From cero to a hundred

A dream to chase

I woke up the next day at 7.30 am, nobody was awake. I had a room to myself so I turned the lights on, got dressed, put my hair in a ponytail and quietly went down to the garage, where I had my shoes.

I kneeled down and tied them, before opening the backdoor with the keys that were in the kitchen. The chilly morning breeze hit my skin as I closed the door behind me. I turned my music on, stretched and headed out for my run.

I ran for 4 kms, to the football field and back, blood pumping through me as I tried to do it as quickly as I could. Taking into account I hadn't trained properly for over a month, I did pretty good, getting it done in 21 minutes, meaning I ran the kilometer at a 5.15 minute pace.

As I stopped the music and laid down on the damp grass, getting my breathing back the door opened slightly. I turned my head to see who it was to find my nan looking at me.

"You're up early." She said from the door, not wanting to leave the warmth of the house.

"Got a dream to chase!" I told her as I walked over to the shed.

I took out some hand made weights we had done a few months back and worked on my lower body; quads, glutes, hamstrings and calves.

As I fully finished my workout it was almost 8.30. I headed back inside as I quickly showered and got a bowl of porridge, a yogurt and some fruit out for my breakfast. I finished breakfast around 9.30 am.

Not sure what to do with my spare time I took my computer out and video called one of my friends back in spain.

(actually in spanish.)

"Hello!" I said enthusiastically.

"I was waiting for you to call me, I just didn't call because you might think I was annoying you." She said as I heard a door close.

"You could never annoy me."

"Anyway enough of this nonsense, how was the flight and the bus ride?" She asked me.

"The plane was fine, nothing interesting but then on the bus, I became friends with this girl, we talked for a bit, and then watched a football match together. I wanted to get her number or instagram at least but my stop came up and I didn't have time." I ranted.

"Did you really not ask for her number? Brooo, describe her to me, so I can imagine the girl." She said.

"Okay, I don't have a good memory but anyway... She had black hair that was just below her shoulders. Her lips weren't huge, but they were a cute size just like her nose, a little button nose. Oh and she had these eyes! They were grey, could be considered blue or green too."

"She sounds really pretty."

"She was; she was also a bit breathtaking when I first saw her really. She just caught my attention." I explained.

"I'm glad the flight and bus back were good. I'd really like to talk to you for a bit more, but my mum needs my help. I'll call you later, or tomorrow maybe okay?" She said as she got up from her seat.

"Yeah, that's fine. Tell your mum I say hi!"

"Sure will, take care." She told me before hanging up.

As 11 am came around I took my computer back out and searched a football match, took my notebook out and analysed the strikers and the attacking midfielder of one team, watching every move they made, on and off the ball.

As my notebook page got filled and so did the next one. I paused the game, closed the notebook and went to help my grandad with the shopping, since he sometimes messed up on it.

We drove to the nearby supervalu, since we had to pick up a few heavy items. The place was quite empty luckily for me, since I hated meeting up with people I didn't actually know.

We walked through the aisles of food, looking at our list and picking up whatever we needed, plus some extra things we thought of as we went along.

We checked out and put the bags of food in the boot of the car before driving back home, where my grandma was waiting for us with the lunch cooked.

"Are you excited for school to start next week?" My nan asked me.

"Yeah, I mean football is starting so I suppose." I told her as I dug into my plate of food.

"I'm sure you'll make some new friends." She told me, trying to make me smile.

After I finished stuffing my face we all sat around and watched the news. Well my brother was stuck on his phone while the rest of us watched the television.

"I'm gonna get changed and go to the pitch." I told my mum before rushing up the stairs.

I got changed into a pair of shin length socks, short football shorts and an Irish t-shirt, with McCabe on the back. I took a rucksack out from the bottom of my wardrobe and put in a water bottle my football boots and two balls. Nothing else really fitting in.

I went out the backdoor and into the shed where my grandad's bike was. I pushed it outside, got on it and peddled my way over to the pitch.

I left the bike at the end of the pitch against the railing as I walked onto the pitch to warm up.

I ran slowly for 1 km before I warmed up. After that I went to the end of the pitch, where there was a wall and did some passing exercises, trying to get the right technique, power and precision in every pass I made.

I did some passing exercises against the wall for a good 15 minutes or so, before going back to the goal and working on crossing into the back of the net.

As I finished that up I did some sprints so I could slowly get faster and fitter. After I finished doing 10 half pitch sprints with 10 second rests between the sprints, I did some dribbling and finishing.

One of the shots I hit was beautiful, it hit the goal post and went in beautifully. "What a strike!" I heard somebody shout.

I turned around to find this middle aged man walking up to me. "Hi, I'm Brian. I'm the owner of the club team here." He said shaking my hand.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Jamie." I told him.

"I was watching you train and you really caught my eye. I was wondering if you'd be up to play with us this season?"

"Uhm, I'd need some more information."

"Yeah sure, so I need to know your age first of all."

"14, about to turn 15." I told him.

"Really? Okay, well we only have a U 12 girls team, but I'm sure we could talk to the FAI so you could play with boys, and at the same time up an age group." He told me.

"So U 16 boys?" I asked.

"Yep, I mean I'd like to see you up against them first and then we can talk about age groups and everything else." He told me.

"Yeah sure, I'll give you my mothers number, you can call her if you have any doubt or anything."

"Who's your mother kid? I might know her, the town isn't that big."

"Fiona Lynch? She moved away to Spain about 20 years ago, James and Jo Lynch's youngest daughter." I told him.

"I know James and Jo, he's the handy man in town and she used to work at the library!" He said excitedly. "Don't worry about the phone number, I already have it. I'll let you get back to your training now." he told me before walking away.

I decided since I was about to finish the shooting drills before he interrupted me to just leave that aside and finish up with some more sprints before doing some body weight exercises to make my muscles leaner.

I cycled back home after that, tired from the non stop working out and moving the whole day so I laid in my bed just dreaming of the future.

I could see myself walking out of this big stadium with my England shirt on, number 10 on the back as the crowd cheered for me.

And as I opened my eyes up, all the tiredness I had from the day disappeared and I was more motivated than I had ever been.