Page 6 of Couple Goals

Kevin looks at the large stopwatch dangling around his neck.

‘Well,’ he mumbles, awkwardly adjusting his jacket. ‘I can tell you that you are all scheduled to go and meet her in five minutes. Pitch one, chop chop.’

Milo throws their hands up. ‘I bet the men’s team don’t have to put up with this kind of bullshit.’

Adriana nods in agreement, almost despite herself. Adriana isn’t a huge fan of Kevin because he hit on her after training in her first week at the club. It’s not that she isn’t used to getting hit on, thank you very much, butcome on! Time and place! It makes her feel like he sees the women’s team as a group of potential dates, not as professionals, and she knows it’s not how her male counterparts are treated.Besides, even if she fancied Kevin (which she doesn’t, he’s nearly ten years older than her and way too laddish) she wouldn’t sleep with someone that she works with. Not only would that be a slippery slope nepotism wise, but it would be way harder to never see a man again if she works with him, and that could lead to sleeping together more, and that would be against her ‘no repeats’ policy, which is working so well for her. Free and easy, that’s what Adriana wants. That’s what Adriana is sure she needs.

The thought of ‘no repeats’ reminds her of last night. She wonders what her fond nickname will be for him, when she’s laughing about it later with her friends, to show it meant nothing to her and she’s proudly not caught any feelings. Jacob-not-Jake? Prince Charming? No, that makes it sound way too romantic. Maybe to make light of it, he should simply be ‘Great Bum Guy’…

As the squad around her start trooping down to the training pitch, Adriana shakes her head unable to believe she’s thinking about some random man she’ll never see again when her precious team are going through a big change. She needs to snap out of it and get her head in the game to make a good impression on the new coach.

Adriana is worried about the way this tension is showing the cracks in the team. Milo, Nat and Liv are muttering mutinously together, and the birthday girl Elisa (their first-choice goalkeeper) is looking morose. And worst of all is Maeve, sweet Maeve, who is looking an odd shade of light green. Adriana has a chance to squeeze her friend’s elbow to show her support as Maeve’s face softens for a moment,glancing down at her, although they don’t have a chance to have a proper pep talk. Adriana tries to put all her love and support and pride for her friend into her smile back at her, in an attempt to let her know that everything is going to be alright. But the truth is – as the doors open onto the pitch to meet their new coach – she doesn’t know if it will be.

Chapter 2Maeve

Maeve takes another quick sip from her water bottle. She’s hoping no one can tell she’s feeling sick.

It’s not that she’ssadabout Coach Fernandez leaving, she tries to convince herself. No, she has a professional respect for him, as is only appropriate for someone who has led her team, and bestowed her the honour of club captain. But it would be weak of her to besad. Captains can’t wallow. What is important is what the change in management will mean for the prospects of the team going forwards.

Of course, Adriana won’t be thinking about all this, she’s probably just worried about how Pappi’s going to spend his retirement with his kids, or thinking about whatever – orwhoever– she was getting up to last night. But Adriana’s always found meeting new people to be easy, and she had Coach Fernandez wrapped around her little finger – who else would have accepted her frequent lateness and hangovers? Maeve has always found it harder to get people on side. The only thing she can rely on is her skill, and right now, she’s feeling like the biggest imposter to ever infiltrate a professional women’s team.

The truth is that Maeve’s scared.She has been ever since she joined the Tigresses. She’s scared shitless of messing up, of being shown to be a failure, and being found out. But she can’t let that on. The captain should be a fearless, brave leader, setting an example for the rest of the team. Fortunately, Maeve is well-practiced at pretending to be fine so nobody knows what’s really going on.

She pulls her shoulders back.

‘Come on team,’ she says. Her voice is low and barely raised, but everyone shushes immediately anyway, even Milo. ‘Only one chance to make a good first impression.’

God, she sounds like her mother. But there’s no time to think about that now.

The door from the meeting rooms opens, and three people emerge from the corridor and stride onto the pitch before them.

It reminds Maeve of watching football games with her dad, when she was little. The thrill of watching the players jog into the stadium through the tunnel, the anticipation of kick-off building. And like how usually they would be flanked by mascots, Kevin is there, like the player escort between the two of them. Try-hard Kevin just highlights how the two people on his either side ooze confidence and authority.

There’s Coach Fernandez, usually the most quietly confident man in any room, looking a little dimmed today. It’s understandable, Maeve reminds herself. She wonders how recently Coach found out about his forced retirement if the club wanted to bring a new manager in. He’s been hiding it well up to now, but now his head is dipped, and Meave notices for the first time that he’s got a small patch of balding on the top of his head,like a too-sharply mown patch of grass in the centre of the field. Her heart pines with affection for him. In reaction, she impulsively punches her chest a little, as if she’d just had heartburn. She won’t let herself pity her coach. She won’t have that disrespect for him by looking down on him after what he’s achieved.

And the truth is, it’s hard to pay attention to her coach – or she supposes she should think of him as ex-coach now – next to the woman standing beside him.

Maeve recognises her, of course. She sees it as an important duty as a player to have a fastidious knowledge of all the important figures in the game, from managers and assistant managers to even those politicians gifted the most corporate hospitality from the club. Besides, Women’s Football isn’t that huge a network – if you’ve played as much as Maeve has over the years, who has been a consistently called-up player in all of the teams she’s played in for the near-fifteen years she’s been playing football. But even if Maeve hadn’t done her homework, she would recognise their new coach. Everyone here does, hence why everyone around her is standing open-mouthed and more alertly than usual. Because their new coach is Serena Hoffman.

Serena Hoffman was one of the rising stars of her generation of women’s footballers, before a nasty ACL injury during the Euros final ended her playing career when she was only just beginning to hit her peak. But she then directed her ambition and drive into being a coach – as far as Maeve was aware,she most recently had been at the Loughborough Vixens, where she got them promoted.

It’s not merely that Serena is tall – she’s perhaps around Maeve’s own five foot nine – but she carries herself with the confidence of a giant. Maeve would guess she’s in her late thirties, though the only signs of any aging at all are the lines on her tanned face. Her ash-brown hair has a handful of elegant streaks of grey, and is tied back into as tight a high bun to rival Maeve’s own sleek hair. But the first thing that you notice about her is her eyes. Behind simple rimless glasses, they’re sharp, piercing, and silver-grey. They remind Maeve of a sword glinting in the light.

As if feeling Maeve’s gaze, the new coach turns to her. Her stare is as unwavering as a sword too, and Maeve stands immediately to more rigid attention. She feels like a soldier meeting her new commander.

‘Good morning players,’ she says immediately holding their attention. ‘Thank you for joining me. Now, I’m aware that this news has come unexpectedly to you all. But there simply isn’t much time for us to waste on introductions or hand-overs. This has come at a vital time for the future of your team. Ofourteam. Soon, under my leadership, you will truly be earning your name of the Tigresses.’

But maybe it won’t really be all that much change, Maeve hopes. Maybe Coach Hoffman has the same priorities as Coach Fernandez, and will just continue to keep the players on the same routines that the team – and especially Maeve – have become accustomed to these past months to keep that steady trajectory to build.

‘So the centre of my vision for the team moving forwards is…change.’

So much for that thought then.The knot in Maeve’s stomach tightens painfully.

‘I have of course been studying all your records in advance of meeting you,’ Serena continues, pacing now up and down the line of players, with confident strides. ‘It will be interesting to see how you compare in real life to the stats I know of you. I already have many ideas of which of you will need the most moulding. Let’s see if any of you prove me wrong…’

She stops in front of Maeve.

‘First things first. Let me meet the player who embodies all that’s good about what you do. Captain, step forwards.’

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