Chapter 4: Try outs
When you passed the first trials, it was time for scrimmages where you would be able to showcase your football IQ the most. This is where those with talent could shine. And I was confident that I could stand out in this trial too.
Scrimmages were held by dividing teams of kids with seven players each and we had to play 30-minute matches against each other while the coaches scored us. This was the time to show your skills like positioning, space penetration, ball control, dribbling, and all.
I waited for my turn while watching other matches and warming up. There were quite a few above-average players in the matches I watched but none stood out as a genius or someone to watch out for.
The team I was on was also a mixed bag. One thing of note was that more than half of my teammates were larger kids above the age of eight or nine.
The coaches had tried to distribute the smaller kids and the larger kids as fairly as possible but with just a few kids my age participating, it wasn't possible.
No matter what the team was like, I just had to play well. Or so I thought. When I finally went onto the pitch, playing against the kids twice my size with my physicality was much harder than expected.
I was playing on the left wing with all the older kids in my team giving me the same instructions, "Pass the ball to the others as quickly as you can."
Within minutes of the match starting, the opposition had already broken through to our half and all my teammates had dropped back. I was running back to mark my counterpart too.
While I was running back one of my teammates made a tackle and the ball sailed to me. I took control of the ball with a soft touch of my heel, turned around, and started running forward.
I was just crossing my half when a tackle came out of nowhere from a large kid. And I flew away like a sack of cotton and fell hard on my shoulder.
I should have seen the tackle coming but in my excitement to finally showcase my skills, I ended up focusing too much on the ball and didn't even have the presence of mind to observe the field.
The cost of that loss of focus was my shoulder getting hurt pretty badly. And despite my insistence that I could still play, the medics and Mom disagreed. Mom was insistent on taking me to the hospital right away.
No matter how well I did in the previous trials, it was obvious that I didn't leave much of an impression on the coaches. I had to forget about joining the academy this year.
"It is fine Johan. Your health is more important. We can always try next year, you have plenty of time so don't worry." Mom tried to console me on the way back because I kept quiet the entire time.
I was disappointed in myself for making such a stupid mistake like losing focus and getting hurt like that. But I wasn't too sad, I knew I had all the time in the world.
What surprised me more was that I didn't see even a speck of disappointment in my mother's face. There was only concern and sadness for me. Seeing that melted away whatever little resentment I had left for not making it into the academy.
When we got back home, there was a small party prepared for me. In my grandfather's words, "Trying and failing at something difficult should also be celebrated for the hard work you put into it. When you succeed we will have a bigger celebration."
It was a supportive gesture but all I could think of in the moment was that it sure is nice to be rich enough to celebrate my failures.
In the evening while we were having dinner, Mom asked me consolingly, "Do you want to try for other academies? After your shoulder gets better we can go to Ajax. Or do you want to go to England?"
"Abby has a few friends in England she hasn't met in a while. If you want to go, I'll take you around there." Grandma chimed in.
"No. I want to practice more and try again when I turn 8 years old. Instead, I want to learn French, German, and English."
After some thought, this was what I concluded. I should spend time on personal training while playing with local children's clubs. There's no need to put stress on my young body.
Instead, having language skills enough to hold a conversation in multiple languages seemed like a good idea. Although my English was pretty good because of my past life, I had to pretend to learn or it would seem too suspicious.
"That's a good idea. If you know more languages, it helps a great deal in business, especially one like ours. I speak French and German myself. Isabel also speaks fairly good French and English." Grandfather agreed with me. Although he still wanted me to join the company.
Okay. So that answers the question I had in my past life. Being smart was in my genes.
"Right. If that's what you want, Mama will teach you French and English." Mom volunteered.
"No. Mama has to go to work. I'll learn from tutors. Also, I don't want to go to school. I'll study from home."
Mom is great at everything but if she starts teaching me, I'm pretty sure she will spend more than half the time with other stuff like praising me. Not to mention I would have a harder time hiding my skills with Mom.
As for not going to school. It is just a waste of time for me at this point. I completed high school level education within three and a half years back in my past life. I can do the same again if needed.
Grandfather scratched his chin before slightly nodding, "Hmm. It is quite difficult to get permission to homeschool but I'll make some calls. I also think it's a waste for you to attend school at your level."
Once again, the privileges of being the heir of Global Ortiz Logistics, one of the top 10 shipping companies in Spain, are quite nice.
So, I designed a new schedule for myself where I trained in football for three to four hours each in the morning and evening with intermittent rest and studying and language classes in the afternoon.
The training was also diverse. Apart from the obvious basic football drills, I started the mornings with yoga to train my muscle flexibility and ended the days with a refreshing swimming session for stamina and endurance.
For my vision and reaction speed, I designed a game where I used different colored balls and nets. I stood in a circle with nets of different colors surrounding me in a circle and had people throw balls at me at random. The objective was to match the balls with the same net color.
To add some difficulty, the ball throwers would also shout out a different color from the ball they are throwing. I had to make quick decisions and put that ball in the color that was named. If a number was also shouted, I had to make the hit in the said number of touches.
This one exercise trained my vision and spatial sense to accurately discover the ball, its color, and the angle of the throw; ball and body control to intercept the throw; and shooting accuracy to put the ball into the net. Not to mention the reaction speed needed to do all that in a split second.
It was great training and my training partners were mostly the young maids and servants working at the villa. They got to play around with the young son of their employer while also getting paid extra so it was a win-win.
On the weekends, I would join the local boys' club at the park to play football to my heart's content. It was a mixed bag with all kinds of players of varying ages but it was fun.
I could feel myself improving every day. And I was also growing rapidly with my height reaching 148cm (4'8 ft) at seven years old. And with the balanced meal prepared by the personal chef, my body was growing in a balanced way.
Other than football, my language classes were also going smoothly with me being almost fluent in both French and English. My French still needed some work but I was good enough for a normal conversation.
As for my academics, I was taking it easy and going at a slow pace but still, I have completed the primary school certifications and half of secondary school coursework.
I also got the personal computer and internet connection that I wanted. Once I introduced Mom to the magic of the internet, the computerization of our company sped up rapidly. Mom also saw the potential of the internet.
Just the email service and websites as a medium to connect with global customers was an exciting prospect. Not to mention the investment opportunities in internet-based companies.
Although Grandfather was very reluctant, Mom was already preparing to establish a web and software development company to work for in-house jobs as well as to expand to outside business. With early movers' advantage and my subtle guidance, it should succeed big time.
It was also the year of the Asian financial crisis. I managed to shock my family by accurately predicting the crisis. I had studied and written a report about it in my past life so I knew quite a lot.
The problem was dumbing down the explanation to make sure it didn't sound too strange coming from a 7-year-old. 'I read it on the internet' became my perfect excuse for the complicated things. Although still strange, it was a much more natural thing when coupled with my 'genius' status.
Anyway, my family just thought it was their kid being smart and understanding a little bit about economics at first, but when the crisis hit Thailand, they were completely shocked. I'm pretty sure our company made a sizable profit from the fall of the Indonesian and South Korean economies.
Just like that another year passed by once again and I turned 8 and grew to 152 cm. I was turning out to be a handsome young man if I say so myself. The brown curls with the tall and fit frame were showing signs of a promising modeling career.
Other changes this year were that the company grew larger and the Ortiz IT company was also established. I also got better at French and can hold a normal conversation in German now.
Also, Mom turned 30 and probably prompted by that, she has started dating again. My grandparents were very pleased about that. I haven't met the guy yet but apparently, it's someone they approve of.
"Johan! Get your breakfast quickly. We will be late if you waste any more time." Mom shouted for me from the dining table.
I ran down quickly while drying my wet hair right out of the shower. "You made me prepare everything since yesterday. What's the hurry? We can easily make it in time."
Mom hit my head lightly in reprimand, "Don't be cheeky. Eat your breakfast instead of running your mouth."
Grandma then scolded Mom, "How many times do I have to remind you to not hit Johan's head Isabel dear?"
While the two bickered, Grandfather quietly sipped his coffee while reading a newspaper. I followed suit and ate my breakfast in silence. I had too much going on in my mind.
I was going for a youth football tryout once again.
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