#7 - Turf City Part 1

"Alright, that's a good session from everyone. Make sure you guys rest well and recover. We have two more sessions next week before the classification rounds. Remember to not get injured."

The coach ended his briefing as the students dispersed into their own groups. The football CCA were preparing for their first NSG game the came the next week. There wasn't any sense of pressure for the game as most of the students went off talking about how excited they were to score and have a great game.

The school was one of the best when it came to football, hence why many aspiring footballers chose to come here. The coaches were great and great players always went through the batches. Every player in the school team had potential to craft out a career in the sport and that comes with an immense confidence proceeding matches.

Darren and Cheng Hou were together as usual, showing examples as seniors by helping clear out the equipment. Darren was picking up the markers while Cheng Hou was putting the footballs into the ball bag.

"Hey, good work out there," Darren said to Cheng Hou. "Seems like a clean sheet will come your way next week."

"Who knows?" Cheng Hou shrugged as he tied up the bag. "It's never good to underestimate our opponent like that."

"Come on. Have a bit of faith in yourself. You're gonna do fine," Darren refuted as he followed Cheng Hou who was walking towards the equipment storeroom.

"It's not that I don't have faith in myself. Every team might have that one star player that will perform well even if their team is bad." Cheng Hou huffed as he threw the ballbag down while Darren set aside the markers.

"Sure, but you're going to outclass whoever plays well," Darren said as he hit his fist on Cheng Hou's chest. "Anyways, are you gonna go to Turf City tomorrow? The one Anri invited you to?"

"I'm not sure," Cheng Hou replied as the pair walked out. "Should I?"

"Why not? It's Turf City, the field is great and booking the pitches there can be quite hard."

"I know. But I think I'd rather train and work on my fundamentals," Cheng Hou said as the pair sat down on the pitch to unlace their boots. "There were some shots that I didn't save and I think I could've saved them with better footwork."

"Just shut up," Darren sighed and rolled his eyes. You might be wondering why Darren rolled his eyes when Cheng Hou was talking about improvement. Usually, it's good when people demand a lot from themselves. But in this case, Cheng Hou was talking about shots that went in the upright of the goal. In other words, top corner shots.

Shots that were placed perfectly into the upper 90 of the goal. Satisfying hits into the perpendicular that most keepers, even professionals, wouldn't save. And it wasn't as if Cheng Hou was far from reaching the ball, he had his fingertips touch it. Yet, he was demanding too much of himself like a perfectionist. Frankly, Darren was getting tired of it. But he bit his tongue. He understood why.

"And besides, she said it was a 7-aside pitch. I don't think I'll get much benefit from playing in a smaller goal."

"Well, the pitch is smaller so you can work on your reactions. Right?" Darren pointed out, giving Cheng Hou something to think about. "Well, if you wanna come then just come. I'm gonna go."

"You are?"

"Yeah. I'm gonna go and have a bit of a kickabout," Darren kept his boots as Cheng Hou kept his. The latter taking out his shirt and wearing a fresh clean one. "Training isn't everything, you know. Sometimes you just need a breather and do something fun to keep your brain free from stress."

"Think about it. It'll help clear you off any doubts you might have for the next game." Darren got up, speaking as if he read Cheng Hou's mind. And it did give the goalkeeper something to think about.

And so came the next day. Cheng Hou was packing up his stuff when Anri and Meili walked in. Meili was off talking to her other friends as usual, messing around with her girl friends while bantering with her guy friends. Anri approached Darren and Cheng Hou who were talking between themselves.

"Hey guys," she greeted. "So are you guys coming tonight?" She asked to reconfirm. Darren nodded, confirming his intentions to come but Cheng Hou was hesitating a bit. He looked deep in thought for something that felt like an easy decision. He usually did a bit of training at the school field on Fridays and some gym work and plyometrics in the evening.

"You don't have to come if you want," Anri reassured. "I invited you because you'd make the session fun, seeing how good you are."

"It's alright. I'll come."

"Really?" Anri eyes gleamed as her grin got wider. "That's great! I'll meet you guys at the Grandstand at five thirty?"

"Sure, sounds great!" Darren approved as Cheng Hou nodded.

"Heyyy!" Meili ran over. "You guys are playing with us tonight?"

"You're coming?" Cheng Hou asked with a sudden displeasure in his voice.

"Yup!"

"Great," he said in a very sarcastic tone as he looked over to Darren who shrugged. "Can't wait for you to do everything but score."

"You say that but you'll take those words back when I do score against you tonight."

And so did tonight came.

"Hey! You guys came earlier than I thought." Anri said as she saw the two boys approaching her. She was wearing a black tracksuit with black tights underneath her school shorts. Darren was in his club's training kit with white pants and low white socks while Cheng Hou wore the same fit as Anri, coincidentally.

The three of them walked into the area where football pitches soon came into view. Some were for futsal, a five-aside variant of the sport. Some were seven-aside for more competitive yet casual games, and there was one eleven-aside pitch which was currently in use for a friendly match. The three walked deeper inside and next to the eleven-aside pitch was the seven-aside pitch where they were going to play at.

Meili, who was juggling a football, greeted them as she exchanged a few foul words with Cheng Hou. Anri brought the two towards a group of men with who were presumably their sons and daughters.

"Dad, my friends are here."

That was when Cheng Hou realized it wasn't just a casual kickabout.

He had to go up against grown adults.