Wild Thing

-129-

The sound of music fills Kasey's ears as she continues to launch her tennis balls at the wall and get herself mentally and physically locked in for the match soon to get underway.

With it being the final game of the Women's World Cup, and citing safety concerns over the increased crowd, Kasey wasn't allowed to head to the stadium early and is now trying to get herself ready despite the distractions surrounding her.

Bouncing one of the balls, she looks at it and smiles, seeing the happy face that Kylie took it upon herself to add. Making her way back inside the changeroom, the players are in various stages of readiness as the team gets set to take on the Netherlands, who needed extra time to knock off the power house side from Sweden 1 - 0 in the other semi-final.

Tucking her magic tennis balls as some of the girls have jokingly called them in her bag, Kasey heads to the washroom area and uses the facilities before washing her hands and beginning the process of checking that her hair is good to go along with the small amount of makeup that she always wears in order to always look camera ready.

"Wild, time for warmups."

"Be right there."

Kasey cuts her routine short and grabs her gloves from the seat before sliding them on and following Ash and Alyssa out to the field where the crowd is already beginning to fill the seats in advance of the much-anticipated finale.

Rotating through the warmups, Kasey can't help but take a look around and get a feel for the crowd and environment before getting back to it. Her mind and actions replay as she sits on her knees, dive left, roll ball back, reset, dive right, roll ball back, reset ... before moving into a standing position and continuing to get loosened up before the match. Today is one of those days when she feels anxious and hates how long the warmups take as she just wants to get down to it and get the game underway.

Moving on to distribution and punting, she rolls out some balls, before throwing some out and then moving on to passing out and then looking towards the midway point of the pitch and sending a few balls for the staff to chase after. She will apologize later, but, right now, she needs to burn that extra energy off and also remind the players warming up in Orange that it's in her repertoire should it be needed today.

As the field players continue to jog around and pass, she grabs a ball and waits for the moment before going for the nutmeg on the Nutmeg Queen, herself, Tobin Heath. Tobin catches the movement out of the side of her eye and prevents it from happening, but the rest of the players can't help but laugh at the keepers attempt to play.

Kasey smiles and laughs before jogging towards the tunnel and exiting the playing surface. Once back inside the changeroom, she removes her gloves and swaps out her warmups for her game gear, which for today's match will see her sporting the all-black kit in contrast to her side's all white ones.

Making a quick trip back to the washroom, she checks her hair and then closes her eyes, breathing, focusing, and playing through some visualizations before heading back out and checking her kit from top to bottom. Checking her laces, she's unhappy with the knots and undoes them before reknotting them and adjusting her shin guards. Sitting down, she grabs some jelly beans, not the black ones because, they're gross and then washes them down with some water as final instructions are given to the players in the room.

Closing her eyes, she listens and focuses on her breathing until hearing her name called out.

Kasey looks up, around the room and a couple of stalls down locking eyes with her wife before then turning back towards the Coach and acknowledging.

"Wild?"

"Yes, Coach?"

"You ready?"

She nods and gives the glare that everyone in that room knows means business.