The Berlin Academy was not like the academy in London.
In London, the grass was green, the balls were new, and the coaches smiled.
In Berlin, the pitch was astroturf (which scraped your knees if you looked at it wrong), the balls were slightly deflated, and the coaches shouted in German.
"Schneller!" Coach Muller screamed. "Faster! You run like snails with heavy backpacks!"
Leon Fischer (formerly Alex Finch, formerly Danein Blake) jogged around the perimeter. He was ten years old. Again.
His legs were short. His lungs were small. But his brain was a supercomputer.
He looked at Mark.
Mark was wearing a headband made of toilet paper. He was sprinting, but he was running sideways.
"I AM A CRAB!" Mark shouted. "A VERY FAST CRAB!"
"Mark," Leon panted. "Crabs don't play football."
"They do in my world!" Mark retorted. "It is called Crab-Ball! The goal is a sandcastle!"
Ricardo was juggling the ball. He was humming a samba tune.
