It was another beautiful day in Brisbane.
The sun was up but Australia was having a rather cool summer this year for a change, unlike what it's been like for the last few years. Brett much prefered this cooler weather.
He was on his way to a local park to check out Belle's baby brother, the so-called "new talent" according to his sister.
"He's dying to train and play in a team. C'mon Brett, can't you make it happen for him?"
I'm just here as a favour for Belle. Just to have a quick look, then I'll tell her later that he doesn't quite have what it takes.
Brett parked his car next to the tiny park and stepped out with his bubble tea. He bought one on his way to the park as he felt like he needed the sugar boost to get himself through another painful experience.
It was just before Christmas, about 3 weeks ago, when Brett received a phone call from two footballers. One was British and the other Spanish and they had just arrived in Australia and completed their two weeks quarantine period. Brett had gone to see them with high expectations after the two men contacted Brett to ask him to be their agent.
It turned out to be a major disappointment. Both men were so out of shape, they couldn't run, let alone sprint adequately – Brett would not have accepted "adequate" anyway. The men argued that they were in 2 weeks quarantine and therefore out of practice and begged Brett to represent them but Brett did not tolerate excuses. After their so-called "practice" session, which Brett thought was a complete joke, both men were completely out of breath. Neither of them came prepared with their gear either, apart from their boots. They forgot to bring their shin guards, towel, even clothes to change into afterwards. When one of them lifted up their shirt to wipe their sweat off their face, Brett witnessed a tummy that was way too pudgy for a professional athlete and he turned away in disgust.
This Eddy kid, he's probably gonna be either too small, or too skinny, or too unfit. Or he'll just suck, period. Or he'll lack enthusiasm. Or he'll just be a little prick of a brat.
Then he remembered this was Belle's little brother he's thinking about.
Okay, so I suppose Belle's pretty chill, I hope her brother is at least a nice little guy.
He opened the gate to enter the small playground and walked right across to its back gate. He could see through the bushes some young children and heard their voices, little squeals of joy. Brett stepped through the back gate onto a very small patch of grass, too modest to even call it a small oval and there he saw a tall young man surrounded by a bunch of pre-schoolers. The young man's face resembled that of Belle's and Brett was certain that it was Eddy Chen.
Hmm, not bad.
He looked pretty tall for an Asian guy. Not quite 6' but pretty close. He was also pretty well built with long limbs.
"At least he doesn't look like he's been gorging on Christmas pudding and beer like those other two I saw the other day."
Brett grinned as he observed what appeared as a "warm up" – Eddy and the children started running around the little field. Whenever a child was falling behind from the crowd, Eddy would pick them up and shout out "BOOOST !!" and run with the child in his arms and place the child at the front of the group. The children squealed with delight. Some of them would run slowly on purpose so that they'd be picked up. Brett noticed that it appeared as Eddy kept tabs on who he'd picked up and ran with and after 10 minutes or so everyone must have had a turn and they finally stopped running. The children all huffing and puffing, not realising how much exercise they had just done because they were having so much fun.
While the children were told to run back to their parents to have a drink of water, Eddy ran up and down the grass to set up some cones to start some soccer drills.
Brett didn't expect much technique from what looked like a bunch of 4, 5 year olds but he was pleasantly surprised with a few of them having ball control that may equate to some 7 year olds in a junior team he managed. Still, most of them were babies who could barely control the ball and Eddy was running up and down the drill track along with them to help them out by gently kicking the ball back to them before it went completely off track. Eddy was very agile and he was running around non-stop. He had a differentiated program for those with advanced skills and made sure everyone was training at their level of ability. Brett was impressed.
I hope those mums appreciate the quality of training their kids are getting.
Brett was initially meant to just have a quick peek then leave. He did not intend to stay any longer than what it would have taken him to finish his bubble tea. But it was only as the children were saying their thank yous and goodbyes to their coach when he realised that he was holding an empty bubble tea cup and had stayed to watch the entire 1 hour training session. He couldn't work out why but Brett just then decided to go and talk to Eddy.
Eddy was changing his top into a dry T shirt.
Oh well hello, so nice to see you.
Brett secretly said his greetings to Eddy's perfectly chiselled abs.
"Hi, Eddy Chen, isn't it?"
"Um, yes. Hi. And you are?"
"Brett Yang. I'm a friend of your sister."
"Oh, okay, um, nice to meet you."
"She told me that you were training here"
"Well, I practice on my own after I teach the kids."
"Yes, I noticed you are a great coach. I'm also impressed with your physique."
"Um, yeah? .... Well, um, thank... you..?"
Brett face palmed himself.
Shit, I better come clean about who I am otherwise this kid might report me to the police...!
"Look, I'm sorry, that wasn't meant to sound all creepy. I'm a football talent agent. I noticed that you must have kept up your fitness training during Christmas since you haven't ballooned out like some of the other footballers I've seen."
"Oh. Wow. Um, yeah, Mr Yang, I wanted to stay in shape during the summer break. Fitness training is okay, I can do that on my own but it's been rather challenging to brush up on some of the techniques when you don't have people to practice with. Since I'm a bit too big for my team I just coached, you know."
Brett chuckled.
"Yeah I suppose."
He seems like a nice kid. He's polite and likeable.
"So Eddy, do you belong to a club?"
"No, Mr Yang. But I was invited to train with a top youth club while I was in Taiwan."
"Have you ever played competitively?"
"No sir, I wasn't allowed to take part in their competitions and only got to play in their gala day games."
"...Any formal training ?"
"Just the school soccer club in Taiwan, sir."
Shit, this kid has nothing. No credentials to get him in anywhere decent in Australia.
"So Eddy, why were you in Taiwan ?"
Eddy turned away from Brett. Then he glanced back. Their eyes met for a second, then Eddy's eyes glazed over as he looked as if he was swimming in his head in search of an answer to a question he hadn't figured out yet. They stood still for a while till Brett decided to break the silence.
"Look Eddy, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
Eddy's eyes focused back on Brett.
"No, it's okay. Um, I used to get into a lot of trouble when I was younger. Eventually, my sister and parents got so pissed at me, they decided to send me to my uncle in Taiwan for school. I was pretty messed up already but getting homesick made things worse. Like I hated my family so much back then but I felt so lonely in Taiwan, so I initially went back and forth a lot but I was very unhappy at both places. I eventually settled in ok in Taiwan and found it easier to stay there."
"Sounds like you had some rough years. You see, Eddy, I never knew Belle had a younger brother let alone a brother that played football, even though she knew for years that I worked in this industry."
"Humph, well that's not surprising. I'm the black sheep of the family, she hates my guts so she wouldn't have wanted anyone to know of my existence."
Eddy shrugged. He looked crushed and suddenly he looked like a small child, despite being substantially taller than Brett.
"Well, Eddy, you do like football, right ?"
"Yeah, I mean, yes, I do. It was the only thing I was half decent at since I was little and I had some really good coaches and teammates when I was in Taiwan. To be honest, it was all I did while I was there. I think it was what kept me grounded, you know?"
"Yes, I think I can understand that. So now that you're back in Australia, what do you like to do?"
Eddy looked straight into Brett's eyes.
"I just want to practice and play football. That's all I've known and it's all I want to do."
"I see..."
...OMG, I must be totally crazy doing this but what the heck.
"Look Eddy, I can tell that you are fit and have great potential as a coach and now I am actually interested in seeing you in action. I normally don't do this but would you be interested in going to a couple of practice sessions of some of the state-league soccer teams ? These teams are at a higher level than the district clubs that you would otherwise be trailing out for on your own. You wouldn't normally able to go to straight into state-league sessions unless you're already in one of the top youth clubs in Australia, but I can pull some strings to make it happen."
"S, State-league??!! The top semi-pro level ?? That's only one level below the top, full professional A-league in Australia ! Are you serious ?"
"Yes. And it's Mens, not the Youth club. So you'll be with the big boys. Do you think you could handle that ?"
"Yes !! I mean, I'd love to give it a go, that would be so cool. I'll do my best to keep up with them and I hope I won't disappoint you."
Brett couldn't help but grin seeing Eddy's eyes twinkling with enthusiasm.
"Well, I hope you won't either because it would be a bit embarrassing if I sent someone who wasn't willing to give it their best shot. So, just to clarify, at this stage, this isn't even a trial to get into the team, it's just a practice session for me to observe you with some guys to see what you've got, okay ?"
"Okay, got it."
"Alright, so I'll text you the details for the practice session via Belle. You can get my number from her and text me back to confirm. I can pick you up and drive you to the venue. We'll probably go within the next few days. How does that sound?"
Eddy nodded away as if he was listening to headbanging music.
"Yes, that sounds so great. Thank you so much, Mr Yang, I really appreciate this..!!"
"Call me Brett, I went to uni with your sister so I'm not that much older than you. And for what it's worth, I think Belle cares enough about you for asking me to come and see you. Don't forget that, okay? Maybe you could even thank her for talking to me."
"...Okay, thank you, Brett."