Monday afternoon finally drew in and the five children rolled back to the soccer field, a mismatched group of hand-me-downs and branded sports clothes. Coulson was a few minutes late again but the kids managed to muster a little more enthusiasm this time as they got to their feet. Roll call was run through as quickly as possible before the clipboard discarded and the sports bag opened.
"Now, something very important to remember before doing any form of sport is to warm up first. This tells your muscles that they're going to need to work harder so they have time to prepare and are less likely to get hurt," Coulson explained as he rolled the stiffness out of his shoulders then adjusted his footing. "It slipped my mind to tell you on Friday so I'm going to show you how to do it today and you can do it while you wait for me, okay?"
The group nodded, Simmons and Tripp subconsciously mirroring his movements causing Skye to struggle neutralizing the little smirk on her lips. Coulson tried to ignore this as best he could but they were pretty darn cute, especially considering he was the guy that rarely even babbled back at a baby.
"Let's start with some light jogging," He finally said while clearing his throat. "Don't worry too much about speed by this point, just try and keep a nice steady pace for a few minutes to wake your muscles up," Coulson added, his arms locking into right angles either side of his chest as he easily slipped into a familiar posture and jogged out twenty yards before turning to the children who were still standing perfectly still. "Your turn now," He prompted before they jumped into action, Coulson running a hand along his jaw to hide the brief smile that flicked across it.
It was a slight comfort to Coulson to see them run without a ball at their feet simply because they seemed a little more at home in their movements.
After one lap back and forth Coulson strolled back to retrieve the clipboard and a pencil. "Hold your hands at waist height and bring your knees up to them," He instructed while stepping back to stand the centre of the jogging length. Another lap and their arms were beginning to droop. "Now flick your feet back to your butt," He continued while observing the slightly-skewed-but-still-together line of children, their arms now dangling by their sides. They really did know how to drag on their warm up.
They seemed to finally be getting the hang of it when Tripp's feet got tangled up, thankfully he managed to twist his body in time to escape a face plant into the dirt. After that Coulson called them back into a circle.
He stood in silence as he reviewed the notes he had made on their performance, the five children uncomfortably shifting the weight back and forth across their feet. Was he really going to cut someone from the few players he had?
Coulson eventually glanced up to see their nervous expression and couldn't help but smirk. "I think you're ready to hear your positions now, right?" He asked to which they let out a breath and nodded with five identical grins. "These might need tweaking and shifting around but the main thing is to get you comfortable with your job as it is. If you really don't like your position we can talk about it and see if there's somewhere else I can fit you, okay?"
Five more nods and Coulson cleared his throat then knelt to dig out a pair of gloves. "Our goalkeeper is going to be..." Of course he wouldn't be able to resist the dramatic pause. "Grant." He finished and smiled as he handed over the gloves to the ten year old.
"You'll be great," Tripp murmured when he noticed a brief flicker of panic behind his eyes as Coulson glanced back to the board.
"Jemma and Leo, I want you two as our defenders. Your job is to stop the other team's strikers getting close enough to the goal to score. Leo, you're going to rest just above the penalty box as the last stop before Grant. Jemma is going to be a little further up so she's between you and our midfielder," Would another dramatic pause be a little too much for a kids soccer team? "Which will be Skye," He stated.
The little girl was blank for a few seconds before her forehead scrunched in a way that was painfully similar to a confused puppy, her eyes roving back and forth from Coulson and Tripp. "Is that good?" She asked which managed to bring a smile to everyone's lips.
"It's probably one of the hardest positions in soccer," Tripp said, in his head this seemed to be a compliment to the skill Coulson had placed on her but Skye didn't quite share his faith in her.
"The midfielder's job is to move the ball up and down the field. So, if Grant saves a ball he's going to pass it up to Leo or Jemma who'll pass it to you. Then you'll move up the field with Tripp to give him room to shoot," Coulson explained then gave a slight nod of encouragement. "You'll be fine, Skye. I wouldn't have put any of you where I did if I didn't think you couldn't handle yourselves," He assured them before reaching down to pluck a soccer ball from the bag and leading them out into the centre of the miniature pitch.
"What about uniforms?" Tripp piped up as he jogged to the spot along the halfway line that Coulson had pointed out for him. The coach raised an eyebrow, realising only then his perfectly complete list may not have been as perfect as he thought. "We've got to have uniforms, Coach! We won't look like a real team otherwise!"
Coulson smiled ever so slightly then rolled the ball to Skye. "Our first friendly isn't for two weeks, Tripp," He reminded the overexcited boy. "I'll find the uniforms in time... Now, you two are playing attackers. Leo, Jemma and Grant are defence. Your job is to score in the next five minutes," He instructed the smaller team. "And you three have to keep the ball out of your goal. You're still teammates so try not to bust any ankles, alright?" He asked with a smirk, the glint of a whistle being raised to his lips for the first time. "Let's play."
Coulson was always one for preparation, it was something he had prided himself on. Even as a child his clothes were hung neatly in his closet and his action figures lined up in perfect salutes. He had thought this would have travelled with him as he grew up but that was quickly swept aside when he was woken up at 9am that Saturday morning with a call from Coach Blake reminding him of the match they were set to play in two hours.
It actually brought a wry smile to his lips as he started up the minivan he had begged to borrow from his neighbour. He had managed to plan and prepare everything for the kid's first soccer match but somehow hadn't remembered the date, what a great coach he was.
He stopped at Leo's house first to be told he was at Jemma's. His mother called ahead while Coulson veered away from the curb and sped down the three streets that separated the houses in time for the two kids to throw in their booster seats and climb inside.
Tripp was next on the list as Coulson juggled between steering the car, putting in the address on the sat nav for the next stop and punching in Tripp's house number on his phone. "You aren't looking at the road," Jemma piped up when the car was just about to drift into the other lane. Coulson swung the wheel back to direct it straight again then bent his arm round to hold the phone up for them.
"Find Tripp's home number," He instructed, the sat nav finally jumping to life to direct him away from the street he was just about to turn onto. "I'm going to call ahead, to let him know we're coming," He added, his eyes focused on the road.
Leo and Jemma shared a small smile before the boy found the number and placed it on loudspeaker. Two missed calls and Tripp's mother finally picked up, a flustered assurance he would be ready before she raced off to collect his sports kit from the washing line.
Tripp was pulling on his still slightly damp jersey when Coulson pulled up on the curb. A quick peck on his cheek from his mother and his grandfather wishing him luck then he was out the door and hopping into the front seat. "I thought you said the match was next week?" The little boy asked with a hint of a smile as the van jolted back into action.
"I'm an old man, give me a break," Coulson murmured, glancing across with a smirk before handing him the sat nav and a scrap of paper. "Next stop is Grant's, can you get us there?"
"Well, that depends," Tripp stated with the tone of a negotiation on the cards. "Did you remember the orange slices?" He finally asked then grinned and turned back to the machine. "Turn left,"
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Grant was a rough pick up. He had opted out of giving Coulson the contact details for his parents so when he turned up on the doorstep unannounced there was a slight friction between him and Grant's father. Coulson refrained from commenting as the boy was bundled out the door with a pair of grubby sneakers in one hand and a banana that had sustained a considerable amount of bruising in the other. The little shove on his back when Grant's father thought Coulson was out of eye line baited something inside him but he simply gritted his teeth and guided him to the minivan.
The little boy slotted into the seat on the left behind Jemma and kept his eyes focused on peeling the fruit in his hand until there was a full block between him and the house. Once he had finished chewing down the food he cautiously placed the skin on the floor, almost like he was handling a live bomb, then began tugging on his shoes.
Skye was picked up last. She had crawled out of bed an hour before Coulson parked up outside the orphanage but she had slunk off to hang out with the older kids so when she was finally brought back home there was no time for preparing a different pick up sight. Originally she had planned on waiting at the end of her block so as to hide where she lived, a thought that had also passed through Grant's head a time or two, but now there was no avoiding it.
She trudged up to the minivan and barely returned the smile Coulson granted her as she dropped into the last free seat in the vehicle. A few of the younger children that had raced up to see the visitors stuck their tongues out as Coach pulled away from the curb and Skye had no trouble returning the gesture as she slipped into a brooding expression she had only just learnt.
Coulson watched the four children behind him with a slight sinking feeling in his chest, had he really just thrown away the little bit of happiness that was blooming from the group by mixing up his dates? After all, one week was hardly enough practice for their first game even if it was a friendly. He glanced across at Tripp who gave him a reassuring smile before directing his attention back to the window. Coulson let out a breath and gripped the steering wheel slightly tighter, he wouldn't give up just yet.
The match finished at 4-0 to Blake's team, the Bobcats. Coulson knew if the opposing team had been coached by someone that wasn't old friend the score would have been raised significantly. He managed to round them up to shake hands with the other team despite the scowls creeping onto some faces and kept them from complaining until the other children were piled back into their school bus.
"That wasn't so bad," He remarked as cheerfully as he could as the group settled down onto a patch of grass and began picking at the dirt clumped into their shoes.
"We lost, Coach," Grant stated in a glum tone as he inspected an ant that had crawled onto his index finger.
"By a lot too," Leo piped in despite the look Jemma shot him. The little boy shrugged at her then picked up a blade of grass and split it in half. "We didn't even come close to scoring during the whole match," He murmured.
"But next time will be better, won't it, Coach?" Tripp asked, his smile barely hiding the disappointment at the back of his mind. "We've got two weeks to practice and get ready to kick some butt," He added with a wide smile.
"That's right," Coulson agreed and forced a matching smile. "Now let's get you all back home, it'll be lunchtime soon," He stated to corall the group to their feet and toward the minivan. They occupied the same seats as before and the only noise was the faint murmur of the heat rattling and the radio turned down low.
The children were dropped off in the same order as they were picked up then the minivan returned to it's owner. She told Coulson he was welcome to use it whenever he needed and he accepted the offer despite the thought at the back of his mind telling him he might not have any use for it after today.
This chapter took a little longer than I planned to finish because there was some rewriting that needed to be done to get things to run smoothly in the next few chapter so I apologize for the delay! May was meant to be tacked into this chapter but I couldn't really find the place to introduce her but she'll definitely be in the next chapter. Hope you liked the story so far!