On Sunday afternoons, Grigor, Felik, Mitko, Zoya, and the bakery owner Polina would gather in the room with other patrons above Matryoshka. In the midst of steam of coffee, they huddled in front of a huge flat-screen TV to watch Charlotte's videos of the previous games.

Once the coaches found out about Olive's baseball brain, she became the key part of 'the Tactical Team'. They would analyze the game, debating about the latest strategies used by professional leagues and plan next week's training schedule.

I tagged along with Olive, not because I wanted to discuss the tactics, but because Charlotte was also there in those Sunday sessions. But I didn't...