I sat at my window and looked out over the city. I looked in vain for the tops of Cologne Cathedral. I still hadn't got used to my new surroundings, although we had been living here in Hamburg for almost 4 weeks. I missed Cologne. That's where I grew up, that's where I had my friends. But I had to give up all of that for my parents. My mother had speculated about a job here for a long time, but held back because of me. But when my father also got a job offer from Hamburg, they both decided to look for happiness here and accepted the positions. I remembered my father's words all too well. “Don't forget, it's about our family and not about you.” Of course this was about me too! Who sacrificed everything without wanting to? I! But was nothing new. He had always been selfish and one couldn't speak of a 'family' with us either. It was always according to his will. I had to come up with the best arguments to convince him that my friends were really the 'right company' for me. As if I couldn't judge for myself. But our move had one good thing. I didn't have to play volleyball anymore. My father was the coach of the city volleyball team, which had been regional champion four times in a row and he wanted me to be a top player too. Unfortunately, I couldn't get along with the team at all, so we lost all the games. However, my father saw this as a reason to trim me further. Without success. Now I was here and I definitely wouldn't sign up for any volleyball team anymore. Never again. Volleyball was ticked off for me. But I was particularly fond of another sport. I caught sight of a couple of boys in the courtyard who were playing soccer against each other. Soccer. My hands clenched. A few days ago my father got wind of my new favorite sport and, as I would not have expected otherwise, was not at all taken with it. "Football is not appropriate for girls! Better leave that to the boys and find something decent!" He was really upset and put me under house arrest until the end of the week. But who should check whether I kept to it. Both worked full time and we didn't have any employees either. I got up slowly and opened my closet. My friends had always envied my "whole" family. On the outside, it really looked that way. We lived together, unlike many others, and I also got a fair amount of pocket money. I got. Now that was no longer the case either. I quickly put on my sweatpants and my old volleyball jersey with the number 7 on it before I put my keys and the little money I had saved in my pocket. Was that enough to buy me a ball? I hoped that was the case and left the apartment.

In the yard in front of our house I saw the boys play again. One of them smiled at me. "Here, pass!" and the ball came flying towards me.My reaction was too slow and the ball missed me. "Oh, I'm sorry. Wait a minute." I quickly ran after the ball and played it back to the boy. He couldn't have been more than 8 or 9 years old and was still grinning and looking up at me. "Duu, will you play a round? We still need a goalkeeper!" With these words he pointed to a wall on which the outlines of a goal had been drawn with chalk. "Okay, but only one round, okay?" The little boy cheered and hopped around. I interpreted that as yes and stood in the gate. One lap had to be enough, after all, I still had enough other things to do today. I leaned against the wall and watched the little ones play. They played well. Definitely better than me, which wasn't too surprising. After all, thanks to my parents, I never got to play football and when I did, only did school sports. But that was another number. I was so lost in my thoughts that I said "CAUTION!" hardly heard and only at the last moment reflexively made a dive to fend off the ball. A little taken by surprise, I lay on the floor and held the ball while the little boy started applauding. "Super parade!" he cheered and the others in his team joined in. I owed the fact that I still got this ball to my volleyball days. Was it possible that this hated time was useful to me again after all? "So it wasn't that great either!" I said and got up. I threw in the ball and the game went on. A few more times they came threateningly close to the goal, but I was able to hold all the balls. Their shooting power was just not as pronounced as that of older players. I was slowly starting to enjoy being in goal and was really depressed when the game was over. We won 7-0, but it was just so much fun that we didn't really count the goals. Now I probably had to move on to put my remaining plans into practice. At the exit from the courtyard I stopped for a moment and turned around. "Hey," I called and the boys looked up from their conversations. "Can I play again next time?" "Of course you can!" came the polyphonic answer. "Well, I'll see you here then" I waved to them again and wanted to go on when one of the troops held me by the jersey and looked at me questioningly "How old are you?" "14" I answered and left.

A short time later I was at a crossroads and didn't know what to do next. Left? Right? Or is it straight ahead? I should have printed out a city map beforehand. You could tell that I hadn't lived here that long. I had absolutely no plan from the city. Shaking my head, I ran into the next café, called Relax, to ask for directions. “Excuse me. Where can I find the nearest sports shop?” The woman behind the counter looked up from her work. “Why do you want to know that, young lady?” Young lady ... I had to smile “I want to buy a ball, but unfortunately we only moved here recently, so I don't have sufficient knowledge of this city yet.Can you help me? " "Of course! Wait a moment! "And she was gone, only to reappear shortly afterwards with a piece of paper in her hand.
"Here, Miss. Directions to the best sports and soccer store in town." She winked at me. "You will still come a long way, believe me. I can see that from you!" I stood there puzzled for 5 minutes before I could pull myself together and say thank you. The woman waved it off. "That goes without saying! Good luck." And when she turned around to go back to her work I saw that she was wearing an Hsv jersey.
At least there were nice people here. That made the move a lot easier.

Thanks to the directions I had written myself, a short time later I was standing in front of an inconspicuous shop on a side street. But the woman hadn't promised too much, because when I went in, I saw everything a footballer's heart desires. But since I only wanted to buy one ball, I left it at that and went to the shelf where all kinds of balls were lined up. Ultimately, I decided on a classic black and white ball and proudly walked out of the store. My money was just enough and now I was hoping that my father would at least let me have the ball. When I looked again at the slip of paper the woman had given me, I noticed a few more lines on the back. "If you are looking for a place to train, just follow the street. If you ask the trainer there and show him this note, he will surely let you train there." Hm, it didn't sound bad at all. Then I had at least one more reason not to go home. I followed the road and actually I saw a training facility at the end. I quickened my pace and when I got there I saw a man standing off the soccer field. "Hello, excuse me, are you a coach?" Are you a trainer ... sounded strange, but I couldn't think of anything better at that moment. The man turned around. "Yes I am. What is it about?" I showed him the note. "A woman from the café told me I could train here ... is that right?" He looked at the piece of paper and sighed. "Typical Joselyn. Yes, you can .... But only because you asked ..." and barely noticeably he added ".. and because Joselyn once again couldn't get the flap shut" I deliberately ignored the second. "Super!" I cheered and saw my chance. "But there is one more thing I would like to discuss with you!" The coach gave me the note. "And what do you want to discuss?" "I'll get to that now," I said and began to tell him everything.