You're too good (USWNT)

3

So did Tobin, of course. But I just barely beat her.

As I slowed myself down, my legs began to burn. I don't think I've ever run that fast in my life. I wasn't out of breath, but my legs ached. I looked over to Tobin, who looked impressed as she started walking over to me.

She held out her hand. "Good race."

I shook it. "Good race."

———

After the other races, with both of the other USWNT players winning by at least a second, we went with the rest of our team to finish the practice. The races had only taken us about 15 minutes, so that meant we still had an hour and 45.

"Cora! How'd you beat Tobin?!" Bianca shouted, knowing damn well everyone could hear her.

"Honestly, I don't know, it just happened." I laughed.

"Cory, you don't just magically beat THE Tobin Heath!"

"I don't know how! Just leave me alone!" I shouted , still laughing.

The USWNT players were walking behind us, but hurried when our coach called us over. Tobin placed her hand on my other shoulder, thankfully not where a bruise was, saying, "Girls, your coach wants us. Come on." Bianca looked at me and I shrugged. We hurried along, finally getting to our coach.

Tobin

How'd she beat me? I understand she's hella fast, but was she really faster than me? Honestly, I didn't expect her to win. I don't think anybody did.

Her coach is now explaining a drill to us. They already did the warm ups while we were racing, so we jumped right into a 1v1 drill.

———

Nothing really happened during the 1v1's, I beat a few people from the other team, I got beat once (yes, by Cora.), but hey, I wasn't the only one. I also beat Cora twice.

We did some other drills that were fun, thankfully their coach isn't too strict, I didn't want to be running laps the whole time.

Finally, for the last 45 minutes of training, we started a scrimmage. The teams were USWNT vs USWNT U16.

Cora was their striker, and because they're younger, we let them start. Cora passed the ball back to their 8, who then played their 10, while we put pressure on them. Cora had some really good skills and ball control, and so did their 6. I think her name was Bianca or something.

Anyways, Cora scored a really great goal from about 15 yards away, shooting it past all of our defense and Ash. I also scored, it wasn't as good of a goal, but still pretty nice.

The game was tied 1-1 as we were nearing the end of practice. Cora had the ball and was dribbling through our mid, trying to create a chance to their 11. Kelley saw this and tried to tackle her, but because Cora was running so fast, Kelley aimed wrong and slid right into her ankle, causing her to fall.

Cora

I yelled out in pain as Kelley's foot collided with my ankle. I knew it was an accident, but it still hurt like hell.

"Holy shit, I am so sorry!" Kelley repeated. I couldn't talk, it hurt too much. How long was I gonna be out for? More importantly, how would my parents react?

My teammates, Alex, Tobin, and Christen rushed over to me. Kelley was holding my head up in her arms as I held my ankle.

"Move out of the way." Coach demanded. Everyone but Kelley listened. She stayed in the same position looking like she wanted to cry.

"Kelley- it was an accident. It's fine. Things like this happen." I tried to sound convincing, even though my voice was breaking as I tried my hardest not to cry.

"What the hell happened!?" I heard my brother shout from a distance.

"I-" I began, but got cut off my Kelley.

"I did a horrible tackle and slid right into her ankle. I can pay for the hospital bills, I'm so sorr-"

As soon as I heard hospital, I immediately became scared. Yes, hospitals terrify me.

"No! No no no no, no hospital!" I shouted, worry filled my eyes.

Kelley looked at me concerned, but coach said, "Hey! Look at me."

I looked at him.

"Can you walk?" He asked, unsure if the pain I was in.

I tried to stand up, grabbing onto my brother for support. I put some pressure on it, immediately regretting it as it began hurting like hell.

"Nope, no way."

"I'll carry her to the med room." Kelley announced. The med room was way better than the hospital, so it's okay.

"Okay. Cora, are you good with that?" My coach asked.

"Yeah, that's okay." I replied.

Kelley picked me up, bridal style, as some of my teammates ran up to us.

"Cora! Are you okay? What happened? Is it broken? On a scale from 1-10, how much does it-" Bianca rambled, getting cut off by Tobin.

"Okay, let her be. I'm sure she doesn't know much either."

"Sorry, I'm just worried!"

"Girls!" Coach yelled. "Go finish the game. Bring in 2 subs, we won't be back for the rest of practice."

The older girls obeyed and went back to their game.

Coach, Kelley, Kieran and I finally reached the med room. Coach knocked on the door as Kelley still held me, Kieran not letting go of my hand.

Someone opened the door, who I'm assuming is the doctor.

"Hello Matthew, what can I do for you?" The man asked coach.

"I've got a hurt player, possibly a broken ankle." He pointed to me.

"Ah, come on in." He said calmly.

We entered the room where Kelley laid me on the bed, so the doctor could check up in my ankle.

He started doing some stretches to my ankle, which hurt like hell. I was in tears by the end of it.

"Yup, definitely a sprain. It could possibly be more, but there's no way to tell with our equipment. I'm gonna have to send you to the hospital."

My eyes widened when he said hospital. I hate that place. I have had so many bad memories from there, it's crazy. I looked over to Kieran, whose eyes were also wide. Kelley must've seen my fear because she said, "Maybe not a hospital. We can go to a physical therapist or just leave it as a sprain." Gosh, I love her already.

"Why would we do that? We need to know if it could be worse, otherwise we wouldn't treat it correctly." He was right, I couldn't play this off like I did with my other injuries. I had to actually take care of this, otherwise who knows how long I wouldn't play for?

"It's fine, we can go to a hospital." I said, my voice breaking in between. How were my parents gonna afford and react to this? This fucking sucks.