Seeing Double

75

Astrid's POV

"Ahh." I say then fall back onto the familiar grass. "It's good to be home."

"DOG PILE." Kelley yells then I see her run towards me.

"You sure it's a good idea to Dog Pile your head coach?" Mal questions causing Kelley to stop.

"Never mind." Kelley says then she lays down next to me and wraps her arms around me. "Love me."

"You're a dork." I say.

Kelley and I lay on the grass for another minute then we stand up and head over to where the team is just starting their stretches.

"Is this where you played Astrid?" Mal questions

"Yep." I say. "We kicked so much ass here."

Ahead of the Germany game we are training at the AOK-Stadion in Wolfsburg.

"Did you like the Royals or Wolfsburg better?" Emily asks.

"Wolfsburg." I instantly say. "I enjoyed playing here so much more."

"Why?" My twin questions.

"After the world cup I just didn't enjoy playing or training as much as I did when I was here." I say. "But we can talk more about that later. Finish your warm up then we'll start."

Dawn leads the girls in their warm ups while the coaching staff and I set up for the training session.

"Alright." I say as the girls huddle around me after they've finished their warm ups. "We're gonna start off with some 1v1's so I need the attackers on my left and the defenders on the right and put on the green penny's...Midfielders stay where you are."

The defender's and attackers move to where I ask them to then I look over the Defenders.

"Alright Moe, Rose, and Lindsey join the attackers and Andi, Jules, and Sam join the defenders."

The midfielders move to where I tell them to then I roll a ball to Ashley.

"So both groups are gonna start on the right side of your mini goal and when I blow the whistle well you know what to do...everyone understand?" I say and everyone nods. "Good. On the whistle."

I blow my whistle then Ashley and Alana Cook battle for a while until Ashley eventually pokes the ball into the net. A couple other girls go and everything goes swimmingly until Mal comes up.

"STOP." I shout after Mal tries to dribble around Julie for the umpteenth time. "Reset."

Mal and Julie then move back to their positions.

"Alright Mal I need you to do something for me." I say as I stand next to the forward.

"Okay?" Mal says so I point at Julie.

"Attack her. Go at her. Make the defender either make a mistake or foul you. Okay?"

Mal nods.

"And when she gives you that opening...punish her."

Mal nods so I step back to my position with the coach's then I blow the whistle. Mal runs directly at Julie and they battle for a while then Mal randomly pokes the ball into the net.

"Better." I say. "Keep working on that Mal Pal."

Mal nods and gets back in line so we continue on with our practice.

Two hours later practice is over so the girls do their cool downs while I sit with them after I've cleaned up practice.

"Astrid has the weight room here always been like that?" Dawn asks and points to the old weight room.