“Good to see you are all on time today” Luciana and I stand outside the building and wait patiently while all the players appear as if from thin air. Luciana address the crowd of players standing there in their training outfits, blue and black, trying to get their attention.

“I would like to present our new assistant manager, Alicia. With another coach we will be able to give each and every player more attention to help you develop.”

That really got them going, the 19 players stare at me. Some look curious others happy but more than a few sceptical faces are blended into the crowd.

“Alicia just got her coaching badge so she is qualified and knowledgeable enough for this so I expect you to treat her with respect.” Luciana pulls out her aura of authority at will it seems because much like before her posture screams, I’m the boss.

“She looks young.” A grumpy woman voiced. I’d wager she comes from some Spanish speaking country because she has the same slight accent as Luciana. She looks to be the same age as the manager, maybe 30 years or so.

“She is young and inexperienced hence why she is an assistant manager with us.” Luciana speak casually. I might be young but I know what I’m doing, time to step up.

I smile at the grumpy woman. “I am indeed young but I am capable of contributing to the team. Besides, good luck finding someone more capable for 500 EUR a month.”

A couple players snicker at that.

“Alicia, this is Isabella Morales, our captain.” Luciana nods her head in the direction of the grumpy woman. I guess this means I have to win her over to get this team on my side. I wonder how I’m suppose to go about doing that? Isabella is a tall woman, maybe 1,80 or so and with a serious expression. Her hair is tied in a ponytail, as most players do. She stands slightly ahead of the crows, clearly assuming the role of leader.

I should just let my brilliant competence speak for itself, miss grumpy will become pudding in my hand in due time.

“Nice to meet you miss grumpy.” I extend my hand to her. Well, crap.

“I mean, nice to meet you Isabella.” I compensate by offering my best smile. It is not successful. She glares at my hand and make no attempt to grab it.

The players that snickered before now out and out laugh. I’m pretty sure it is at my expense. Need to remember their faces because those ladies have a lot of running to do in their immediate future.

“Just shake her hand miss grumpy so we can get on with it already.” The manager declares.

Did she just growl? What the fuck, who growls? She grabs my hand, her desire to impress me must be overpowering because she demonstrates her hand strength. The results are in, she is in fact pretty strong.

“Alicia here will lead the training on corners at the end of our session. I am sick and tired of conceding goals from corners.” Luciana claps her hand together. “Ok, lets move to the pitch and get started.”

We walk away from the building until we reach the training field. Close by is a metal cage filled with balls and benches placed around the field. As previously discussed, I’m to remain in the background for this part of the training. Luciana leads a passing exercise. Five players form a ring around another player and they attempt to keep the ball among themselves while the lone player run around trying to intercept the ball. A standard exercise. Luciana advocates a possession-oriented football so this kind of training is par for the course.

Miss grumpy is pretty good, clearly one of the better players. She got good technique and her size and strength makes her formidable. According to Lucianas notes she plays attacking midfielder, she distributes the balls on the offense. She rarely scores herself but tend to rack up the assists.

A while later during a 9 v 9 intra-squad game one of the centre backs fall from being pushed in the back. Ouch, pain is not as potent in VR as in real life but a slightly painful discomfort is still very much present. From her body language I would guess she is feeling the full brunt of that discomfort right now.

I walk in a brisk pace towards where she is. “I’ll take care of her; you can continue the game.” Luciana nods and pats the injured woman. “What’s your name?” I ask the moaning woman. “Sasha Alexeev.” I help her to her feet and try my best the have her lean on me. The only difficulty is her height, she must be 1,9 m tall. My own 1,72 m make it feels like Sasha is looming over me. Her weight must be significant because she is heavy, like, maybe I will fall down heavy. I stumble towards the building with Sasha holding me tightly. She must be one hell of a centre back; I sure wouldn’t want to duke it out with her.

“We’re almost there, just a bit more.” I try to comfort the struggling giant. “Damn, my back is killing me, it feels like electricity or something.” Hm, well that sounds kind of bad. She lays down on a bed designed for this purpose, face down. “I have done this before so you are in safe hand.” I tell her.

I pull her shirt up to expose her lower back and move my hand across the spine. “Ohh, careful.” She cringes. Good thing Luciana showed me around otherwise this would be a pain. I pick out the freeze cream from a cabinet. It is used for most injuries these days, as close to a miracle cream as one can get.

“This will be cold.” I warn her. “I know, it’s not my first time.” Sashas voice was despondent. She might be injury prone.

“So Sasha, how did this happen?” She sighs deeply before her reply come. “I jumped up to head away a ball and got a push from behind. My fall wasn’t bad, I fell on my stomach but I think I got a knee on my lower iiiiyy” Yep, this cream is called freeze for a reason. Even though I wear latex gloves the cold still stings so Sasha certainly feel it.

“You are going to be fine Sasha but you will have to ease off training for a while and absolutely no games.” She didn’t like that one bit.

“Lay still.” I press my hand down a bit harder on her lower back to keep her still.

“I can’t miss the next game. I already missed the last 2 games due to an injury; I can’t stand doing more rehab.” Desperation colour her comment. I can’t help but feel sorry for her when she pouts like that.

“I’ll do what I can to get you back into play as soon as possible. I can help you with your rehab so you won’t have to be alone with it.” That did the thing, she appears to be mollified.

“Thanks.” She whispers. “Don’t you need to get back to training?” She inquires. Based on her reluctance I surmise she don’t want me to leave. I fetch a stool and take a seat next to her bed. I continue to gently massage her back.

Sasha grunts in what I assume is pleasure. The cream is of the stronger sort so with the dose I administer she shouldn’t feel much discomfort. We practiced this in school on some occasions. Bigger teams will have more staff some of whom take care of tasks like this but in a small team like this we don’t have that luxury. All hands on deck as it were.

After a while the training for the day was over and the players departed. Isabella gave me an appraising look, I think. She didn’t seem angry so that’s a win.

“Thanks for your help coach.” Sasha said with a faint smile.

“No problem, that’s my job. Tomorrow we start on your rehab, it all depends on how you feel.”

She nods and vanish. Leaving her bruised VR avatar for what I hope is a healthy and unbruised real body.

“You did good Alicia” Luciana walks up to me and put her hand on my shoulder.

“Thanks.”

“You didn’t get to work with corners today but you will have a chance tomorrow too. We have our next game on Sunday so tomorrow is the only practice before then.

“Can’t we practice on Saturday too?” We should use all the time we have. Even if we only discuss tactics and other non-physical activities.

“We don’t pay enough do claim all their time. We don’t practice during weekends but we do play games.”

“I see, then I will have to do the most of tomorrow.”

“You know you screwed up with the captain.” She said it like a statement. Of course, I know I screwed up. I hate it when my mouth is faster than my brain. I’m not sure how to win her over, my age seems to be a problem for her.

“Yep, I am aware. Any suggestion for me?”

“Hehe, no darling I don’t. I’m eager to se how you plan to get yourself out of this hole you dug.” Her smile reminds me of a predator, a wolf maybe. A short wolf. I stand by my earlier assessment of my boss, bitch.