juggling (Andreas)

[Axelle Flint]

Axelle really loved playing soccer, but it was rather obvious that she was terrible at it. Yes, she could get a ball down the field, yes she could score goals and yes, she could REALLY kick a ball hard enough to bend the goal bar out of place...but that was about all she was good at. She liked passing and assisting with scores but when it came to out and out defense or offense for that matter, she tended to back off the slightest bit.

She didn't want to hurt anyone after all.

To that end her ball handling skills in tight spots were abysmal. She was rarely agressive when it came to defending her ball and as a result many players were able to work around her. It didn't help either that she usually tripped over her own feet trying to turn and catch up with them afterwards. Even though it was obvious that she was trying and that she out a lot of effort into what she did, she still needed extra training. To that end she had come out to the field one early evening in order to practice. She had asked her coach to meet her here to help out and was waiting for him to turn up. To occupy herself she was attempting to (in her case lightly) bounce the ball around her feet in a series of tricks she had seen one of her teammates do last week. She was so preoccupied with what she was doing that she didn’t see her coach approaching.

[Andreas Pruitt]

Andreas sighed as he walked out to the field carrying a bag of soccer balls, they were probably going to lose a few to some hard kicks if Axelle got frustrated or didn't watch her strength. When Axelle had asked him to help her with her skills at keeping the ball, he had felt slightly honored and had agreed quickly without thinking of any difficulties that might come to pass while they were training, but he was willing to work out any problems she might have.

As he walked towards Axelle while she was attempting to do tricks with a soccer ball he called out to her saying, "Flint you'd better be prepared for some training."

[Axelle Flint]

Axelle stopped what she was doing when she heard her coach approaching. "Yes sir!" She answered seriously as she stood somewhat at attention. "Um I already did my stretching and some laps....should I do anything else?" She asked. She thought stretching and running could be enough since this was more about tight control than stamina, but he was her coach.

She was really happy he had agreed to help her because she saw that as a serious commitment to her team and his job. He could have said no or that he was too busy to try and coach her one on one.

[Andreas Pruitt]

After Andreas finished walking towards the field he stood next to the sideline of the field and dropped the bag of balls onto the ground. As he looked at her for a moment he before kneeling down to open the bag he said, "No, you're fine." As he finished speaking he pulled a ball out of the bag and stood up turning to face Axelle bouncing the ball off the ground before he said, "Let's get started." He then dropped the ball and kicked it, sending it rolling towards Axelle's feet.

[Axelle Flint]

Axelle nodded and stopped the ball with her feet, the spikes of her cleats sinking easily into the turf of the training field. She nudged her own practice ball to the side of the field and began to move around the ball now at her feet. She backed up and took the ball with her, figuring that Coach wanted her to warm up, but no sooner had she started practicing her footwork than she found herself falling head over heels and landing into the grass in the vicinity of her face.

[Andreas Pruitt]

After he had sent the ball rolling Andreas had walked onto the field. He planned to show her some tricks he had learned at Kocher and had begun to walk towards Axelle when she tripped and fell to the ground. Worried Andreas had quickly jogged over to her and bent down, extended his hand out to her while asking, "Are you ok?" 

[Axelle Flint]

Other than a pretty apparent grass stain on her forehead and some dirt on her nose and left cheek, Axelle was unscathed. She pushed herself up and dusted off as was customary and grinned at her coach. "Yeah, I'm okay! Don't worry, if I get hurt you'll know it!"

Mosty because when it came to her being hurt (really, truly, actually hurt) she tended to let everyone know. She reached out and brought the ball back with her foot. Testing it to make sure it still had air and looked at Andreas expectantly. "Okay Coach, now what?"

[Andreas Pruitt]

Andreas, seeing that Axelle wasn't hurt shrugged his shoulders and unbent his back before he said, "Well that's good." After Axelle grabbed the ball and finished testing the it he said, "First I'll need you to pass the ball over to me, then I can show some things I've learned during my time over at Kocher."

[Axelle Flint]

"Okay," she replied as she backed up a bit to give them more space as she turned and passed the ball to her coach rather easily and waited to see what he wanted to show her. Her expression was focused on his feet, ears tuned to him to listen to what he wanted to teach her.

[Andreas Pruitt]

"Alright now pay attention." He told her as Andreas began to show her a old trick he had learned long ago.

-----------------(skip forward about 30 minutes later)


"Maybe we should take a break." Andreas said slightly exasperated. Axelle had tripped five times during his demonstration, and seemed to be starting to get frustrated, that and his leg was starting to trouble him. He had also sweat enough that he drenched his shirt enough it was stuck to his skin.

[Axelle Flint]

"Alright," Axelle said a bit harsher than she intended, panting under the heat of the summer sun and the fact that the last 30 minutes had seen her desperately try and recreate what she'd seen with only minor success. She didn't want to give up that easily though and was determined to master the footwork that Coach Pruitt had shown her. She went to her bag and grabbed her water bottle so she could take a drink before tossing it back into her back and going back to the ball they had just been working with. She stared at it at her feet and tapped it a little ways in front of her.

God it was hot today. Since the ball was a bit in front of her she stepped back and then took a run towards it, angling her body and anchoring it as her foot reared back and then swung forward, sending the ball careening into the net at the other end of the field. Well at least she could take a field shot right...she trotted to get the ball and back again, mercifully keeping on her feet this time as she returned the ball where it had landed when Coach had called for a break. She fidgeted waiting to get started again.

[Andreas Pruitt]

As Andreas kneeled down and stretched out his leg, while looking at her sternly when she showed her frustration in her response and said in a stern voice, "Hey, were out here to help you get better at the game called soccer, so don't angry just because it's difficult." Returning to a normal voice he then said, "Becoming good at something takes a lot of practice, it may be tough sometimes, but it's always worth it in the end." With his small speech done he stood back up and walked towards her. When she kicked the ball he followed its path, whistling as it struck the net on the otherside of field. "With strength like you may not need to become a great midfielder. Maybe you'd like to become a striker or a wingman instead?" He yelled out to her while she brought the ball back over to where they started.

[Axelle Flint]

Axelle looked at him curiously. A striker eh? They'd had some people graduate this last year, there was a definite possibility that she could take up on of the positions that had been vacated. "I think that would be okay," she answered, her tone more neutral now that she'd worked her frustration out a bit more and calmed down. "What do I have to do?"

[Andreas Pruitt]

Seeing her interest once he mentioned the striker position he smiled and answered, "Ah, I see you're interested in becoming a striker. Well you're in luck because, you only really need to be good at three things. First, you need to be able to run quickly once you get the ball, second you need to be able to control where the ball goes once you get close enough to the goal to score, and third you need to be able to cross the ball if you get trapped in a corner." As Andreas finished he walked over to her and waved for Axelle to pass the ball to him.

[Axelle Flint]

Axelle nodded in understanding as she listened to what her coach was telling her, eager to potentially change positions to something more suitable for her ability and range of motion....well except maybe skill level was still lacking. She passed the ball to Coach Pruitt and kept her eyes focused on his feet to see what he did next.