Jade glances up from her phone to give me a bored look, before quickly going back to her screen.
I obviously haven’t come prepared like Jen, either. I don’t have extra hair ties, or kits, or boots. I don’t even have the cones that we use to do drills, and make a mental note to ask Jen about where she keeps her supply.
I try to remember what Jen said to me. She wanted me to be her assistant coach for a reason: she thinks I can do it, and I can’t let her down.
‘Guys, listen,’ I say, trying to channel Jen’s calm, cool energy. The way nothing seems to rattle her ever. ‘I know that it’s not fun to be up early to get to football practice in the morning on your summer holidays, but wouldn’t it be great if we made the most of it? You’re already here. If you came on time, dressed properly, enthused about maybe really giving football a shot, we could have a lot of fun.Youcould have a lot of fun.’
I stare at the blank faces of the team – and that’s the select few girls who even bother to look at me. Half of them are whispering to each other, and a few of them are on their phones. This is clearly not working at all, which is unsurprising considering my attempt at motivation hasn’t even managed to motivate me.
I decide to try something different.
‘Tell me something, why did you guys decide to join football club?’ I ask.
‘Um … I wanted to do fashion club, but all the spots were taken by the time I got there,’ Sara chimes in.
‘I was going to do art club,’ Jade says, nodding along.
‘I needed to join something. I thought football looked OK.’ Sophie shrugs.
Everyone else on the team mutters something similar– there isn’t a single girl here who actually has an interest in football. It shouldn’t surprise me, and maybe it doesn’t, but it also doesn’t give me a lot to work with.
‘OK, well. We’re here now. So, why don’t you tell me what you know about football? You must know some football teams, have watched a few matches, or maybe even played a little in the past?’ I ask with tentative hope in my voice.
There’s silence for a moment, and I worry that I’m not even going to get an answer to my question.
Then, Jade pipes up. ‘I follow Colleen Rooney on Instagram.’
A couple of the other girls chime in to say that they do too.
‘OK … good,’ I say, mostly because I’m not sure how to respond to that. It’s not exactly an enthusiasm for football – they could at the very least follow an actual footballer, but I’m going to have to take what I can get. ‘Anyone else?’
‘My brother’s favourite team is Man United,’ another one of the girls offers.
‘I watch the World Cup with my family. Sometimes,’ Sophie adds tentatively.
A few others mumble that they do too, though none of them seem particularly enthralled by the idea of it.
‘OK … let’s just warm up by running some laps.’ I sigh, waving them forwards.
They slowly, hesitantly stand up and start to jog the length of the field. One of them pretends to pull a muscle, another checks her phone. All the while, my worry grows and grows. Because it’s clear to me now that Jen has made a mistake.
And so have I.
‘They can’t be that bad, they’re teenage girls,’ Deen says to me later that night when I complain about everything over a late dinner at the restaurant.
‘I just wish they actuallycaredabout … well, anything. They don’t know the first thing about football and they don’t want to be there,’ I say, moving around the rice on my plate with my fork instead of actually eating it.
‘They said they don’t want to be there?’ Deen asks.
‘No. They don’t have tosayit. I can tell from the fact that they don’t even wear the right clothes, they don’t have the right boots and they’re constantly late. Most of them said that this was the only club available and that’s the only reason they’re there. Not to mention the fact that they’re not tuned in to anything to do with football. Half of them have never even watched a football match. How’s that even possible?’ My voice gets higher and higher with every word, and I’m acutely aware of the fact that I probably sound a little crazed, but I can’t stop myself. I took this assistant coach position because I was tired of doing absolutely nothing with my life, but going back to the days of lazing around the restaurant, job hunting and stuffing my face with Deen’s cooking is looking attractive once again.
‘Don’t you think you’re being a little harsh on them?’ Deen asks with a raised eyebrow.
I frown at him across the table. ‘How? Did you not hear all the issues that I just listed?’
Deen holds up his hands and starts counting on his fingers. ‘Don’t wear the right clothes or the right boots. They’re late. This was the only club they had available, and they haven’t watched a lot of football.’
‘Or any,’ I add.
