Decisions are harder than lifting dumbbells

"You're leaving already?" Annabel asked while panting.

"I really thought you'd quit, after the game at middle school. After... that day, I thought you'd never want to see another person kick a ball." Tony slowed down but his teammates kept on walking to the bus on which they arrived.

"I didn't want to but after I heard you got better and everything. I wanted to see you play, I couldn't get into Tenzin so this was the next best thing."

"I see," Tony looked back to see how far his teammates had gone. "So how is it? it's a pretty good team if you asked me."

"They need to grow, their level is nothing like it should be. What they possess in individual prowess they lack in teamwork and fluidity."

"I can trust you to help them just like you helped me in middle school but then again this isn't middle school and this is serious." Tony stared holes into his sister. "From now on, you are one of my enemies."

Annabel watched him leave, something bad had happened in their family quite some time ago and all she wished for was for them to get back together but Tony was right. "On the pitch, we are enemies."

Their morning training had just concluded and Cory gave everyone another set of training regimens that they couldn't show anyone, Joseph and Paul were discussing about something earlier while they trained and it didn't seem like Paul was happy to relay the news to the squad.

The spring tournament was days away and not only did they have to travel to Wyoming but not everyone could follow along. Tournaments had a strict player limit meaning that only 19 players could follow at any given time. 11 starters, 6 subs and 2 reserves.

Paul had checked up on the injured players and they were ready to go so he brought them back to train with the B team but that would mean 2 players would have no chance to play in the game, he didn't want to bring them back before the summer league so they could have more experience playing with the A team guys but since the A team were getting ready for the league there weren't any more games they could play.

Paul is a proud man that likes to think about his day before it even starts, he'd think about everything that could and couldn't happen and then make a decision based on his options, this was the same thing that happened when he picked out the Marion squad. Normally coaches would spend days evaluating before picking them out but Paul wasn't like other coaches.

Joseph had scouted half the squad and he gave Paul all the notes he had on them so Paul predicted what would happen on the pitch and he was correct both times, not only did he predict the score line he also predicted who would be responsible for shifting it. He could make extremely precise decisions most of the time but after his loss to Tenzin, he became desperate.

Instead of seeing a few possibilities he sees a hundred, with 99 of them being incorrect. He didn't know what players to start the match with, he didn't know what players could take control of the match. He didn't know anything, the team roster should've been finalized a while ago but he was delaying. He didn't want Cory or Joseph to catch on. He didn't want to be useless.

He was a failure of a coach, he gave his players advice that he couldn't even take himself. "Take this feeling, harness it, do not forget it. This feeling of loss and anguish, use it as motivation to push you to greater heights. Make sure you never feel like this again." Please this was all meaningless motivational crap, he doesn't know what to do. He doesn't know what to say and worst of all. He doesn't know what to think.

"Hold on there big guy," Cory patted Paul's back as they both faced the squad. "It's okay, don't overthink it, just calm down and observe. There's more than enough time, just believe in yourself."

Paul's first decision after becoming the B teams coach was hiring Cory. Cory was nothing more than a gym trainer and even though he was a gym trainer, he barely lifted anything. He was slim and lanky with wavy hair but he knew exactly what he was doing when it came to his field of expertise. Cory knew exactly how many reps and how many pounds each gym member needed and he was always right. Be it simple advice like intake of more water or electrolytes, or to deadlift a certain amount before resting, members of the gym loved Cory to an extent that most families dreamed of.

Paul wasn't a regular gym member, he had a subscription and to make sure it wasn't a complete waste he decide to hit the gym once in a while. That's when he started seeing a dark-haired boy walking around the gym, at first he wondered if he was someone's son until he asked him whether he needed a regimen.

"A regimen?" Paul dropped the bar and looked at the boy in front of him.

"Yes sir, not to be offensive but I believe you're focusing on the wrong thing."

"Yeah, where's your dad?" Paul said looking around.

"Two and a half minutes of planking, a light jog around town, 15 sit-ups and 15 pull-ups." Cory dropped a note on him and left. "Everything else, including your diet should be there."

"Hmm."

As a joke, Paul decided to follow the regimen and he realized Cory wasn't playing around. He had truly been focusing on the wrong things, he needed to work less on his arm strength and more on taking and balancing control of his own body weight. Days later he found Cory and they both started talking, they were into the same things, Horse racing, tennis, soccer. That was how they both ended up in front of a screen betting on clubs. Cory could decipher games in real time telling everyone what they should be doing and how they should've been playing. "Pistol offense, box to box, high press, tiki-taka, park the bus." Cory truly was a genius in the strategies of anything he focused on.

So on that fateful day after Joseph made Paul predict the outcomes of those 5 matches, the first person that entered his mind as an assistant was Cory.

Paul looked at Cory and he took a deep breath in and another out, Frank Martin had outsmarted him but this wasn't the end. They'll certainly meet each other in the summer league and Marion would be ready.

"Huddle up everyone," Paul shouted and the players came closer. "I'll be announcing our team roster as well as our squad for the first match against Luthervale High."

Marion.

Formation: 4-4-2

Coach: Paul Siegfried.

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Goalkeeper (1) Yuri Petrov.

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Left back (3) Mark Birch.

Center back(6) Everest Wallflower.

Center Back(4) Kyle Fitzgerald.

Right back(2) Silvestre Perkins.

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Left MF(54) Nagisa Aoto.

Center MF(43) [Captain] Danny Friedman.

Attacking MF(23) Liam Briar.

Right MF(17) Shin Ha-jun

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Center forward(19) Afeez Afolabi

Center forward(31) Benjamin Parker.

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Subs. GK(1) Jeremiah Clinton, CB(8) Trevor Garrison, CB(65) Gregory West, CMF(10) Byron Whitaker, CF(84) Max Basil, CF(27) Xiao Haoyu.

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Reserves: Arthur Posey and Xavier Leon Frederick.

[Left out of the selection are Roland Ian and Lucas Carter.]

"And for our first match against Luthervale, our lineup is." Paul called out.

Goalkeeper (1) Yuri Petrov.

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Left back (3) Mark Birch.

Center back(6) Everest Wallflower.

Center Back(4) Kyle Fitzgerald.

Right back(2) Silvestre Perkins.

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Left MF(54) Nagisa Aoto.

Center MF(43) Byron Whitaker.

Attacking MF(23) Liam Briar

Right MF(17) Arthur Posey

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Center forward(19) Xiao Haoyu.

Center forward(31) Max Basil.

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Subs. GK(1) Jeremiah Clinton, CB(8) Trevor Garrison, CB(65) Gregory West, CMF(10) Xavier Leon Frederick, CF(84) Benjamin Parker, CF(27) Afeez Afolabi.

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Reserves. Danny Friedman, Shin Ha-jun.

[Left out of the squad. Lucas Carter and Roland Ian]

"I'm in the starting squad!!" Byron celebrated as he heard his name but it was just now he saw the position he was put at. "Coach, I think you made a little error with the formation. I'm a striker."

"Byron." Paul sighed. "See me after practice."

Byron's world cracked. Fragments fell from his dream and he could feel everything slipping away. Joseph had brought up the position change but he quickly dismissed it so why did they go ahead with it anyways? Was he useless as a striker, was the one thing he strived to do the only thing he couldn't?

"Strikers produce goals." Byron thought to himself. "No."

"I'm a striker, I won't let any half-assed decision take that away from me. If my doubts are pulling me back I just need to get rid of them." Byron watched Paul walk to the main building.

"I guess the weak truly get cut off." Benjamin looked at Byron and then walked toward the dorms.

"Are you okay?" Nagisa asked.

"I'm good, I just have to get to the bottom of this." Byron ran to the main building.

He knew he didn't have the best pace, or skills when on the ball but please, don't take away this as well. Ever since Byron watched his first match on that fateful day, he witnessed a world cup upset that ended in a 2-1 defeat and from then on forth all he wanted was to be like him. To be the one to turn games on their head and give the fans a reason to smile. But since his position got changed, it would seem that Paul does not see him as that sort of player.