Practice with Balls

Tempest looked at Athena as she came over, eyed her outfit, and then gave an approving nod.

”Ah, that’s good. We don’t have to waste any time then.” She said, dropping the soccer ball gently to the grass between her feet. She ran with the ball slightly, heading a distance away from the goal. She glanced at Athena.

”First thing, stand at the goal and be a goalie. I will demonstrate the move and I want you to first learn to block it,” She instructed. ”Once you understand how to block it, the mechanics of the move will be easier to learn.”

Tempest rose her brows when Athena questioned her instruction, but she actually listened, which was good. Tempest took position, and watched as Athena got into position.

She didn’t wait for her to finish the beat behind ‘ready’ before she kicked off of the ground, running with the ball as she approached the goal.

The gentleness of her prior motions was gone. She zig-zagged, moved quickly, and came to a stop to the side of the goal. Her ponytail hadn’t even stopped swinging with the wind as she readied her kick, drawing her leg back and slamming the ball with as much force as her leg could muster. It whirled violently towards the open goal, just like it had in the last game Tempest had played in.

As predicted the shot went through. Tempest watched as the ball hit the net violently, thumping onto the grass with less force. She came to a halt with her ponytail gently blowing in the breeze. It was a beautiful day, and Tempest was thankful for it though she never missed practice, no matter what the weather conditions brought.

”If you blocked it first try, it would not be a good technique.” She said, noticing the accent begin to come out of Athena. It intrigued Tempest and brought a twitch of a smirk to her face. Tempest caught the soccer ball and began to bounce backwards, dropping the ball and gently tossing it between her feet as she bounced up and down. ”Pay attention to my legs and body. Though normally the ball is the only important thing, to learn how to do this you need to pay attention to my footwork.”

Tempest began to move again, tossing the ball between her feet and zig zagging again. The whole time her feet were constantly moving. She faked going in the same direction she had gone prior before she suddenly switched sides, took position on the right side of the goal, and shot the ball with a powerful kick, aiming for the net behind Athena. In the kick she twisted her ankle gently, not enough to harm it, but enough to give the ball that extra sharp speed it needed to get it to fly towards the net.

Tempest wasn’t surprised the ball had gone in the net again, it was a technique that worked on the opposing team, with a trained goalie. She knew Athena didn’t typically play goalie, s she didn’t expect for her to be a renowned expert at it. Tempest stood catching her breath with her hands on her hips as she observed Athena. She kept the ball when she got up and Tempest respect she probably needed a minute to recollect herself after the fall.

”It was a game against Metric. Their goalie is something fierce. It is hard to get something behind them. So I decided instead of doing a typical shot I would do something unique. I needed speed and power to get into the goal. Now they know I can do this, now they work to block it.” Tempest said. ”But it still works often because it is a very difficult move to block properly. This is why Metric rarely lets me get the ball long enough to score,” she half smirked at that. ”But it would be good if someone else on the team learned the technique, and used it while they were focused on me. This is why I am eager to teach you it. No one’s asked for private lessons to learn it yet, shockingly.”

”Yes, they’re our biggest rivals. Their team isn’t something to scoff at. I don’t believe in what the rest of the team does – insult them. I find it does little use to underestimate somebody.” She said. ”It should excite you. Games in general are what excite me. “

It was interesting to see how different her team ran. ”Sure I do one on ones at every meeting but no one has looked for special practice. I do practice on oy own often though and I suspect the team does as well.” She said. When the ball was kicked over to her, Tempest smiled. ”You’re welcome. Now try to block this next hit.”

She started running again with the ball, bouncing it from foot to foot, until she came to a spot in front of the goal with an opening. Like the first shot she lined it up and kicked before her ponytail had calmed down, sending the ball propelling at a high velocity towards the net behind Athena.