Introduction to Academy

Emmanuel gazed upon the coach, the design scheme was the same in almost every type of coach. It had rows of black seats and hundreds of windows. The coach had a plain exterior, white.

With many luggage and bags, he entered and relaxed on his phone.

Checking his messages, he wondered how long the trip would be to West Ham United FC Academy Training Ground. A new chapter in his life was starting, and Emmanuel was raring to go. Hearing his heartbeat, he tried to steady his nerves so he wouldn't look a complete amateur.

After an hour of travelling, he met his destination, where he was met by youth staff. They guided him with a few other boys and around the building. Emmanuel then was thoroughly checked for any wrong thing that could hinder him by the doctors.

He passed with flying colours where there were recruits and the current West Ham U18s players. U18s manager, Mark Phillips, had gathered all the players into one, big group.

"I like to announce that recruits have joined us, we will do an introduction to let them get closer," Mark declared.

The squad list:

GOALKEEPER; Clarke Bogard 18 -yrs-old, Danny Boness 18 -yrs-old, Sam Howes 18 -yrs-old, Tim Brown 19 -yrs-old, Tyler Forde 16 -yrs-old, Nathan Trott 17 -yrs-old, Rihard Matrevics 17 -yrs-old, Serine Sanneh 13 -yrs-old

DEFENDER; Josh Pask 18 -yrs-old, Vashon Neufville 16 -yrs-old, Reece Hannam 15 -yrs-old, Rosaire Longelo 16 -yrs-old, Jake Eggleton 17 -yrs-old, Mason Barrett 16 -yrs-old, Ben Wells 16 -yrs-old, Aji Alese 15 -yrs-old, Tunji Akinola 17 -yrs-old

MIDFIELDER; Marcus Browne 18 -yrs-old, Ben Johnson 16 -yrs-old, Noah Sylvestre 18 -yrs-old, George Dobson 18 -yrs-old, Joe Powell 17 -yrs-old, Alfie Lewis 16 -yrs-old, Korrey Henry 16 -yrs-old, Oscar Borg 18 -yrs-old, Declan Rice 17 -yrs-old, Grady Diangana 18 -yrs-old

FORWARD; Idris Kanu 16 -yrs-old, Anthony Scully 17 -yrs-old, Dan Kemp 17 -yrs-old, Sam Ford 18 -yrs-old, Jahmal Hector-Ingram 17 -yrs-old

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"Hello, please to meet too, my name is Emmanuel Gompel, and my position is centre-midfield. Hopefully, we all get along well," Emmanuel stated in an assured tone.

"Hey, it's a pleasure to meet all of you, my name is Tommy Perri. My preferred position is RW," Tommy declared.

"Hi, I am not much of a talker, my name is Jack Soyton, and my position is a striker, that the most you need to know about me," Jack commented coldly. Jack gave off an aura of coldness, shutting down anyone who came close to him.

"Delcan show all three of them to their room," Mark commanded. While taking them to their room, Rice told them how to navigate across the facilities.

When arriving at their room number, Rice had given all three of them a key and explained that Emmanuel, Tommy and Jack would be living together. Emmanuel was delighted that he got to share with his best friend, but he also had another roommate who was an ice prince.

They all entered the room and saw three single black beds. On the shelves, white towels had been stored on top of the shelf. On the floor below was space to put sneakers and football boots. In the back right corner of the closet, a fridge and freezer were placed.

There were two desks to use, was made of birch wood. In the right corner of the desk is a plain white plastic cup with several pencils and pens in it. In the centre of the room, an alarm clock was placed at the top.

There was a bulletin board on the wall showing a schedule for everyone each week. The Bulletin board was extremely detailed with the location, what time and what was the activity.

They were all amazed, even the ice prince himself, they had never witnessed anything like this.

"Let's separate the room such as which bed everyone has and parts of the fridge," Jack interrupted, " I want the bed that is separated from the others since you two are such good buddies."

"That's fair, I agree, also we need to make up some rules," Emmanuel responded.

After ten minutes, they had finished packing, and now the hard part was coming, making rules. They all suggested rules that only benefitted them. The group of boys argued for 30 minutes until deciding a set of rules.

Rules:

Keep noise at a low level.

Clean up after yourself.

Respect the other person's space.

Don't borrow without asking.

Warn roommates before inviting someone over.

They all agreed that these actions would benefit each other, not only themselves.

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"So want would you say is your best trait, Jack?"

"My best trait is finishing, but why are you asking me these questions?" Jack replied.

"We both want to get to know you better since we are roommates and teammates," answered Emmanuel.

"I don't like being questioned, also this is like an interrogation. I am the only being questioned," Jack stated.

"No need to get defensive, we were simply just trying to get close to you," Tommy said.

"If you really must know. I started playing football at age 4, and I got scouted at a secondary school football competition. I right now 14 years old, and I do not want to discuss this again," Jack pronounced in an unfriendly tone.

"Now you are making it seem like we forced you, can we go to sleep and prepare for the big day ahead," Emmanuel questioned.

All the boys in the room dreamed about making their pro debut that night.