Reaching for the Stars

Chapter 03: Football Mates

(Revised 02/08/2022)

"Shoot!"

Max kicked the ball with full force and beamed in satisfaction when it went in. He was nearly half the field away and the ball still went in easily. His tail wagged; he still hadn't lost his touch.

"Andrew, man your post! You four, left wing!" he barked to his juniors. They went to position quickly.

The ball was brought back in, and Max moved aside to let his juniors play. He watched in confidence as Jeremy took control of it and ran towards the goal post. Before the other team could catch it, he passed it to Nick, who quickly caught it and shot.

The ball didn't go in, but Nick was quick to run towards where the goalkeeper threw it.

"Nick, backup!"

The cat ran following the ball as a backup. The other team was close to their post, but Andrew caught the ball, preventing a goal.

Just before Andrew could throw it back to the field, the whistle was blown and everyone stopped.

Max clapped his hands. "Okay everyone, time's up! Go back to the podiums."

Everyone did so and walked towards the podiums. The rest of the juniors were already there as they had played before. Max chuckled a little when he saw Nick with a defeated expression on his face walking towards the podium. He picked the ball up, then walked along towards the podium.

The coach was, well, he didn't smile a lot, but Max already knew him well enough to tell that he was satisfied with the game. He himself was satisfied, too. The new batch seemed to catch up quite well. Everyone without fur was sweating and the ones who had fur had their tongues out. Max was tempted to do the same, but he held back. Instead, he breathed heavily.

"I expected a good game from you," The coach started. Everyone looked at him as they sat down. "and a good game I got. Today I see a lot of improvement from our last meeting. Well done."

All of them clapped their hands.

Max caught sight of Nick smiling in satisfaction. He stood aside with Andy and Octo.

The coach continued. "However, we still have work to be done. As you know, the Inter-Uni is just around the corner, and if you want to make it in, we still need to keep improving. As with traditions, the first-year batch is responsible for getting us into the Inter-Uni as we make our way up to the nationals. We still have around three months so keep up the good work and keep on improving."

Everyone clapped their hands again, and this time the coach smiled. "Thank you for coming today. Have a great weekend."

Max was about to head to the changing room, but the coach put his hand on his shoulder. "Hey Rob,"

"Yes, sir?" He took his water bottle and took a gulp.

"I don't think I'll be coming to supervise next week, so I want you to take my place when I'm gone, alright?"

"Got it. Why, though?"

"My wife's delivering any day now, and I wanna be there when she does. Even when she does before next Friday, I'll take a few days off."

Max walked next to him. "Sure thing. Is it a boy or a girl?"

The coach laughed. "No idea. We wanted to keep it a secret until they're coming. I kind of wish it's a boy."

"I fear the little one's gonna get your wrath." The dog laughed along.

"My wrath is legendary, I know." He chuckled as he took his bag from the podium seat. "Anyway, till the week after."