My Goalkeeping System

There were about nineteen cars already parked in the parking lot as he drove his car into the area.

He parked his car in one of the spaces left and stared off through the glass for a while before opening the door and stepping down from the car.

"Of course, everyone's here." He said before slamming the door shut. "I'm an hour and twenty minutes late."

<Instead of trying to comfort yourself with sentiments, I think you should head to the pitch fast before you become two hours late>

Dave didn't reply to her as he slowly walked toward the entrance, he wasn't acting like someone who was arriving late for training.

<I thought you were supposed to be walking way faster than this>

'What's the point of rushing when you're already an hour plus late?'

<So that you don't add more minutes to your tardiness>

'Doesn't really make any difference.'

The goalkeeper arrived at the pitch to see his teammates doing rondos and as soon as one person spotted him, all of them turned their gaze to him including Norman and the rest of the coaching staff.

'This is one of the reasons why I hate arriving late for any event at all, I hate it when everyone stops what they are doing just to look at me like I'm some kind of anomaly.'

Norman walked closer to him before he could step into the pitch to exchange a few words with him.

"Hey." The coach said before he put his arm around his shoulders and turned around with him. "How're you doing?"

"I'm okay," Dave said.

"Are you sure because your temperature seems to be a little high?"

"It is?" Dave said before quickly placing his hand on his neck to feel his temperature. "I feel okay."

"Okay, I thought you were sick," Norma said. "You know training started a long time ago right?" He added before slowly removing his arms from his shoulders.

"I know, I overslept."

"Oversleeping isn't actually a good reason for arriving late for training, you know there are punishments for arriving late for training right?"

"I know," Dave said with a nod. "I understand."

The goalkeeper was about to turn and start heading to the pitch when Norman pulled him back.

"This is your first time arriving late for training so I'll let you off lightly, but you have to promise that it won't happen next time, you're starting to become an important part of the team, and slacking off won't do you any good."

<Slacking off, if only he knew that you did a hundred push-ups a few hours ago>

"Thanks, coach, I promise it won't happen again," Dave said sounding elated for the first time since he woke up and found out that he was late for training.

"Good, now let's go continue training, I think you'll be essential for this part." He patted him on the back before heading toward the pitch while he followed from behind.

"An hour plus late," Jonas said as Dave walked past him. "That should be equivalent to a month's fine."

"Hey, bro what's up?" Mateo said as soon as Dave got closer to him.

"Hey."

"I called you like seven times after arriving here, but you didn't pick up, what happened?"

"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me," Dave said.

"Just tell me, we can work on the believing part later," Mateo said.

"Okay, I did a hundred push-ups at a go."

"You did what?" Minino had been standing by the side and was clearly hearing what they were saying, what Dave had just said came as a shock to him and he wasn't the only one.

"You're joking right?" Ferran popped up from Mateo's behind to say.

"Do I look like I'm joking, I felt like I was going to die after doing it, I managed to make my way to my room and after crashing on my bed, I slept off."

"That's why you're arriving now," Roland said.

"What the heck led you into doing a hundred push-ups at a go!?" Mateo asked with a baffled expression on his face.

"I can do fifty at a go but hundred, I'll need something very big to motivate me, a good deal maybe," Fred said.

"Or a punishment," Dave muttered.

"A hundred push-ups will drain anyone," Ferran said. "I have to say I'm surprised to hear that you were able to do it."

"I don't even do up to thirty push-ups," Mateo said. "I run a lot though."

"Okay, guys let's do the volley practice we talked about." Norman blew the whistle hanging around his neck before clapping his hands to call the attention of the players.

"Get in the post, Dave," Mateo said before quickly making his way toward the right corner kick spot area where Norman was standing.

"Mateo's going to be the one crossing the ball in from here," Norman said, rolling the ball a little closer to the edge of the box but he didn't reach the edge.

"Fred, you'll be going first, edge of the box." The assistant coach said pointing at the curved part of the box. "You're already in the goalpost Dave, good."

"Ready, Fred?" Norman asked looking at the striker.

"Yeah," Fred said with a nod.

"Okay, go Mateo." He said before blowing his whistle.

Mateo didn't say anything as he slowly pulled his left foot back and quickly curved the ball toward Fred.

Fred waited for the ball to get closer before he pulled his right foot back and sent it flying toward the bottom right side of the post.

The shot power behind his volley wasn't that great so it was an easy save for Dave as he dived toward the ball and pushed it out before it could fly into the goalpost.

"Nice save." Fred gave him a thumbs up before walking back to the others so that Fredinho could step up for his turn.

Dave expected to receive a quest for this training exercise but so far nothing had popped up on his screen.

Fredinho's volley was sent toward the top left-hand corner and although there was a chance that he could have saved it, the goalkeeper was glued to the spot as the ball fell into the back of the net.

All the players had a go with the only players who were able to put the ball into the net being Fredinho, Merino, Luis Roberto, Minino, and Mateo. Ferran's shot had gone wide from the right top side.

For the next round, Ferran was going to be the main crosser and unlike the first round, there were going to be two defenders in the box ready to stop the ball before it gets to the player whose turn it was to take the volley.

The ball successfully flew into Dave's net quite a lot of times in this round and most of them had come from deflections from either Pirlo or Aima as they were the two defenders in the box.

"Alright boys, that will be enough for today," Norman said before picking up the ball. "You guys should be here by 10 AM tomorrow so that we can talk about the tactics and the players that will be starting the match."

With the sun almost gone from the sky, Norman had brought the training session to an end and while the players were heading down the tunnel, a certain player had made his way to the coach to ask him a question that he had in mind since Dave arrived at the stadium.

"Hey, coach." He said after getting closer to Norman.

"Hey, Jonas, is there a problem?"

"No, not really, I just wanted to know what kind of punishment you gave to Dave, you should have announced it to us but for some reason but I'm guessing you didn't want to disrupt the training session."

"I didn't announce his punishment because I didn't give him one," Norman said.

"Wait, you let him off lightly?" The left-back said with a stunned look on his face.

"I have a policy of letting anyone off lightly the first time they do anything wrong, I didn't punish you the first time you arrived late for training so why should I punish him on his first time?"

Hearing him say that, the left back felt like a dagger had just been driven into his heart, this wasn't what he was expecting.