"We pass, we shoot, we play, we shoot some more, we play some more."

Well my first German soccer practice is finished. The last 20 hours have been quite the adventure, leading up to the practice and then today as well. Practice started at 19:30 and Kevin came with me. As we were walking up I told him that everyone will probably think I brought my dad with me, and he goes more like your boyfriend. We agreed that we would stick with the fact that he is my agent. We arrived early and spoke to the coach beforehand for a bit, or Kevin did for that matter. I realized once I got there that they practice on turf, but not the kind of turf that you can wear cleats on, and that is all I had with. Jürgen (the coach) said it was fine to wear my cleats though this time and I could get some turf shoes this week. He then brought me to the locker room to meet the girls. I was great with a huge “WELCOME” from the only girl in the locker room that spoke English. I quietly put my stuff on, and we all headed out to practice. Good thing I was wearing blue, so I kind of blended in.

He introduced me and I met all three of the girls that knew English. They were my “go to” people. He explained what we were doing at practice, which my translation was, “We pass, we shoot, we play, we shoot some more, we play some more.” Very specific training schedule.  We started the warm up, which I thought was going to go on forever, it was a passing drill, so I just followed the person in front of me. After what seemed like 20 minutes of running in circles passing, I thought my lung was going to collapse, but I made it. We did another technical drill in which I hit a girl in the head with a ball, and then we moved to the larger field, where we just played 6 vs. 6. Once we finished playing for a bit, we did a shooting drill. I wisely chose my spot at the back of the line and on my first chance, I turned with the ball and shot. Sure enough crack, snapple, pop and I sprained my ankle. I tried to just stand up and act like nothing happened, but I came to the realization that I couldn’t keep going because it was throbbing. I attempted to walk it off, while a girl that spoke no English came over to me and I tried to explain to her that I have had ankle problems before. In the meantime the assistant ran to get ice and a blanket for me, and then an English speaking girl came and talked to me. I didn’t know whether to be mad about the pain or embarrassed that the American girl was already injured.

I sat out for a while and iced it, and the head coach came over and said it was no problem that I got hurt. While Kevin came and saved the day with translating to the coach. He asked if I wanted to go into the Clubhouse and get a drink since it was freezing outside. Sure why not? I mean they clearly don’t take water breaks over here, because my mouth was a desert. The coach said he would come see us inside in twenty minutes when training was over.

After sitting for a bit, I saw a girl walk by, so I decided to limp my way to the locker room to get my stuff and see if someone brought my jacket and water bottle in. I got there and decided I might as well shower, even though it would be really awkward. I think it was me and two girls that were dating. I awkwardly was the third wheel in the shower and went as fast as possible. I changed, grabbed my stuff and headed to the Clubhouse, where the head coach, assistant coach, Karin (the woman in charge of sponsors, that speaks English), and Kevin were all having drinks. Kevin informed me after that they are interested in me and they liked what they saw before I got hurt. Kevin had asked if they were interested in having a big girl (always makes ya feel good when they make me sound like a different species) on the team, and the coach said yes because teams in West Germany tend to have bigger girls. They were super concerned about my ankle and Karin was set on the fact that I needed to go to the team physio, so she said she would call me in the morning. Also she told me she will bring me to get turf shoes 40% off, which was sweet. The coaches wanted me to tell them what I thought of the club, the training, and the girls, and asked if I wanted to travel to Potsdam for the game on Easter Monday. They talked in German for a bit and I awkwardly looked like I was watching a tennis match with my head on a swivel trying to figure out what was being said.



Das Boot.



Today, Karin called me bright and early to see how my ankle felt. I told her it was sore so she called and made an appointment for 10:45. I said I could just take the train and that it would be fine, but she insisted that I take a taxi and she will reimburse me. I felt bad so I said the train would work. I guess once we hung up she decided to find me curbside service because she called back to say someone will be picking me up at my door and will call when they arrive. She only spoke three words of English though. At 10:50, nobody had come, so I called Karin and she says the Queen of Netherlands is visiting Berlin so the traffic is bad. Obviously, I should have known. Finally, the woman shows up after she has been driving for 2 hours to come get me. Not to mention we have an hour to the place, which is right by where she lives. I can’t even talk to her because neither knows the other language, but being me, I still attempt to throw out random German words that I know. I thought she was asking if I had my driver’s license, so I took out my Minnesota license and showed her, only to figure out she was telling me it took 120 minutes to come and get me. Embarrassing right? It didn’t work very well, so we agreed to just listen to the radio.

We arrived at the sport physio and it was an adventure trying to fill out German paperwork with no translator and a Minnesota driver’s license. Eventually I got in, and the doctor spoke English and looked at my ankle. He had me get x-rays, in which the woman told me I needed to take off my pants. Not sure how that affects my ankles, but I just followed orders. They ended up putting me in a walking boot and I have an MRI on Monday. Even though it all seems to be somewhat pointless since I have sprained my ankles numerous times and have had three surgeries. The doctor says I am kind of young to have these problems. I am like oh great. They also gave me a prescription to give myself shots in my stomach to prevent blood clots. Not sure if that is healthy. I will look into it first. So all in all, not only am I the monster walking around Berlin, I now am the proud owner of a club leg, thanks to my boot, that walks around like a duck. Nothing like drawing attention to myself. So we shall see what the doc says after my MRI, hopefully not bad news. At least they were interested in me and super nice. Karin has continued to call today to make sure I am okay.  That’s the latest.