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 ... 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. The 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, 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 it was porridge and fruit for me. 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 been to see an old mate in Edinburgh. It was a little white lie but hey she didn’t need to know all my business. Let’s face it, in three 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 up to the gym. I had a lesson first thing with year ones. I took them out for some five-aside 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 year fives, 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 training 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.

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. 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 most of it 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 leaving do at my old club, it 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, they had been asked by the Canadian RFU to put the feelers out for coaching staff. The job that was on the table was for coaching staff to work with junior clubs but funded by the Canadian National set-up. 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 set-up.

The coaching badges would cost me 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.

I also thought that perhaps I needed some video of me doing a training session.

I went back into the office and used the computer to find the staff list. There were email addresses for all the teachers. I found the media and film department, it was made up of one person, Mrs Fuller. I did not recognise the name and I was sure I had never met her.

I sent her an email about what I was looking for. That afternoon I had a double lesson with the year fives and it was rugby rugby rugby. We worked on attacking and defensive running lines.

All the lads from the squad told me they would see me that evening. My last session was a free one. I used the time to investigate Canada and Canadian rugby. It looked to be a growing sport in the country and at senior and junior levels there were lots of clubs. I did a lot of digging and looked at some videos of the senior sides as well as some of the international side and they looked to be at a good level.

I decided to head down to the canteen early.

I had Mince, tatties, and peas for my dinner, followed by apple pie and custard. I was on my own at a table which was good as I would not have been making much conversation, my head was full of thoughts of Canada. Before the trip to Edinburgh, my mind was made up on going back to my old club or one similar and now there was a chance I would be coaching teams in Canada.

I decided on a coffee before I headed over to the gym, I got it from the coffee machine and sat down. I had taken my first sip when I noticed a red-headed lady wandering across the canteen. She was a looker; I would have guessed she was younger than me by a few years. She was wearing a summer dress that showed off her feminine body.

She came up to my table and smiled a smile that made me go weak at the knees.

“Hello, I am guessing you are Zak?” she said and even the sound of her Scottish accent was sexy.

“Yes ... that’s me,” I said and stood up.

She smiled again.

“I am Alison Fuller,” she said and her hand reached for mine. We shook hands.

“I am sorry Mrs Fuller I don’t think we had met,” I said and pulled out a chair for her.

“I am going to grab a coffee, “she said, “and it’s Alison, please.”

I watched her cute little ass as she made coffee, grabbed a pastry, and turned around to walk back. I turned my head in time so as not to get caught.

She sat down and broke off some of the pastry and nibbled on it.

“So, you emailed me, it is an exciting project. The whole school has gone rugby mad” she said and took a sip of her coffee. So, her email address was Mrs Fuller and she had a wedding ring on her finger.

“Have you seen any of the games?” I asked.

“I have yes. My ex was into football and he watched it on Television nonstop but now I have seen rugby I am converted” she said and broke off some more of her pastry. The fact she had said Ex piqued my interest.

“It’s a game for every shape, every size and every sex,” I said and sipped my coffee. Her pastry looked good.

“I might grab a pastry,” I said.

“Can I have another one as well please?” she asked.

I went up to the counter and filled a plate with a selection of pastries. It took them back to the table.

“So, tell me more about what you need the media department to do?” She asked.

I thought about my request and wondered if she might be funny about it if I told her, it was a show reel to help me get another job. I decided that honesty was the best policy.

So, I told her about my plans and how I needed a showreel. She did not seem phased by the fact it was to help me get another job. She told me she had not done any sports stuff before but she did have an after-school club that did all sorts of media stuff and that she would get some of the guys on the case the following evening.

We talked about what sort of stuff might make a good showreel as we chatted the room filled up. I glanced at my watch. I had ten minutes before the rugby training.

“I am sorry Mrs Fuller I have a training session in ten minutes so I really have to dash,” I said apologetically.

“No worries, Zak, and please do call me Alison, maybe I will wander over and have a look,” she said with a smile.

“Right cool, I will see you later,” I said and smiled at her, the smile she responded with made my heartbeat faster. I drained my coffee and left the canteen.

I had set up a shuttle run by the time the lads had got changed. I worked them hard for the first half an hour, up and down the shuttle run they went, it built up stamina and strength. Then we moved on to tackle practice. We had been doing that for ten minutes when I saw Alison Fuller, she was now dressed in jeans and a fleece. She still looked hot. She had a small digital movie camera in her hand.

She came over to the sidelines, I blew my whistle to stop the lads. Once they had all stopped, I sent them to do two laps of the pitch. There were a few moans but I told them to get on with it and I went over to talk to Alison.

“Hi Zak “she smiled and I saw her eyes flitting over me. I had shorts and a vest on and she was not shy about having a good look.