Chapter Four

The rain was bouncing off the ground when I arrived at Middlemore, the day after our crushing defeat to Sala College. Lacey had sent me a text this morning explaining that she couldn’t train today as her mum was in hospital and she had left her boots there. I was disappointed that she couldn’t train but was also concerned that things might not be okay at home. Surprisingly though, she was at the changing rooms, anticipating my arrival as I pulled over. 

“And what time do you call this?” she quizzed cheekily

“Not late” I told her, with a smirk on my face as I motioned towards my watch.

“Well it’s not good enough, you’ve got 5 minutes to set up your session.” She said.

“Not if I have it my way. It’s raining. I can’t get the quiff wet” I laughed.

“Are you taking the piss?” she asked as I headed towards the sports reception.

“No, tell the girls we are in the gym!”. I shouted with my back turned

It wasn’t long before she followed me into the sports reception. Mickaelya and Brittney followed, not far behind.

“Why aren’t we going outside?” Brittney asked

I was sat at a desk completing the register whilst having a conversation with the 3 of them.

“Because, I don’t want to get drenched if that’s okay with you?” I sarcastically responded.

“Yeah that’s sound that, init” said Mickaelya, who was thrilled to not be training in the outdoors given the rain outside.

Brittney’s phone rang whilst we was talking and she now began to pace the corridors shouting through her receivere. I’m not sure who she was speaking to, but it was as though the whole corridor was expected to hear.

“I wanna train in the rain”, Lacey said.

“Tough”

“Oh you’re a proper shit bag” she said, laughing.

“Shhh” I said. I didn’t want the college staff knowing that I let them swear. I didn’t feel I was being unprofessional by letting them swear, I just felt it was ridiculous to ban them from swearing given the age they was and the sport they was playing. When I played football, cursing was the norm and was part of the game. It wasn’t because I was aggressive, in most cases it was because I was frustrated with a mistake I had made or when I was having a joke with my team mates.

Lacey rolled her eyes as I told her to be quiet.

“Oi Lace, James is there.” Mickaelya said, nudging her gently.

It took Lacey a second or two to respond as I made my way round to the front desk.

“Oh he’s so fit.” Lacey said as she watched James enter the sports reception area.

What the hell was that? I thought, as a horrible feeling came into the pit of my stomach. I headed towards the changing rooms to explain to the rest of the team that we was to be in the gym for the first hour of today’s session.

“Oh, so we aren’t training in the rain?” Holly asked. I nodded back at her. “Hooray!”.

“Be ready to start in 5 minutes.” I said with a slight smile having found Holly’s response amusing. We literally had a team of footballers that really did not like getting wet.

Proceeding back over to the reception, I saw Lacey and Mickaelya in a huddle with the lads they had just described as “fit”. I tried not to look at them as I walked past into the gym.

I was sat in the gym for 5 minutes before the girls came through the double doors and entered.

“He just asked me for my number” I heard Lacey say to Mickaelya.

“He’s got a bird, Lace”, Mickaelya said back, laughing.

“Oh well...” Lace mumbled back, giggling. I wasn’t sure if she was joking.

“She’s a boxer you know”, Mickaelya giggled once more.

“Are you serious?” Lacey asked, she giggled slightly but it appeared to be somewhat nervous.

“Yeah, look…” Mickaelya got her phone out as though to show her something.

“Oh, do we have ourselves a homewrecker?” I quizzed as they continued to walk over to the small table I was sat on.

The gym was rather empty, just a couple of lads occupied the weights area. It was a gym that was open to the public as well, so we would often see people that didn’t attend the college performing workouts.

“No, he asked me for MY number. I didn’t ask him”, Lacey sarcastically smiled back as she glanced back at Mickaelya’s phone.

I didn’t even respond. I was relieved when the other girls walked in.

“What we doing then?” quizzed Sharon.

“Conduct your own workout as part of your recovery from yesterday’s game”. The truth was, I was a little unorganized having not had time to plan anything in the past 24 hours. Running a business and 4 additional jobs was beginning to take its toll and we was only just under 3 weeks into the role.

“Sound”, Sharon responded.

“Ah cba, man” moaned Mickaelya as she sat on a balancing ball and began to bounce on it repeatedly.

“That looks AWFUL”, Lacey laughed.

I sniggered, knowing full well what she was referring to. Mickaelya laughed, got up and threw the ball at Lacey.

“Shut up, you. I might get a bit of that anyway tonight, I’m seeing Matty” she said with a cocky grin on her face.

“Do I really need to know?” I asked, somewhat concerned that this conversation was taking place infront of me.

“Well, no – but you know anyway”, she said back.

Her arrogance drove me mad and I really did find it hard to believe that any boy would find such a manly person so attractive. Mickaelya was the definition of a chav and her attitude was the worst I had ever come across during all my years of coaching.

I shrugged at her, walking away from the 3 of them and began to take engage with the other girls.

“What’s the highest you can lift on that, Ell?” I asked our budding goalkeeper.

For a couple of minutes, we exchanged attempts at lifting higher weights on a leg machine. Hearing us laughing and in conversation, Brittney and Mickaelya came over to have a nosey at what was going on.

“Let me have a go”, Brittney said.

Ellie came off the machine, immediately – she was clearly intimidated by the two characters. Brittney hopped on straight away and managed to lift the same weight Ellie had. She proceeded to increase the weights until she could lift no more and then let Mickaelya have her turn.

“Leg day, init”, Mickaelya said, laughing at her own jokes. The smaller characters in the team, again echoed her amusement, though their giggles sounded somewhat nervous.

Mickaelya beat Brittney’s score and pulled her shorts up in an attempt to show the muscles in her legs. I rolled my eyes as I began to wonder how I’m going to endure her arrogance across a full academic year whilst trying to maintain professionalism. Impossible.

Bored of her cockiness again, I tried to wander away from the two girls when it suddenly dawned on me that Lacey was nowhere in close proximity. Scanning the gym, I saw her sat on the rowing machine on her phone, looking somewhat miserable.

“Are you okay?” I asked as I sat next to her.

She ignored me, completely, not looking at me once.

“Are you gonna tell me what’s wrong or are you going to just sit and ignore me?” I asked again.

Still nothing. She continued to scroll through her phone like I wasn’t even there.

“Wow, okay…” I got up and walked away, baffled by her ignorance. She seemed to be in such a good mood before yet it had changed so drastically and she had completely withdrawn herself from the rest of the group.

“5 more minutes, girls!” I called to the group.

Judging by their response, anyone would have thought I had called the session to a halt. They began to collect their things and gathered round the table I was sat at. The only person that still didn’t come over was Lacey.

“Oi, Alicia…there’s Roy” Mickaelya said, laughing so loud everyone in the room could hear.

The boy she was referring to was a chubby outfit with scruffy brown hair. His Middlemore college sports kit clung to his belly which was incredibly large.

“Roy got a boner over Alicia today” Mickaelya continued to explain, howling as she did so…

“Really?” I asked, laughing a little.

Alicia nodded nervously as she did a slight giggle under her breath.

“How on earth can that happen in class?” I asked as the whole group was in fits of giggles.

“He just sat next to her and out it popped”, Mickaelya interrupted as she burst out laughing, again. Her need to be centre of attention was infuriating.

I looked at Alicia for clarity as she nodded her head.

“Good grief, let’s get going then.” I began. “We don’t want a reoccurrence.”

This seemed to tickle Mickaelya even more. I grabbed my things heading towards the exit. Looking round, Lacey was still sat on the rowing machine ignoring everyone. Strangely, neither Mickaelya or Brittney had attempted to get her to come with the rest of the group.

“Lacey, we’ll be outside when you’ve finished sulking” I called.

“Oh ignore her, she’s just after attention”. Brittney said loudly. I could only presume she was trying to ensure Lacey heard her.

The girls went to the changing rooms to change into appropriate footwear as I set up the session on the kick pitch. The sports reception had instructed us not to use the grass pitch as they needed it fit for when the professional academy was playing there at the weekend.

“Great.” I thought. “We haven’t even hit winter properly yet, and we are already being pushed aside onto the hazard kick pitch and the gym.”

The girls were just beginning to warm up when Lacey strolled over to the pitch, still wearing the frown she had been wearing during the gym session.

“Nice to see you’re still looking moody”. I said with a cheeky grin. She sarcastically smiled back at me. For a moment it looked like a glimpse of it may have been a genuine smile. “Just join in the warm up.”

She didn’t answer me but warmed up at the slowest pace possible.

“Oh what’s the point even being here if you aren’t going to try?” I heard Brittney direct her shout at Lacey.

“Fuck off, Britt”, Lacey snarled back.

If there was ever a positive about the whole situation, whenever the sisters argued, Mickaelya would stay quiet.

“No. I won’t. Go home if you don’t want to be here. You’re pissing me off.” Brittney said as they ran side by side during the warm up.

I left them to it. It was hard when two of your best players argued and it made it even worse when they were sisters. As an only child, I never really understood sibling relationships and tried to avoid conflict when it arose between them.

“Right, in we come”, I called to the girls after I had finished setting up my session.

As always, the session was tedious. The difference in ability was far too great to manage and to keep them entertained, I found myself joining in the session once more. Lacey’s spirits seemed to lift as I did so.

“And…FULL TIME!” I shouted, calling an end to today’s session and the final one of the week. “No one leaves before all the balls are in the bag.”

“Catch”, Lacey called as she threw a ball towards my stomach. It hit me and fell to the floor making my grab at my belly for a second.

“Oh, you’re out of your mood now are you?” I asked, cheekily.

“She’s like this all the time”, interrupted Brittney. Between her and Mickaelya, it really was a battle as to who could be centre of attention more often.

“Borderline bi-polar by the sounds of it”, I said with a smile looking at Brittney and back at Lacey.

“No, it’s not that. People just piss me off”, Lacey said looking at Brittney with fire burning in her eyes.

Brittney didn’t respond this time. Instead proceeding towards the changing rooms, without bothering to help. Lacey eventually followed after all the gear was away.

Whilst the girls began to change their outfit to go home, I grabbed my straightners and hairdryer out of the car to get ready myself. It had been raining and I was seeing Lillie tonight. My plan was when the girls had left I would do my hair and make-up again in the changing rooms with no interruptions.

I lingered outside the door with the changing room key as they began to filter out.

“Why you waiting here?” Brittney asked, adjusting her glasses that were falling down her face as she spoke to me.

“And why on earth have you got them?” came a second question from Lacey as she came out behind her.

“I’m going somewhere after here” I said, smirking slightly.

“Oh yeah…we can see that” said Mickaelya, cockily.

It was almost as though they went everywhere as a trio. A conversation with one of them on their own was a complete rarity.

“Is anyone else inside?” I asked the 3 of them.

“No, they’ve all gone”, Lacey said.

“Okay”, I said, proceeding past them into the changing room.

“Is that why you’re wearing make up too then?” Lacey called after me. “For your date?”, she giggled.

“Shut up”, I laughed back.

As I approached the second door, ready to enter the main changing area, I heard the front glass door slam shut. Walking back the 3 of them were up against the door.

“Locked in now coach”, Mickaelya laughed. “Looks like you aren’t going to your date after all”. She said as she raised the key at me behind the glass, shaking it as though teasing me.

The three of them were in stitches and I was slightly concerned that some staff would see this and wonder what kind of control I had over the three of them. “None” was probably the most accurate answer and that was evident now.

“Don’t be idiots, just give me the keys”, I laughed nervously behind the door.

Mickaelya had begun to video me behind the door. I started to become paranoid as to where this video would be posted so I began to stop protesting and proceeded to ask for the key.

“No, give it her now. She’s getting pissed off”, Lacey turned to them both as Brittney continued to push on the door with Mickaelya who continued to film.

The two girls continued until Lacey eventually walked away.

“Oi Lace, where you going?” Mickaelya called.

“Erm…” Lacey began sarcastically. “Home”

Mickaelya immediately ran after her to walk with her, almost getting run over in the process as she dashed across the college car park. It left me in a better position to force my way out of the changing rooms as Brittney released the pressure she was enforcing on the door.

“Have a good night” she said, laughing as she ran away to catch the other two up.

I didn’t respond, though I was relieved that no member of staff had seen 3 students lock me in a changing room for 15 minutes whilst mocking and laughing at me in the process.

Part of me knew I had to be more professional, but I needed these girls to remain on the course for next year. I already knew I had some really good players coming in for the next academic year, so I knew the quality of sessions would increase and I knew the college would then keep me on board. I couldn’t afford to lose the job through lack of players as this would hinder my reputation and I didn’t want to lose an additional £500 a month.

Evidentally, my obsession with money and my coaching reputation was beginning to overcloud my professionalism.

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

I woke up feeling extremely motivated the next morning, ready and prepared for a 10 hour working day. Compared to my normal 16 hours, this was a relief.

When I got to Middlemore today, the girls seemed a little more relaxed, I obviously hadn’t done such a bad job yesterday after all.

“You alright, girls?” I said to three of them sat in the corner as I walked into sports reception.

The three girls were called: Katelyn, Emma and Sharon. All 3 seemed very shy, but each with their own individual character. Katelyn looked to be quite shy and was always on her phone. Sharon was an insecure chubby girl, who got along with anyone and everyone and Emma proved to be quite sensible and had appeared to possess a talent for goalkeeping after yesterdays session observations.

After grabbing the keys for the goals I proceeded over to the table to sit with the three of them.

“So how you all finding college?” I asked trying to create conversation.

“Yeah, it’s alright” chirped up Sharon. The other two nodded in agreement.

“What have you been doing this morning then?” As I spoke, three bodies past me on my left hand side through the glass window of the sports reception. They entered through the double doors and turned right to head in our direction and sat on the table next to us. It was Mickaelya with her two friends she had told me about yesterday.

“’Iya” Mickaelya said loudly as she sat down.

She had become five tones louder now that her friends were here. One of the two smiled nervously as she sat down. Her name was Lacey. The stumpier version of her stood next to her, Brittney; her slightly older sister. Lacey had a bright set of blue eyes with a figure to suit any item of clothing she wore. Brittney was quite the opposite, sporting contact lenses and a much chubbier outift. It would soon become apparent that their differences didn’t just lie within their physical traits.

“Hey…” I acknowledged her back. Unwilling to spend any more time in her company given how cocky she was being, I figured going to set my session up was a better alternative. “Right, I’ll see you on the kick pitch when you’re ready”.

They arrived on the pitch about 5 minutes after I had set up. Mickaelya started to leather the ball from end to end with Lacey. Evidently, they appeared closer with each other than they did the other girl. I became unsure as to whether they was a couple or not, more and more as the sessions went on. Micaelya was very protective over Lacey during the games and followed her round like a lost sheep. Again, I joined in the session to try and keep the intensity at a reasonable level as they tended to stop incredibly low and it was here that I spotted how protective she was.

“Can I be on Lacey’s team?” she asked as we approached the end of the practice drills, about to go into a match.

She wrapped her arm round her as Lacey backed her up. “Yeah, please let me be on Mia’s team”, Lacey said with a big cheeky grin on her face.

“Why do you keep calling her Mia?”, quizzed Holly. If ever a question needed to be asked, Holly was your girl.

Brittney ran over now, sensing an opportunity to be involved in a conversation. She was extremely noisy, quite like Mikaelya and never shut up. From a coach perspective, it was rather annoying.

“Because her full name is Mickaelya Inidigo Armstrong, so we call her Mia.” Brittney said, laughing as she spoke.

“Good grief, that’s a mouthful”. I said with a smirk. “Imagine saying that after a night out”. A couple of the girls sniggered.

“Oi, nah. Don’t take the piss”. Mickaelya responded as she had her hands in the front of her pants. If she didn’t have such a long ponytail and obvious female body parts, she would quite easily be mistaken for a boy.

“Right, let’s get into a game then”. I said as I continued to put all the equipment away. I bibbed them up into teams and the last 30 minutes or so consisted of a match. Mickaelya and Lacey’s team won as Brittney proved to be technichally quite good at football but due to how extremely lazy she was and her attitude, she would never try to win the ball back once she lost it.

We had a laugh during the session as we enjoyed taking the mickey out of one another. It dawned on me as the end of the session approached how left out the others must have began to feel. Even though it was day 2, it was clear that Mickaelya, Lacey and Brittney would soon be influencing the whole group based on how much better they was at football than them.

After I had saw the girls out the changing room and on their way home, I went inside the sports reception to get some paper work done. Mike walked in not long after and went to the front desk to have a conversation with the other members of staff. He spotted me in the corner of his eye.

“Hi Em, how’s it going?” He paused, before continuing. “You must be doing a good job by the way…”

I raised my head as though asking him to resume, unaware of what he was referring to.

“The girl I brought down yesterday, Nat; we’ve had a couple of problems with her. She’s not been settling into her classes, she’s just been walking out of her lessons”. He said moving his mouth to the side awkwardly. “But I spoke to her about the football programme just now and she’s said how much she’s enjoying it. That’s a credit to you.”

“That’s great news. Thanks.” I smiled. “When do the girls have their first game?”

“They was meant to have their first game next week, but it got cancelled as they got a bye in the 1^st round of the cup competition. So their first game will be a fortnight today.” He said.

“Right, okay. So do I just get their college emails and send them all one out before games?” I asked.

“You’re best getting all their numbers Em, and just texting them. It’s easier that way. Some of them don’t go on their college emails and won’t know if you’ve cancelled anything, last minute” Mike explained as he began to slowly walk towards the door to head back out.

“Okay, no worries.” I replied nervously. I didn’t like the idea of numerous 16-17 year olds having my own personal mobile number. My phone is always beeping as it is, without more work added to it.

“The main thing is Em, we’ve got to keep as many girls as we can on the programme ready for next year. Subsequently, next year, you’re much likely to have a stronger team. That’s why it’s so important we ensure girls like Nat enjoy the programme and STAY on it”. He paused before continuing again. “Well, I better get going; I’ve got a meeting at 4. I’ll catch up with you soon.” He raised his hand gesturing goodbye as he walked out the door.

By saying that, Mike had finalized what had to be my plan for the forthcoming year: I had to keep Mickaelya, Brittney & Lacey on the programme at all costs if I wanted to remain in employment with the college. Without the 3 girls, I doubt a female football programme would continue to exist and if it did, it certainly wouldn’t be one which people would strive to be involved in.

For the next two weeks, this remained my focus; keeping the 3 influencers happy. I went out of my way to get to know the girls and have a joke with them. We made a group chat for the whole team allowing communication to be easier between everyone and it meant I only had to send one message to the whole group rather than individual texts. The chat soon became a social for the girls and a form of them getting to know each other better, though Mickaelya, Brittney and Lacey were largely at the forefront of discussion.

On the Tuesday prior to our first competitive match, I had planned a session that would work on our team shape. Arriving to college, I proceeded toward the changing rooms where the 3 girls was stood outside chatting amongst themselves about tomorrow’s game.

“Oi, nah…Jordan’s just said she’s playing in tomorrows game against us.” I heard Mickaelya say to Brittney and Lacey.

“What’s going on now?” I asked cheekily.

“We’re gonna get battered tomorrow, that’s what” Mickaelya said back.

I’m an extremely competitive person and I absolutely hate losing. “Why?” I asked.

“They’ve got some sick players, I know half the team. They’ve all played for academies, init.” She waved her phone at me as she spoke. Walking past her I grabbed the footballs as I began to head towards the field.

“If they’re that good, why aren’t they in the first team?” I quizzed as I walked away. Tomorrows game was set to be against Sala College’s 2^nd team as they had too many players for just one tea.

“We are gonna get battered though”, Brittney muttered as the three of them followed me over to the field. Mickaelya was still glued to her phone.

“With an attitude like that, you’re probably right.” I said back, annoyed at the negative vibes surrounding the game.

“No, those players are actually really good.” Lacey was surprisingly backing her sister up, for once.

“RIGHT, I get it.” I responded angrily now, sick of hearing the same thing. “You will soon see that for college football, this team actually isn’t THAT bad. The three of you will carry us through most matches if you work together.”

“Jeez, no need to shout”. Brittney stepped back as she spoke. “What’s formation are you playing?”

“A 2-3-1.” I said back.

“Where am I playing?” She didn’t let me answer before she continued speaking… “Can I play centre midfield?”

“Yes”. I responded, bluntly.

She smiled, like she always would upon getting her own way. “Lace will play upfront and Mia will play at the back.” During conversation with the girls I would always refer to Mickaelya as Mia.

“You’re playing Mia at the back?!” Lacey sounded alarmed.

“You are joking?” Becca began to back her sister up.

“No. If we’re going to get battered as much as you say we are, she can at least attempt to keep the score down.” I sarcastically smirked at the duo before walking away to set up the rest of my session.

“It probably isn’t a bad plan to play Mia at the back you know.” I heard Lacey say to Brittney as I was walking away. I liked Lacey, we had a great banter. I didn’t know if it was in my head or not, but sometimes it was borderline flirting…

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The Wednesday afternoon of our first competitive fixture soon came round. My morning had been torrid having lost a client due to bad customer service from my business. I was struggling handling the work load at the minute.

Arriving at the college, the girls were there to greet me as I arrived. They were all kitted out in their black & yellow match kit. Needless to say, it was hideous.

“I’m glad you find it funny” Lacey shouted to me, trying not to smirk as I approached. Meanwhile, I tried not to stare at her legs which seemed to have caught more sun.

I laughed at all 11 girls as I approached. The striped black & yellow socks really did no favours for the girls. The kit was also fitted and therefore tight for the chubbier girls, Brittney and Sharon; it really did cling to all the wrong places.

“Can I wear my own keeper top?” Ellie, our goalkeeper asked. “Mine is just far too small and too tight.”

“Yeah, go for it Ell.” I said, ignoring Lacey for a second or two. “You all look stunning in your kits, I must say”, I giggled.

“HA HA HA”, Lacey sarcastically said back.

“You’re a wanker”, Michaelya said.

She often swore. Catching Michaelya in a sentence where she wasn’t swearing was very rare.

“Right, I’m going to sort out our travel.” I said.

The college provided transport too and from games if we was set to play away. Our first fixture was away at Sala today which meant a 45 minute mini bus journey. I was actually very pleased at the idea as it allowed the girls more time to bond again. Our driver was set to be Paolo as I still hadn’t passed my mini bus driving test. Mike was really beginning to get on my back about it, but finding the hours in a day to revise was so hard. I was stressed enough as it was having no social life without having additional things to worry about.

“2 minutes & I’ll be with you, Em.” He said with a smile after I asked how long he would be. “Here’s the keys if you want to get the girls on the bus.”

I took the keys and proceeded back towards the changing rooms to get the girls on the mini-bus.

“I’ve brought my speaker”, Brittney said with a smirk from ear to ear.

“We aren’t listening to your rubbish” I declared, laughing as I spoke

“I agree” said Mickaelya and Lacey in unison.

Our opinions fell on deaf ears as Brittney already began to play her music. I opted to sit in the front next to Paulo to allow the girls to get to know each other without feeling like I was listening in to their conversations.

“Have we got everyone, Em?” Paolo asked as he put the keys in the ignition.

“Yeah, we’re good to go.” I had to shout over Brittney’s music, despite being sat next to him.

“Can you turn that shit off?” Mickaelya said.

“Yeah, Britt”, Lacey spent a rare moment not arguing with me over the music I was playing.

“It’s not shit. It’s good”. She responded to the pair quite angrily.

I spent the rest of the journey chatting away to Paolo at the front. The girls seemed to be in full flow of conversation – though I did hear them often being negative about who we was playing today.

When we finally arrived, the opposition were awaiting us on the pitch. We were extremely late which seemed to aggravate our arrogant opponents. Eventually we kicked off, in the formation I had planned and was doing reasonably well, before conceding 3 consecutive goals in 3 minutes on the 20^th minute mark. Sala College had 2 teams and swapped all 7 players at half time. When we brought a goal back, the over-confident opposition manager decided to put his better players on again who not long after, managed to convert another 2 opportunities to make the final score 5-1 in their favour. The girls came off looking extremely deflated.

“Look, if those players were eligible to play in this game, then there’s something seriously wrong”. I began. “They practically had an A & a B team playing you today and you was beating the B team, who you were scheduled to ACTUALLY play”. I wasn’t wrong with what I was saying and the girls agreed. The difference in ability today, during a game, was evident and I began to become worried that my 3 best players in Mickaelya, Brittney and Lacey would quit the programme.

Paolo had watched the game with me and was extremely impressed with how well Lacey did. I was too. Mickaelya was strong and did her job well, but her attitude stunk. She was swearing constantly on the pitch and it became embarrassing when she began to insult her own team mates. Brittney was lazy and despite having been chosen to be captain by her peers, simply did not lead by example.

Despite remaining deflated, we got the girls back to the mini bus. Melissa, a very shy ginger girl was chatting loudly to everyone about the controversy regarding the ineligible player that Sala had played.

“Belt up” I called.

Belt up was a phrased used in Lancashire to tell people to put their seat belt on. Unfortunately, it didn’t appear to come across that way as Melissa fell to silence. She stared at me, pale white. Clearly, no ne had ever shouted at her before.

 “Melissa…I meant your seat belt…put it on”, I said, struggling to speak through laughing.

Lacey began to laugh before coming to the front of the mini bus to talk to me.

“See what I mean… I can’t cope with her. She’s so dumb and she’s even worse at football”. She seemed serious, but was consistently trying to hide her smile.

“Don’t be mean.” I giggled again…nervously.

“Oh she’s SO bad though. It’s embarrassing.” She plonked her hands over her face in dismay, whilst laughing herself.

I giggled nervously again.

What is going on? Why am I nervous? Why is she making me nervous? I thought.

We got back to college and I saw the girls off campus again. Proceeding back to my car, I began to consistently think about the way I was giggling like a school girl on the mini bus. I dismissed it for a minute, turning my engine on. My phone buzzed after I’d just finished reversing.

I bet it’s Lillie. I thought as I rolled my eyes.

It was Lacey. I smiled.

Chapter One & Chapter Two

Chapter One

The sun beated down on the 3G football surface at Middlemore College in Manchester as I began my first day at my new job. I had been offered the role as “Football Technichal Coach” running the girls football programme but was to be spending my first couple of days running the 3^rd and 4^th team trials for the boys section. Coaching boys and girls aged 16 and over was a completely new territory for myself, having previously only coached up to the age of 15 and it soon proved to be a territory I wish I had never entered…

“What’s the plan?” I glanced over at the lead of the boys football programme, hoping for some advice.

Rory was a middle aged man who committed every hour he possibly could to make the boys college football programme the best it could be. He casually walked over as footballs were being launched by the lads all around the pitch.

“Have you had a good summer, Ross?”. Rory engaged in conversation with some of the lads that he had coached the last academic year, as he approached me. It was evident that he had a great rapport with the boys and that showed by the level of respect they showed him in return.

“Just crack on with a shooting drill, Em. They’ll like you for that. ‘Don’t want them hating you on your first day if you start putting them through a pre-season drill.”

He had a point.

I tried to place the nerves I was feeling to the back of my mind as I paced towards the goals at the end of the pitch to set up my session. While I walked over, I listened to some of the conversations between the lads. It soon became obvious that I was about to coach a group of lads from various backgrounds, some of which appeared to be from quite a deprived area based on the things they were saying. The smell of marijuana on a couple of the lads soon proved to be stronger than the shots they began to fire at the goal.

“Right lads, in we come.” I tried to sound authoritative, but I probably sounded like a mouse squeaking given all the masculinity that surrounded me.

Slowly but surely the boys came over as I began to explain the format of today’s session.

“I’m led to believe you’re capable of running your own warm up. I’ve been advised that Ross and Ricky, you’re able to lead having been here last year…”

The two lads nodded back at me. Strangely, they looked more nervous than me. Both lads were extremely skinny with dark brown hair dressed in their Middlemore College football kit. Out of the group that I had, they seemed the most sensible yet neither had any real talent when it came to playing football.

“Then we are going to go into a possession-based practice followed by a couple of shooting drills. I think Rory then wants to get you into an 11v11 game to have a proper look at you all.”

Despite my efforts to plan a session which would engage the lads, it appeared to be one of the most dullest sessions I have ever delivered during my 7 year stint as a football coach. The boys looked lethargic and spent more time collecting balls that they had blazed over the fence than they did collecting the balls they had put in the back of the net. Even worse, some of the boys couldn’t hit the ball hard enough to reach the goals.

“Em, 5 minutes…” Rory called with a thumb up in the air as he motioned towards his watch.

I raised a thumb back, thrilled that the end was nigh.

He turned back to his session which appeared to be extremely high tempo. The boys were fizzing the ball from left to right, playing some really neat football.

“Gosh, there’s such a difference between the 1^st and 4^th team in ability, isn’t there?” I said as I was putting the equipment away while Rory watched the 30+ lads in attendance play in a 11v11 friendly game. He nodded his head and held his hands out to the sides as those sympathizing with me…

“And unfortunately, Em, you’re going to have that situation all in your one side.” He responded.

“What do you mean?” I said.

“Well, I was at your girls team trials through the summer. I helped pick the squad. Albeit, there wasn’t much to pick from.” He paused a moment before continuing. “It was a case of you show up, you get picked. Having said that, there’s one or two really talented players that would probably be able to compete with our 2^nd team, but then there’s also some girls who can barely kick a ball. You’ve got 1^st team and 4^th team players all in the same team, which is going to make your session planning extremely hard.”

Rory smiled sympathetically at me. He knew that running this programme was going to be hard as it was due to the lack of facilities the girls had access to. The fact the difference in ability was going to be so drastic only made a tough situation even worse. However, at that stage I had no idea just how hard it would be…

I was a business owner at the time, working every hour of every day. I had money coming out of my backside, but I had no time to spend it because my life was dedicated to my work. My social life was non-existent. It was a pint in the pub when time would allow on a Sunday evening because every other evening was occupied by football.

At the time, I was seeing a girl called Lillie. She lived in Liverpool, around 30 miles away from me and the same distance from my new job. We met on a dating website and she looked absolutely stunning on her pictures, dark brown hair with a gorgeous pair of blue eyes. When we met, I wasn’t attracted to her in the slightest but given I wasn’t experiencing attention from anywhere else, I decided to pursue her anyway.

I had been single for 9 months and though I had been on several dates with women of various ages between 17 and 25, I still hadn’t met anyone that was right for me. The most notable ones were Valerie and Gwen. I really liked Val, she had me completely hooked within a week of meeting up with her, but unfortunately I was just a pawn in a game she was playing to get back at her ex. Gwen had a beautiful personality and we still speak now, but I felt there was no chemistry with us and decided not to meet after our first date – something which she still quizzes me about now.

“Why did I never get a second date?” she often asks me this as we engage in text conversations late at night.

The truth is, she made a comment about the age gaps I’ve had in previous relationships. My last relationship had a 5 year age gap. I was 21 and she was 16. Unfortunately the story is not that simple and it is for that reason that the relationship eventually broke down 18 months on. I’m still in touch with Beth. We speak occasionally, but I try to keep my distance through not wanting to lead her on as she would appear to still have feelings for me. Having said that, Lillie still likes to accuse me of being in love with Beth despite the fact we no longer talk. We had actually had an argument about it a couple of days prior to my first day on the new job & we haven’t spoken since. I got back to my car to receiving the following text on my phone…

“I didn’t want to give in texting you but oh well. You’re right, I don’t wanna open up Em, it scares me. This whole situation scares me. I have been hurt in the past and as a result, I find it hard to let people in. The truth is I do care about you. I picture everything with you. I want our house, our kids, our dogs. I want it all and I want it with you. I’m obsessed with you and that in itself scares me. I’m sorry I keep pushing you away. If you don’t want to speak to me, please block me so I can’t get in touch with you as it’s killing me not speaking to you. Lil x”

A sense of accomplishment rode through me with her having broke the silence first. With Lillie, it was just an ongoing chase. There was no real future, no real relationship and no real feelings. Infact, I was well aware she was seeing other people as well as myself as I had caught her out multiple times about it. It’s always nice to have someone to text every day though…

“I’ve missed you. If you really want to make a go of things though, you have to stop shutting me out. I want to go out on dates and do things, not sit in a car driving round Liverpool for hours on end. That’s not what couples do and it’s not what I want to do either x.”

From there, I put my keys in the ignition and made my way home. We exchanged texts a couple of times that night before she eventually called me late on.

“I’ve missed you, Em” she said, her scouse accent rippling through my mobile. Again, it was a thrill that she had said it. It almost felt like I was winning.

“I’ve missed you too.”

I hadn’t. I had missed texting someone everyday but unfortunately I was unable to tell the difference sometimes.

After a while, I became bored of the small talk on the phone. Lillie would often ignore me as I tried to have a conversation with her. She regularly used to tell me stories about her nights out or the dramas between her and her friends. It all seemed far too dramatic and in my head I wondered how long it took her to make these stories up.

Lies, lies, lies I thought…

“Oh sounds like you had another drama filled evening babe”. I would often respond with this as I scrolled through Facebook, tired of her tedious tales.

Eventually we would say good night, it would normally end in her going in a mood in an attempt to seek attention from me. Tonight was to be no different.

“Right babe, I’m going to sleep, I’m shattered and I’m up early again tomorrow for work.” I said, almost yawning mid-sentence.

“Oh K, bye then.”

She hung up. This was the part where I was meant to chase her and as usual, I did.

“Stop being a moody shit, you know I’m tired. I’ll message tomorrow. Sweet dreams gorgeous x”

“K.”

I couldn’t even be bothered replying. I decided the land of nod was far greater than texting someone back who I would have to chase again tomorrow anyway.

Chapter Two

My alarm sounded louder than ever this morning; or at least it seemed that way. I checked my phone immediately, hoping for a text off Lillie. Nope, nothing. Nothing new there…

I dragged myself out of bed, stumbling to the kitchen to make myself a coffee. This morning involved finishing off some paper work for the business before venturing to college to meet the girls that had signed up for the football academy at Middlemore for the forthcoming year. My nerves had settled somewhat after yesterday and I was quite excited to see what challenge led ahead of me.

As I drank my coffee, I started to plan my week of sessions at the college and for other various bits of work I had lined up. Based on the girls all being unfamiliar with one another, I wanted to do some games that would allow them to become more comfortable with their team mates. They were childish, but I didn’t want to come across strict with them. It’s not the kind of coach or person that I am.

“Bzzz. Bzzz. Bzzz.” That was my phone vibrating on the table. It was Lillie.

“And to what do I owe the honour?” I answered the phone cheekily, knowing full well she wouldn’t like it.

“Oh well I’ll go now then shall I?”

“I’m joking, you tool.” I said in response as I rolled my eyes, bored at her shallowness.

“I’m sick of it, Em. I’m sick of you being nasty to me.” she said.

“Are you hungry?” I asked.

“Yeah.” She giggled.

She often used to tell me how she would go in moods when she was hungry. Salt and Vinegar crisps was the breakfast menu everyday with Lillie.

“Can I see you, tonight?” I asked her hopefully, having not seen her in weeks.

“We will see…”

“Why can’t you just give me an answer?”

“I’ve said we will see”

“I know, but I’m asking so I can sort my clothes out then I don’t need to come home for them. It means doing an extra 30 miles that I don’t need too.” I said.

“Well pack them just in case then.”

I could tell she was getting angrier and for the sake of not wanting another argument already, I just brushed it off.

“Right, I’ve got to shoot anyway now as I have to set off to work…” I murmured this time, rather annoyed that she couldn’t just give me a yes or no answer.

“Oh whatever, Em.”

The line went dead. I rolled my eyes even though she couldn’t see me and then proceeded to get myself ready for my 35 mile drive to Middlemore College.

--------------------------------------------------------------

“Ahh, you’re early.” Michael Griffin, my line manager greeted me as arrived at the college campus. Mike was in his early 30’s with fluffy fair hair. He attracted a fair amount of attention from the college students, albeit not as much as some of the other staff.

I locked my car as I approached him in a full navy blue tracksuit as I was still yet to be given some appropriate uniform from the college.

“I absolutely hate being late, it’s one of my pet peeves and I’d rather look organized for the girls on my first day.” I explained.

“Well, we’ve only actually got 7 girls signed up at the moment. We are hoping to get a few more over the coming days. They’re only going to be playing matches at 7v7 unless you and the opposition manager decide otherwise, so don’t worry”.

It was as though he was already making excuses. I was practically promised over 20 girls on this programme when I attended the initial interview, yet I’m now being told we have only 7 signed up.

“Yeah?” I said. “That’s fine.” Which it was, I just rather would have had more.

“We will probably get a couple more tomorrow that missed induction today.”

I nodded, hoping that would be the case.

“Right, lets show you round as to what you and the girls will have access to while you are here.” Mike said as he took me outside, pointing to the never-ending grass pitches on his right hand side.

“Here’s where you will hopefully play the majority of your matches. The rugby lads also use these pitches so be aware that sometimes they may be around. There is a 7v7 pitch marked out and a 5v5 and you have access to these goals behind the sports centre. You just need to ask at reception for the key.”

We walked round to the goals as Mike was speaking. I was extremely impressed with the playing surface and unsurprisingly Mike soon informed me that a semi professional side also use the facility.

“Then we have the kick pitch, located across the car park. It’s a 5v5 pitch, but it will be great for small sided games when you don’t have great numbers. Remember, sometimes the girls might have class and that will always be priority ahead of football.”

The Kick pitch was a mess, but Mike was convinced this was the best place for us. It was a sand based astro turf pitch with fencing around it that looked over a decade old. On the left hand side of the pitch was a lump of around 30cm high which was undoubtedly a health and safety hazard, not to mention how worried I was about how slippy the surface would become during the wet weather in the winter months.

“Do we not get access to the main 3G then?” I asked, hopefully.

“It will be hard to fit you down there, I think, with the lads being there. Besides, I think this is ideal for the girls and it’s good that you will have a separate base. The girls will be getting changed over here, again, just ask for the key at reception…” he said as he walked me a little further along the foot path and into a changing room on the right hand side.

“Nice enough.” I said with a smile. I really wasn’t too interested in the changing rooms…

“Then we have the gym upstairs…Let me show you.” He then led me upstairs to a very modern gym where an extremely big bulky man was sat at a desktop.

“Hey Ray, this is Emma, the new girls football coach”.

Ray grunted at me, clearly unhappy that Mike was showing me round these facilities.

“The girls also have access to this gym. Just liase with Ray as to when the rugby lads are in and you can use this when you want. The modern technology in this gym is fantastic and you can do fitness testing with them whenever you like. It’s all self-explanatory on the machines”

“Fantastic.” I said, extremely impressed with this marvelous facility.

“Oh and you also have the gym located over at the main sports reception too.” Mike began leading me back over to the main sports reception again.

“It should never really be a problem for you to use here. Just making sure all the girls have got a gym induction and you will be able to use it whenever you like” he said with a smile.

“Great, can anyone lead classes for them?” I quizzed.

“Yeah, so we have the dance studio and the spinning bike room which you can use whenever you like as well” he paused before continuing, taking me down the corridor to show me the rooms. “That’s providing there are no classes in at that time of course.”

There was a little note on the door of everyone room to suggest when it would be occupied by curriculum. Alarmingly, there didn’t seem to be many opportunities where it would be free.

“And then finally we have the sports hall…” Walking me to his left, Mike opened the doors to a huge sports hall occupied by over 25 college students with noises echoing just as loud as what they would in a tunnel. “Similar to the other facilities, just check to see if it’s free before you use it. But when it’s raining, I imagine this would be a good alternative.”

“If I want this quiff to survive the rain, I will definitely be seeking to find out if it’s free” I laughed, causing him to do a slight giggle also.

Behind us, some of the girls who were on the football programme were beginning to arrive. They looked lost and began to linger in reception, all hoping that someone would be brave enough to ask a member of staff as to where they should be. Eventually Mike noticed and got the girls a key for the changing room so they could get into appropriate gear for football.

“I’m going to take the girls over and introduce them to the programme and then if you come over at about 1:45pm, I’ll introduce you to the girls” he said before leading the girls over to the changing room.

I nodded as he walked away and used the small amount of time I had left to set up my session on the hazardous astro turf pitch. My session was planned for an even number, but I was more than willing to join in to make sure the numbers were even. Besides, if the levels of ability was as far out as Rory claimed they were yesterday, joining in may be my only option of ensuring the session remains of an adequate standard.

After a while, Mike called me over from behind the black fence.

“Em, you ready?” he called.

“Yeah, sure”. I walked over after placing my rack of cones by the bag of footballs.

“Good luck getting any more than 2 words out of this lot. They looked at me like I was a zombie when I went in”. He sounded amused yet concerned.

“Nothing an ice breaker can’t sort.” I said with a smile.

“They’ve been doing that all morning, it hasn’t worked so far” he said.

I was a little concerned that getting them to bond would take longer than I anticipated. I walked in behind Mike to a room filled with seven, silent, sixteen year old girls. You could hear a pin drop in the room as we walked in.

“Girls, this is Emma. Emma will be your coach for the forthcoming year.” Mike’s friendly tone didn’t lift the silence in the room.

I looked around as a couple of them smiled at me nervously.

“Right then… I’ll leave you to it”. Mike couldn’t wait to leave the changing rooms. It was obvious. “Good luck” he whispered with a smirk as he scarpered out the facility.

It was possibly the worst introduction ever. I was nervous. The girls were nervous. Nobody knew each other. The silence was deafening.

“Okay…” I have a terrible habit of saying “okay” when I’m coaching or when I’m doing any form of public speaking. Clearly, today was to be no different. “So, I figured because you’re all new, we would make this week a completely relaxed week. We will do some fun games and a couple of ice breakers so we can all get to know each other a little better. That includes me getting to know you and vice versa.”

Silence, still. Not one sound.

“So I guess the best place to start is to find out who people played for and any playing experience anyone might have…” I looked round the room hoping for some sort of agreement. Nothing still. “Okay, we will start with yourself.” I motioned with my head towards a girl on my right hand side. She had brown hair and looked extremely shy and timid. As she began to speak about her playing experience I could sense the nerves in her voice as she spoke infront of the group. She stuttered a couple of times but managed to explain that she had played football for a local club at Sunday league level; this appeared to be a trait shared by many in the room, apart from one girl sat in the corner/

“Everton, Liverpool, Stoke City…” she said as she rallied off a couple of local clubs as well. Her arrogance was evident as she spoke, her bottom lip almost sticking out as she finished her sentence. She leant up against the wall, looking round in pity at the rest of the room who had all played at a lesser standard than herself. She was a thicker set girl than the others, but by no means fat. A muscular tone, somewhat manly infact.

“Good grief, it sounds like you’ve played for half the Premier League”, exclaimed a much skinnier girl with mousy brown hair in the corner. Her name was Holly.

The muscly arrogant girl smirked back at her.

“So you know TJ at Stoke then?” I asked her, making a point that I had contacts with the industry.

“Yeah, she was sound. I didn’t like Zoe though…” she responded with a bit more emotion in her voice. Almost as though someone was now on a level with her in the room.

Pleased that I had broke down a barrier, I replied “So what’s your name then? I’m seeing TJ later, I’ll ask about you. Get some inside scoop.”

It was awful, but I tried to make a joke.

“Mickaelya” she said. Obviously unwilling to give me a surname.

“I’ll mention you to her later…” I said with a cheeky smile. Mickaelya returned a small arrogant smirk, it was slightly sadistic. “Right, let’s get going outside then girls.”

The session itself wasn’t fantastic and I found myself partnering Mickaelya as she was a much better quality of player than any of the other girls present. One thing I was proud of though, was how much more the girls began to interact with one another as the session progressed.

“Em!” I heard a familiar voice shout from behind the fence. I turned to look. It was Mike again. I ran over as the girls continued playing a small sided game behind me.

“Em, this is Natalie. Natalie this is Emma. Emma’s the lead coach of the girls football programme.”

“Hey. Give me 2 minutes and I’ll introduce you to the girls. Don’t worry, you haven’t missed much, we’re doing ice breakers all week this week, anyway”, I smiled at her. She looked nervous. Her skin was so white, she could have been mistaken for a sheet of paper. It was only made worse by the dark clothes she wore and a cap that she used to tuck all her hair under. I didn’t want to pass judgement too early, but it was completely obvious that she was gay.

“Well, it’s like a completely different group.” Mike was smiling as he overlooked the session from behind the fence. “You’ve really got them talking already, nice one Em.”

I was chuffed that he was pleased.

“Right, I’ll be leaving you to it again. Any problems, you know where I am.” He said as he walked away.

I introduced Nat (as she preferred to be known) to the rest of the group and thirty minutes or so later, I called an end to the session. Slowly but surely, we strolled back to the changing rooms. The conversation was much better this time as the girls began to very slowly come out of their shells.

“What time do we have to be here for tomorrow?” chirped up Holly who looked extremely keen to leave.

“If you can be ready for 1:30, that will be great. We will be on the kick pitch again, so wear appropriate footwear.” I looked around the room specifically at a couple of the girls who had slipped due to the sandy surface. “Mike expects we could have a couple more join us tomorrow.”

“Yeah, my mates are coming tomorrow. They’re decent.” Said Mickaelya. She was out of her football gear now, dressed in a full red adidas tracksuit. Again, I wouldn’t want to pass judgement, but there was becoming a bit of a theme here…

“Great, I’ll see you all tomorrow.” I said with a smile.

After the girls had left, I began to put the equipment away and spent a little time with Mike going through some IT work such as registers that needed to be completed, daily.

The first day with the girls was complete, but tomorrow would mark the beginning of a complete U-turn in my life.