the field and felt her mind slip away.

She had always found a solace on the pitch. When she found out her mother diagnosis she didn't seek out a friend or even a hook up she sought out the pitch. She lived on that pitch for the following months of the summer as it was the only place she could escape her thoughts.

Before she knew it players were gathered around in groups of 4 or 5 stretching and passing in a circle. Natalie remained by herself and stretched following the same routine she had done almost everyday without fail for the past 4 years at Texas Tech.

She stretched until the whistle blew. She followed the herd of players heading to the center circle. "We are going to do positional drills since you all have obviously either played for us before, or played professionally or in college. Keepers head to the far goal, defenders will go to the keepers box but stay outside the 18, middies stay here and forwards head to the near goal. We will put all of you at different positions today to try and narrow down our 50+ player pool down little by little until we have at least a rough outline of our 28 player roster for the season. If you are asked to leave we expect you to just say okay and leave, you are allowed to keep all the gear you have been given but please exit the training grounds and await the email with your flight details. This is nothing personal. And with that said go to where you were directed to."

Natalie followed the blonde keeper and stopped outside the box. By the end of this week 30+ players will be sent home. Natalie only hopped she wouldn't be in the thirty or so that did so.

She believed in her ability but making this team wasn't about if she was a good or bad player. She was selected number one in the draft for crying out loud . It was about how you could mesh with the players and what you brought to the table that played into the style of football that the team ran.

A coach walked over to them. "Im John Hanesly I'll be the defender coach this year. Right now we are just going to work on your displacement of the ball. So you'll start in the center of the field and you will run backwards all the way until you hit the sideline a ball will be passed in. You are expected to clear it, if you fail to abide by it you will be asked to leave. Got it?"