Chapter 32

I woke up before the alarm went off and saw that the sun was shining. I got my running gear on and went out to run off the excesses of the weekend. We seemed to have done nothing but eat, drink and shag ... but trust me, I was not complaining, it had been a great weekend.

I did my warm-ups outside the accommodation block, ran down the road that led out toward the school gates, turned left and then ran out across the moor. The sun soon had the sweat pouring out of me. There was no wind at all, and it was already a hot morning. It was great to run across the moors and see the wildlife, birds, goats, and deer were all around me.

It was something about working at the school that I would miss. I jumped over a small stream and found a path that I knew led back to the school.

On the return leg, I saw some of the rugby squad running toward me. We nodded at each other and exchanged good mornings. When I returned to the accommodation block, I was sweating like a pig.

I did some warm-downs and went in for a shower. I stood under the hot water and let it wash the dirt and sweat off me. I soaped up and swilled off four or five times, and then I made a coffee as I dried off and got dressed.

I sent a good morning text to Marcia. Then I slipped some trainers on and went down to the canteen. I had overindulged over the weekend, so I had porridge and fruit for breakfast. I topped it off with a pint of water.

I sat with Bones, the professor and Natalie. The chat around the table was about a fight between some of the boys over the weekend. The Prof said it was a shame I had not been around, as I would have been handy when it came to stopping them. Natalie asked where I had been over the weekend.

I told her I had visited an old friend in Edinburgh. It was a little white lie, but hey, she didn’t need to know all my business. Let’s face it, in four weeks, I was planning to leave the school, and I doubted we would ever see each other again.

I ate breakfast and took a takeaway coffee over to the Gym. I did the usual sweep of my emails and got some time to do some of my admin work.

I had a lesson first thing with year one lads. I took them out for some five-a-side football. It was an easy lesson for me, and they seemed to enjoy running around in the sun.

My next session was year twos and I got them playing five a side as well. It was nice standing on the playing fields with the sun out. Before the next lesson, I checked my mobile phone. No reply from Marcia yet.

The next lesson was with some year five lads, some of the group were rugby lads some were not. I got them doing some basic rugby drills. We only had four days before the next match, and I needed them to be ready.

We did some tackling and also practised our rucking and mauling. I decided to add an extra training session for the squad that evening, so while the lads showered and changed, I sent an email out telling the lads I was available to train that evening from six until nine.

Then I went into the canteen and got some lunch. I went for chicken salad and a pint of water. I was still mind full of my weight and fitness.

The table I sat at was full of the young staff members, and the chat was all about Natalie and her role as Head of School. Most of them thought she was a good appointment. The idea of a fresh approach seemed to be what most of the staff wanted.

I did not take a pudding, as again I knew I had overindulged over the weekend.

I went to the staff room and collected my post, and there was a lot of it, most of which was junk that was binned straight away. I took it to the gym office and went through it all. There were some Music CDs, an invitation to a leaving do at my old club, which was from a lad I had played with a few times, and I thought I would attend it if I could, and a couple of letters from old mates about testimonial events. The most interesting was an A4 Brown envelope from a sports agency in London.

They were outlining a job offer that had come in; the Canadian RFU had asked them to put the feelers out for coaching staff. The job on the table was for the coaching staff to work with junior clubs, but the Canadian National setup funded it. It outlined the interview process and how that would work. There would be online interviews, and then if I made the shortlist, I would have to fly over there for a face-to-face interview.

It piqued my interest. I read and reread the letter a few times. It seemed like a good job offer and had come out of the blue. The CRFU, the Canadian Rugby Union, would sort out accommodation and put me in a club role. As well as training with the club, I would be doing some sessions with local schools. I would have to add to my coaching badges, as they expected me to have a higher standard than I had. I did not think getting my other coaching badges would be an issue; I was eager to get on with them anyway.

The idea seemed to be getting rugby to a higher standard and adding to the national setup. Also, I had toured Canada twice and loved the place.

The coaching badges would cost me a few quid, but I figured in the long term it would be well worth doing.

I would need to investigate that, as that would be a game-changer. In the last paragraph of the letter, there was an email address. I sent off an email with links to my old club showreel and my CV.

I then went into the Gym and hit the weights. I had always found that doing weights concentrated my mind. I did a few reps and thought about my future and where it would lead me. I shifted from machine to machine.