Page 18 of Six Years
Chapter 10
“did you ever want me? was I ever good enough?”—Boy’s a Liar by PinkPantheress
July 2022
The sound of mywhistle catches the girls’ attention, now jumping from squats to burpees.
Warm-ups are my least favorite part about this job. It’s so boring watching the girls suffer. Well, it’s great making them suffer when I’m in a bad mood, but that rarely happens anymore, so nowadays I just stand here, bored out of my mind.
“That’s ten pushups for all of you!” I yell the second one of the girls starts talking to whoever else on the team. I prefer the U6 girls, their training is usually less strict and far more fun. But the U19 think they can do whatever they want because they’re legal now.
Most of the time I let them talk during warm-up, but not today. I need them to have their heads in the game.
Just a few weeks ago I got an email saying the U19 team will be shut down because we don’t have enough players. It’s the truth, which is why I have been sending email after email to the sports club owner, begging him to let Coach Henderson and I merge the teams together. His guy team also lacks players, and neither of us understands why we can’t just merge them together.
I mean, I understand the whole sexist aspect behind it; Boys play better than girls, and girls shouldn’t be interested in soccer, blah blah. That’s bullshit.
They also don’t want to put boys and girls, especially boys and girls of age, in one locker room together for privacy reasons. That is one of the acceptable reasons, but we have more thanonelocker room. We have four. So even if they’re playing home games, there’s still enough space for two teams and separating the girls from the boys.
Mr. Harley finally agreed to allow the merge if my girls prove themselves mature enough. I’m convinced this is about them allegedly falling head over heels in love with the guys in seconds because that’s what girls do. Again, bullshit, but better “proving themselves mature enough” than shutting down the team, right?
Thirty minutes later, I think I’ve put them through enough torture, so I blow my whistle once more and allow them to take a break.
While they go to get some water into their bodies, I allow myself a quick glance on my phone. There are no new notifications, at least none that I care about. After three days of absolute silence from Grey, I decided to shoot him a text last night. It’s now four p.m. of the next day and he still hasn’t responded.
All those past days I’ve wondered if I’ve done something wrong. Maybe I went too far with showing up at his house or asking him if he’s into guys. Or maybe I’m just too much for him after all. His silence now doesn’t exactly help the situation. He has read the text, so that’s even worse.
Perhaps todayisone of the fewer days I do like torturing my players on the pitch after all.
“Get back here, ladies!” I clap my hands together to get their attention. Keeping their bottles in their hands, all of them make their way over to me, standing in a circle.
“You’re mighty grumpy today, Coach Hayes,” Nora, one of the girls who always tend to flirt with me rather than see me as just their coach, says. I can accept the flirting as long as her performance keeps up because she thinks impressing me with doing good is beneficial in some ways. It’s still kind of weird, but at least I know nothing will ever come from it.
“If I hear another word from one of you, that’ll be an extra ten laps around the pitch. Forallof you. I don’t care who speaks, all of you will run.” Punishing the whole team usually keeps them quiet because neither of them wants to be the asshole who got them into this mess. Especially when it’stenlaps around the pitch. “Understood?”
They nod, not daring to use their voices.
“The guys will get here in ten minutes. If I catch any of you flirting with one of them, I will not stick up for your asses again.”Okay, Luan, a bit harsh there.
Fuck it, man. How can some random guy ruin my mood this much? I love being happy, so why can’t I be fucking happy?!
“Due to the lack of players on both teams, Coach Henderson and I decided it’d be in all of your interests to merge the boys U19 and you together. But there’s one condition; professionality.” I clap my hands together, once. “From both sides. Coach Henderson and I expect you, as well as the boys, to be on your best behavior and respect the others. There will be no flirting,”—I look at the small group of girls who tend to do just that all the time—“and no sexism. If Coach Henderson or I catch either of you saying something that could be remotely counted as sexist, you’re benched at first. If it happens a second time, you’ll be kicked off the team immediately. We’re not pushing gender roles here. You’re playing soccer because you like the sport, not because either gender is supposed to be better than the other; that’s bullshit. You’re either good because you practice, or you suck. It has nothing to do with what’s in your pants.”
I take a quick breath. “Speaking of your pants; they stay on. No funny business here. What you do in your free time is none of my concern, but the second you step foot on soccer ground, whoever you might date is no longer your partner who you can get nasty with. They’re now your team member and you will respect natural boundaries. No touching. No kissing. No anything but being friendly. We had these rules when it was just you, and they’ll stay the same with the guys around.”
Damn, I’m shocked by my own rules here. I don’t normally give a shit what they do during practice for as long as it stays PG13, and they still participate properly.
“Should you have a problem with someone,anyone, I advise you to come speak to either me or Coach Henderson and we’ll handle it. It’s not kissing and telling, it’s what the team needs if you want this to work out. All of you are aiming to play professionally someday, and while I’m sure there are still a lot of issues within the pro teams, being able to solve them rather than silently hate one another will get you far. So, start practicing now.”
Just as I finish my little anger-filled speech, I can hear the chatter from the guys getting louder with every step they come closer.
???
Luan:There’s a firework by the beach tomorrow evening, do you want to go?
Maybe it was my message that scared him off? Perhaps I should’ve sent a boring “Hi” or “How are you?” Anything like that.
Itistomorrow evening by now, and I am sitting here all by myself, every now and then looking up the Li-or-Davis’ house to see if he might be standing back on that balcony. He doesn’t have to behereto see the fireworks because I’m sure he can see them from his bedroom window, but I thought…
