caitlin c. 22

:2:

"alright we will start off with #1, miss molly davis, you are one of our guards." coach bluder anounces, as i see a girl with a determined looking smile that's wearing a headband.

coach goes down the roster, and i take a moment to stick names to faces. all of the ladies seem so nice, i just hope i am perceived the same way. she eventually gets to me, "and #21, y/n l/n, you are one of our few shooting guards. it'll be tough, but i know you got this." she ends with a smile. i feel everyone's eyes on me as she reads my name and position. i start to wave to the other girls like the previous girls did, and my eye catches another player. she has brown straight hair and seems to be a little taller than me.

"number 22 miss caitlin clark is point guard. better be on your game missy." bluder says with a knowing look. the girl that caught my attention greeted everyone. so her name is caitlin. nice.

she seems cool, i mean i'm sure we will be the ones having lots of assists together because of our positions. i cant wait to see how she is as a player on the court.

once again, she makes eye contact with me and offers another smile. i smile to her with a wave trying to look as friendly as possible.

coach bluder finishes reading off the roster and starts to discuss the agenda of todays practice. "alright so, here is how practices are going to work." she stuffs her clipboard under her arm so she can use her hands to talk. "we will warm up, condition, and do drills. after that, we split the team and play games. these games are the only way you can get comfortable and grow with the court. obviously, you all are excellent players given you are here on this team. i want you guys to find strategies to use in real games, and coach jensen and i will assist you all in that. other practices may be solely focused on conditioning or on games. it depends where the balance is."

she is so amazing. i want her as my second mom.

"alright, let's start with laps. let's go!"
we all start running counter clockwise around the perimeter of the court.

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after doing laps, court line runs, and a few other exercises that targeted our arms, core, and legs, we were on a small break.

i take a seat on the floor with my knees bent and water bottle by my side. i am sitting with kate, making small talk when monika comes over with caitlin.

"hey guys, whats gucci?!" monika says with sickly sweet enthusiasm with her arms wide.

the silence was loud. but we busted out in laughter a moment later. "monika where did that come from?" i ask her taking the tension and squashing it. something i wish i could do all the time.

she takes a seat in front of me and caitlin follows the action. "honestly, i'm just trying to take my mind off of the burn from that arm workout. oh my goodness"

"i have never related more." kate inputs as she rubs her arms.

there's a pause where no one talks and it's just us four taking a breather and getting ready for the practice game.

"so i'm horrible at names so just to be sure" caitlin points to each of us as she says our names, "monika, kate, and y/n?"

"you got it, and you're caitlin, correct?" kate asks. "yeah" she says with a smile. awww her smile is so pretty. it's one of those smiles that are contagious, kinda like monikas.

i feel like i should say something, but my mind just comes up blank. i start to pick at my fingers, and immediately we hear coach announcing the teams.

it turns out the four of us are on the same team except for kate. i cant help but wonder if i will work well with the other players, i mean i'm sure everyone else is thinking the same thing as me. we are all in the same boat.

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we are leading the game right now, but it's close. it's a game of score, not score, catch up, score, not score. it's a back and forth motion on the mini score board.

bluder is giving out suggestions for each team to try. she thinks the other team needs to work on being more offense.

as for us, she says to watch for open pathways to help with forwards. she then says, "y/n and caitlin, i think y'all should work on assisting eachother. i mean you guys pass the ball but think about strategy, tricking the other team out."

caitlin and i look at eachother and nod in understanding. the group takes a quick break to discuss the gameplay so far.

"so what do you think?" i hear beside me. "well i mean we could fake them out. act like your passing to center or forward then turn around and pass it to me." i suggest.

"that's what i was thinking, we just have to be aware of who is open. " she says. i can tell she's deep in thought. "exactly. it could work both ways, but we just gotta keep an eye on eachother." i say, nudging her with my elbow, trying to lighten up the stressful mood. she looks at me and smiles. "we got this." caitlin says. she gives a firm pat on my shoulder which i return as we return to the game.

it turns out our strategy worked out really well. of course we can only use it when the time is right but it got us ahead. we ended up winning against the other teammates, and after cooling down, everyone sat in a circle. as we stretched out our muscles, we discussed what we noticed, liked, disliked, changes that could be made, etc.

practice was then over for the day. we all packed up and went our own ways.

i cant wait for next practice.

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heheh
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