The next day, I woke up very early in the morning. As soon as I woke up, I did a little bit of exercise. I just did a few pushups before going into the toilet, I was feeling very lazy at the moment and couldn't be arsed to do more. Besides, it wasn't like I was a defensive midfielder or something. I knew being strong was important, but I also felt like it was an overrated attribute at time.
After I finished putting on my clothes and everything, I headed towards the Trainingscentrum Hengelo, FC Twente's training ground. As soon as I arrived, I presented the security guard with my player ID. I wasn't popular enough to be instantly recognized by the guards, and since the pre season training was held abroad, they didn't really recognize me. I also walked to the training ground, as I hadn't gotten my driver's license yet so I didn't really look the part of professional footballer.
'I really need to get my drivers license though'. I thought to myself as the security guard handed me back my ID, and allowed me into the training ground.
It wasn't as if I could afford to buy a car right now, because I wasn't yet earning enough to do so without careful planning, but I still wanted it. Plus, I could try to convince my parents to send one of theirs through from Amsterdam.
Immediately I entered the building, I immediately reported to the club staff for a check in. We used a few biometric apps to track our attendance as well as our wellness. I was asked questions about my sleeping and stress levels and recent activities. I answered all of them truthfully. I also casually excluded the fact that I had a full blown training session in the rain yesterday, but that didn't seem like important information.
After I finished checking in with the staff, I immediately made my way to the team's dining hall. Usually, we would wait till around eight in the morning before breakfast started.
When I entered, I immediately went towards a seat at the edge of the large table placed into the dining hall and took my seat. There were a few senior players that already arrived, but asides a wave and a handshake to those that were close enough, I didn't really interact with them. Even though I'd gotten a little over a month to properly know them, I wasn't the much of an outgoing type so I didn't really have a lot of friends in the team.
A few minutes after I arrived, I felt someone drop onto the chair beside me and I turned my head to look at who it was.
"Hey man". The person greeted with a smile as soon as our gazes met.
I stared at his leg, then brought my attention back to his face. "Hey man". We shook. "The physio's cleared you?"
"Yeah, it wasn't a serious injury. Just a knock. I'm surprised it took this long for him to clear me to be honest". The person replied.
The person in question was Harrie Kuster, like me he was a central midfielder. He was one of the current bright young talents that were coming through from the academy at the moment, but he was yet to make his debut for Twente that season.
"Good thing you're fine now". I smiled, then turned my attention away from him.
In preseason, Harrie managed to get a few minutes of gametime, but unfortunately for him, he picked up a knock and was out for a total of two weeks. He was back now, and he would probably be working on getting himself a starting spot on the first team.
A few minutes later, it was time for the team breakfast to begin. The club staff brought our meals after collecting our orders, and everyone ate together, with the breakfast being a picture of laughs and bants. Even though I wasn't really popular with the rest of the team, I couldn't get out of it.
When we finished eating, everyone filed into the physio room where we underwent various tests. It was nothing much, just routine checkups so that they'd know if someone had an injury before training or something. Once someone was given the green light, they'd go out onto the training pitch.
After the physiotherapist finished checking me up, I went out onto the pitch, and started stretching along with the few other players that were there. When everyone finished their checkup session, the coach gave us ten minutes to stretch, and then we did a few warm up drills. When we finished, he called us together and started speaking to us.
"Alright boys, we're coming off a very good pre season". Joseph Oosting, the head coach of FC Twente started speaking once he had everybody's attention. "We won three and drew one, and while that's decent, we need to make sure that we don't get complacent. For the fact that we had such good results, we know that the quality is there, but now we also need the mentality. Last season we finished in the top three of the division. The fans, the board, everyone will be expecting us to follow it up with another good season this season so we have to go out and prove that last season wasn't a one time thing".
"Yes coach!" Everyone collectively shouted.
"Our first match of the campaign is at home versus Salzburg, just three days from now. It's our chance to get back to the Champions League after almost ten years away". Joseph continued talking. "We have to show that we want it more than the opposition because we do want it more than them. They've been in and out of it for so long, but we haven't made it there in such a long time. Think about what it would do for your careers, to play in the Champions League..."
To be honest, I couldn't really remember what Joseph said in the rest of his speech. All I remember was that everyone, myself included, was fired up when he finished talking, pumping their fists and shouting.
After allowing us to be rowdy for a bit, Joseph clapped his hands, getting everyone's attention. "Alright boys, let's get to work".