Chapter 6

Coach Carter gathered the boys round him, “Ok we are going to rotate through all three sets of disciplines, each of you will get marked by myself and my two assistants, we will grade you on a scale of 1-5 for each of the 6 disciplines as well as the physical and also how I think you will fit into the team. After all of the marks are collated, the top 6 boys will be offered a spot in the reserves team. We are looking for balanced players to play in the midfield, you need the skills to be able to drop back into defense when needed but also the ability to push forward and go for goal when you have a chance. I am looking for team players, someone who will put the team first, I do not want people who will hold the ball and always get the glory themselves. You may be in reserves team, but that team is there to allow us to move you up to the first team if needed, remember that”.

“Ok now I want each of you to pick a partner and I want you to spread out about 15 meters away from each other and passing back and forth to start with.”

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After another hour spent kicking, passing, heading, tackling, dribbling and shooting Max was so glad to hear Coach Carter call everyone together and tell them that the trials were over. Max had spent the last hour concentrating on perform to the best of his abilities and consequently had not actually been able to see how well everyone else had done, he hoped he had done enough to make the team, but deep down new that he had given his best.

“Ok guys” started the Coach, “that’s the hard stuff over with, for you at least. My assistants and I now need to sit down and go through our scores and work out who has made the team. If you will all head to the changing rooms, shower and change and we will post the names on the notice board in about 20 mins. Off you go.”

The group of boys who headed back into the changing room certainly looked different from the group who had left it 90 mins earlier, this time round they were all tired and muddy, whilst the earlier silence had been due to nervousness, this time the obvious cause was exhaustion. They all trudged into the changing rooms and this time as they all showered and dressed the banter came back. Wise-cracks abounded as one of the players was describing how another had attempted a bicycle kick from a pass towards the goal and the resulting effort was a set of flailing legs that got nowhere near the ball and final result was one player down in the box winded and 4 others trying to keep standing whilst laughing their heads off.

After they had all dressed the boys slowly wandered out into the corridor outside the gym where some of the people who had hung around to watch the tryouts were waiting, among them Chris and Adam who were talking rather animatedly, with arms gesturing in all directions.

“Oh I can’t believe I missed that” said Adam, “he completely missed the ball?”

“Yes and ended up flat on his back” returned Chris who was laughing out loud.

Chris began once again to describe the incident with a few derogatory comments and the skills on display.

“Come on guys” said Max “give the guy a break, the whole point of these tryouts is to find out who has what skills, not everyone can do a bicycle kick like you Chris”.

“True True, but it was still funny” said Chris who reduced his laughing to a giggle and then simply a smile. A commotion down the corridor drew Chris’s who looked back over Max’s shoulder, “Here comes the Coach with the list, come on Max.”

Chris had Max turned around and pushing through the mass of bodies that were already clustered round the board, it was a mass of moving bodies and Chris and Max moved separately through towards the noticeboard. In the end, with his extra height, Chris was able to get a look at the list before Max was close to it he watched Chris scan this list and then turn towards him. From the glum look on his face Max already knew the news, but even so the simple “Sorry bro you didn’t make it.” that Chris spoke really brought reality home.

“Oh” said Max, who whilst still not too confident about his skills felt that he had done enough to get on the team and was disappointed. He never even resisted as Chris turned him round and they moved back through the throng, they reached Adam a few seconds later who asked the inevitable question.

“Did you make it?”

Max was just gearing himself up to give some self confidence inspiring comment to Adam when Chris butted in. “Of course he made it, it looks like the Coach is going to put him into the right side of midfield.”

“Well maybe if I practice over the summer then I can try out next …. ” began Max and then he trailed off as realisation dawned on him as he processed the comment that Chris had made. “I’m made it?”

“Of course you did, I thought you were the best player out there! Coach would have to have been blind to not put you in the squad” said Chris.

“You…. You….. YOU…..” began Max, who then simply tackled Chris, attempting to take him to the ground to pay him back for the joke. There scuffle whilst not particularly frantic drew attention from down the corridor.

“YOU TWO STOP MESSING AROUND!”. The voice boomed out down the corridor, the boys quickly separated and turned to see the Coach standing there looking at them. “Now is not the time for high spirits, you have made the team Max, but you now need to prove your worth. It’s the first time I’ve had two brothers on my team and I hope that you are not going to cause me problems and make me regret my decision?”

“No Sir” they both answered sheepishly, grins just about successfully hidden.

“Ok” he said to them with a small nod in their direct, he then addressed the wider group. “Well done to those of you who made the reserves squad, to those who didn’t thank you for coming and trying out. Some of you only just missed out on the squad so please tryout next year and you never know. Well that’s it, time for you lot to be getting home, I will see squad members on Friday for our first practice session.”

The three boys then turned and headed out of the school and turned towards home, the good natured abuse passing between them as they walked down the road towards home.

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The mood in the house that evening was celebratory, Sue and David were very pleased that Max had made it into the reserves team, they knew he was interested in football but until now had shown no inclination to play it seriously and they had been concerned that Max would always see himself stuck in his brother’s shadow if he couldn’t find some area to excel in. In the end after Max had related the events of the tryouts, at least 3 times, preparations for dinner had been long forgotten and David nipped out for Fish and Chips, something the family did not have that often. Adam stayed for dinner after a short phone call to his parents letting them know he was still at Max’s.

The talk continued into the evening as both boys began to elaborate on their future within the football world. It began with each of them describing their move into the School First team and eventually to scoring the goal that won them the School league cup. Chris then talked about playing for the local Amateur side, Max upped the ante to running out in the Dark Blue and Light Blue quarters of Wanderers, Chris then told the story of how he scored the winning goal in the last minute of the FA Cup Final, Max then capped it all off with him hoisting the World Cup as England Captain. Adam spent much of the time laughing at the wild exploits the two brothers were describing, however Sue and David sat on the sofa quietly enjoying watching the two brother describing so passionately their ambitions on the football pitch and wondering how far either might go. David eventually drove Adam home as it was getting late and when he arrived home despatched the two brothers to bed as it was still a school night. Max lay in bed that night for some time before he fell asleep and his mind was full of the thoughts of football and the future.