chapter 3: a filling session

Today was wednesday, and also the first day I'd have solo training with coach, to test out how much I might enjoy playing for the football team.

The fresh snow crunched under my feet as I made my way to the gym, and followed me into the building. Coach was nowhere to be seen so I assumed he was waiting in his office and went to go change.

I assumed correctly, he was waiting for me at his desk with what looked suspiciously like a bag of food.

He gave me a welcoming smile. "I imagine you didn't eat lunch today either?"

Scary, how well he already knew me. "I can't just keep stealing food from you"

He swished that thought away. "Nonsense. You need to eat well for your training and I have more than enough income." Starting to unpack the insides of the bag (Fish and chips), a cheeky grin snuck on his face. "And I remembered to bring our favorite" He pulled out a fresh pack of donuts and looked at me for approval. I nodded, a little unsure if eating this much before training was a good idea or not.

"How about you start here and I'll go get one more thing" Coach brushed past me to walk out the door. Don't mind if I do. I was so used to staying hungry until dinner that an afternoon meal seemed heavenly. After I was done, there was nothing left in the container apart from a few crumbs and smears of ketchup. Now should I wait for Mr. Kerman or start the donuts now? I suppose one wouldn't hurt.

By the time coach returned, I had already eaten three of the suckers. Turning around to greet him, I noticed the cup he was holding in his hand.

"Here, I found the recipe for this online, its supposed to help with bulking" He handed me what looked like a smoothie of sorts, before helping himself to a pastry.

Well, it didn't taste like your usual smoothie. Definitely seemed to inheret some of chocolate puddings' genes. I drank half of it and paused to grab another donut, at the same time as coach was grabbing his third. "Gotta catch up to you" Coach declared, Stuffing it between his lips.

It was getting a bit hard to finish up everything, but with coach beside me eating donuts like a hungry bear, I managed. Having him there really made me feel less insecure and almost competitive about eating the rest of the donuts.

After a brief pause, Coach was the first to talk. "Well, now that we have some fuel in the engine, let's use that energy to work you out" We both stood up and disposed of the trash before I followed him downstairs.

What happened next was closer to the type of training you'd expect. A few laps, a good amount of weight training. Mostly concentrating on building strength. He did a good job of pushing me on, but never too much to the point I'd feel like he was being mean.

"Ok, let's wrap up for today, you did a great job" Coach held out his hand to help me up from doing pushups. I was surprised with how much strength he pulled me to my feet. "Thanks" Was all that I could mutter.

"Let's say tomorrow same time? Any wishes for lunch?" He was really offering to buy me food again. "I really don't know if I can keep-" "No, no, like I said I'm fine with doing it" He interrupted me.

Fine. "Well I don't have anything specific in mind, I'm fine with whatever" Coach smiled "Great! Gotta make sure my guy has enough energy"

And a few minutes later I was back to walking in the snow, positive thoughts about food and Mr. Kerman clouding my head.