I have been enjoying my new found freedom with the things in life I love; running, football, reading and the overconsumption of Taiwan beer. I have found a new zest and zeal for life and frankly feel like my cup is slowly being refilled (with lager). Things have taken turns for the better over the last three weeks, to the point of being offered another coaching job in Taipei, meaning I’ve secured somewhat gainful employment Monday through Thursday and then games on Saturday and Sunday. Being unemployed hasn’t actually really been being unemployed, I’ve still been working most evenings but having some time to myself has been really quite fulfilling. Being off the bus, and (slightly) working for myself has been dreamlike, days when I want to do the square root of fuck all (still fuck all for the non-mathematical of you) I have been able to do with zero repercussions, besides the miniscule guilt of wasting a day in my head.
However one personality trait that has always been levelled at me, is that I am simply a doer. I have itchy feet and tend to want to do everything and more. This may be curse as opposed to a blessing as it leads to burn out and often more problems than its actually worth. The reason I ended up in this position is a case in point. I wanted to coach and I wanted to teach, instead of doing a predator/prey analysis or just making a decision I said yes to both, rendering me incredibly tired, grumpy and hollow behind the eyes. So logic dictates that I shouldn’t do this again.
Plot twist.
One of my friends at school has to return to Canada to change her visa type. Normally this would be a week long endeavour; fly back to Toronta, go embassy, apply for visa, fly back to Taipei, return to school. However due to the world being on fire, this week long trip is looking like its going to take 5. Fly back to Toronta, quarantine for two weeks, go embassy, apply for visa, fly back to Taipei, quarantine for two weeks and return to school.
This has meant that the school needs a full time substitute teacher for 6 weeks. Given that I worked at this school for a whole year last year and the first 6 weeks of this year I do seem like an ideal candidate, when you factor in the students (many of whom I taught last year) and Scout and I’s similarly hectic energy (I sometimes supported her in class) I become a shoe in for the role, and It’s been agreed that I will start this coming Monday.
The conflicting emotions I am currently experiencing are pulling and pushing my soul into a multitude of directions. For one I am incredibly excited about working back in a team I loved and am looking forward to reconnecting with all the other teachers. On the other hand I am overly aware of the incoming mountain of work. I’ll be working from 8am-10pm or 8pm four days a week, and have games on both the Saturday and Sunday now that I have taken charge of a U12 team. When I factor in the marathon I am also meant to be training for, the next six weeks look like they are going to really take it out of me, emotionally, physically and spiritually.
But here is the kicker. I don’t feel that negatively about it, maybe there’s a modicum of apprehension somewhere in the dome piece, but generally I feel quite excited about it. It’s going to be awful, unsocial, exhausting but for some reason, I’ve squared that with my soul. I’ve thought of challenges at times in my life as something that motivates me and I’m pretty sure I’ll feel challenged in the next six weeks, maybe I’m just a glutton for punishment. So back on the bus I go.
Now for a story that brought me back to my childhood and has had me beaming from ear to ear the last week.
Taiwan has somewhat difficult international relations due to it’s relationship with China, for example; the UK doesn’t actually recognise Taiwan as an independent nation and know of it as the Peoples Republic of China and in international sport the nation often has to compete as Chinese Taipei. Taiwan does have very good relations with many of the smaller Central American nations, there are a lot of Central Americans here working and studying. There’s a large Belizean, Honduran and Guatemalan population to name a few. There are so many Central Americans here, a Copa America Taiwan is an annual event here. The tournament is a celebration of all things Latin; football, food and music, the event is a real party and the organizers do an outstanding job to put it on.
Traditionally there are a few invited teams, this year team GB was fortunate enough to be invited, along with Eswatini, France and Spain. Most teams sporadically train and play together, but being incredibly disorganised, we created a Facebook group, and just turned up to the pitch on the Saturday morning. I knew a hand full of the lads from the team I regularly play for but the vast majority were fresh faces to me. Being the first game on, the pressure was on to get to know each other quickly, I led with my name, a position and a fun fact and the rest of the guys followed suit. Organising us on the pitch was equally complicated, having never played together the first game was pure guess work and we performed as such, but we pride ourselves on our defensive organisation and managed to get a 0-0 with Paraguay. The next few hours were spent getting to know each other before a big game against Nicaragua, we knew a win would give us a great chance of qualifying, and rumours were circulating that the Taiwan team (the last team in our group) was flush with Taiwan Premier League players and internationals. I had work during this game, but we triumphed 1-0 with a truly British ball into the box. Cue celebrations.
Our last game of the day was against one of the tournament favourites, Taiwan. We knew a point would take us through to the second day and the rough team talk was to try and stagnate the game, track your runners and try to hit them on the break. We almost scored too early and went 1-0 up, then it was time to defend. Priding ourselves on the values of hard work and communication we kept the Taiwanese at bay until the very last minute where they equalised, 1-1, but both teams went through. They were a lot better than us individually and technically but we were organised and hard to break down.
That evening we all went to a bar together and laughed and joked about how we only met that morning but had somehow got through to the quarter finals the next day. After a few beers we even discussed the idea of the second day and how even if we went out after our first game the tournament for us would be a triumph and we could get on the beers nice and early and enjoy the Copa America atmosphere together.
Early morning we found out we were to play Honduras in the quarters, we were relieved to have avoided Haiti (feels weird saying this in a football context, but they had the two top scorers in the Premier League), we were fully aware the Hondurans were more technical than us, with an incredibly strong spine made up of gifted players who could run rings around us. We set up in exactly the same way as we did against Taiwan, and after a few minutes my centre midfield partner slapped me the ball, expecting the referee to blow, I hammered the ball goalwards from distance, the result was it looping over the keeper and nestling in the back of the net. My first goal in Taiwan and I probably won’t score a better for many moons. This cued up the Honduran onslaught, they attacked and attacked, we stayed organised, gave away good fouls and somehow managed to hit them again on the break, going 2-0 up just before half time. The second half was like most of our games, not having the ball and defending for our lives. We got through it and made it to the semi-finals.
At this point, I personally felt mixed, if we had lost we could have continued to bond and drink some beers. Going through to the semi final guaranteed us at least two more games and no one wants to play a third place play off. We were drawn against Guatemala in the semi-final, who we overcame 1-0, with another British set piece. At this point we had done so much better than expected it became a little bit funny, to have gone from the equivalent of 11 randoms who have just met to the final just seemed to unlikely, and in true nationalistic style we were drawn against France in the final.
I personally started the game like a dog with two dicks, chasing and tearing around the pitch with reckless abandon. As I got fired a ball in the centre of the pitch my hamstring decided it didn’t want to work anymore, 5 games in two days had taken it out of me and I was unable to play (a minor personal disappointment, as I hadn’t played in the middle of a pitch for a fair few years). But the final was really a dull game, 0-0 at full times so immediately sudden death penalties. France missed their first and we had the opportunity to immediately sow it up, the football gods didn’t allow as such and we missed. A few penalties later we had another opportunity, but much like the first penalty we missed our chance. We didn’t have to wait too long for another chance and this time we duly delivered the goods. We won the whole tournament conceding only 1 goal on the way through.
That weekend brought us all together, in almost a throwback to junior tournaments but instead of mars bars it was tacos, instead of feeling fresh and full of energy all of our legs felt like lead and instead of Powerade we drank lager. But for me, this shows that if you aren’t overly technical and have a system and work hard for eachother you can do something, collective over individual sort of vibes.
On that note, I’m trying to kick start my football coaching blog again if you’re interested.
If not I guess I’ll write after this potentially hellish six weeks is over.
Luke's Mystical Adventures 