The training facility Gio spent most of his time at overlooked the baroque style stadium. He wanted to feel like part of the team, but Coach Jifar was very strict about his fitness program. Other teams might have even let Gio play before he packed on twenty pounds. But Gio didn't play for other teams, and it might've been better for his long term future.
The team looked great, and Gio still didn't even know his place on it. He gorged himself for about an hour, the eating had become less time consuming, but a full days' work in athletics was only four hours, which left him only two hours to workout with the hour-long stretching regiment Cath made him go through every day. It seemed unfair to Gio, but it was what was best for him, in hindsight.
Not even as much of a word had been spoken to Gio about traveling to Lu Pei, Diorgia for the preseason tournament, but Gio, and the other three left behind, would be left with Coach Cath to work on speed and agility drills for the two weeks. It would be Gio's first interaction with his teammates in the weeks he'd been indulging in fatty salads with fatty dressings, desserts, and various forms of meats.
Nonetheless, Gio was excited, even though two of the three were already part of the original six on the team. Unable to convince Cath to let him train with everyone tomorrow, Gio would have to wait to showcase his new talents on the ball. Progress could be seen however, Gio was up to one hundred twenty-five point nine pounds, and he was etching closer and closer to the healthy figure, but his mom was complaining about his voracious appetite. She went from going to the grocery store once a week to three times a week to feed his growing appetite, but she didn't want him to go back to not eating and looking sickly again, so she never publicly complained.
The constant traffic in and out of the Jurgen residence was never questioned. Emile would often have masseuses come give her massages, and there was always construction ongoing in the massive home. When he was depressed, he avoided all of the extra people, but now he was starting to notice exactly how many people had keys to his home. They were so independently wealthy his mother started the day with a massage and practically had an entire salon staff waiting on her hand and foot throughout the day. Gio just tried to avoid the traffic.
He just wanted to eat while he bathed, but he did take advantage of the personal chef. Having a trained professional cook for him from noon to eight was sublime.
Gio never knew any worse either. He was aware it existed, he just hadn't personally remembered living without someone who came and did his laundry and hung it up for him. He was spoiled in every sense.
Spoiled in every sense but opportunities at his job. Having never gotten what he wanted, he was growing frustrated with Coach Cath, but he didn't want to weaken the relationship. He needed to maintain professionalism so he wouldn't ruin the relationship he'd worked so hard to build.
Cath was very low energy, but he expected so much out of his players physicality. He expected them to be in peak shape for the season's start. He waddled over to the machines and showed everyone how to properly use them. He wanted them to get better, so perhaps they wouldn't be left behind again. Leaving behind the two left backs made sense to Cath, Jifar wanted to try a position which wouldn't need any of them.
He'd never used a three back system, and he wanted to test the waters in preseason. In which, the Turtles would be eliminated in the semifinals and only win fifteen million in prize money... but Jifar was happy with the results, he would bring in a proper right back with the funds, so he had the option to play a four or five back if he so wished.
Having options was important to a coach. Any given team should be able to play using at least four or five different formations. This allows the coach to have greater tactics match to match. Although, it's possible to play the same formation in all matches and still win the league title, as seen by the historic season the Gerak Giants had under Gio's grandfather, Jeppe Jurgen.
But Coach Jifar didn't want to be a one formation team. While the Giants had success, many wound up relegated.
Eat. Train. Eat. Train. Eat. Sleep. That was all Gio was doing. He was frustrated he hadn't gained more weight by then. It had been just under a month since something clicked in his brain to free him from depression, and he was already stronger than before.
While Coach Cath wasn't personally fit, his exercise and meal plan certainly got results. Weeks would go by since the end of the Pei Classic, and less than nine days remained until their opener against the Harlequin Reds, and Gio was still fifteen pounds off the target weight and hadn't trained in a single team training, but he was beginning to look healthy and fit.
When a player came in drastically underweight, it was team protocol to nurse them back to health. Unfortunately, not all teams cared about their players as much as the Chortle Turtles. Many would loan them out for another team to worry about, or worse, attempt to play them at risk of injury and even death.
The Chortle Turtles were the best in the business when it came to revitalizing players' careers. And they wanted Giovanni Dos Jurgen to burst onto the scene with his first appearances. After all, he was singlehandedly the future of football. No other youth prospects came close to comparing, but more and more were starting to show promise of having long, validating careers.
However, no one looked promising to win any Taquet d'Ors, and they all looked in the bag for young Giovanni for a ten year period, and longer if more promising youngsters don't come along. Seemingly unparalleled, Gio would be setting the pace for the future of the men's league.
Meanwhile, in the Premier League, interesting turns could be in the force with the early retirement of half of the boss team's players. The co-ed league, dominated by the team Pep Jurgen founded, seemed to finally be anyone's game.
The Oldcaste Owls has won almost every piece of silverware the league had to offer for the last two decades. Their coach, Vincent Arteta has been influential in their success, but he had finally decided to retire at the end of the season, claiming his heart was no longer with the game. He claimed he'd seen too much corruption to want to continue, corruption he'd been blind to as a player, corruption he sought a place in UOFA's board to end. Vincent wished to see a more fair way of the soccer world, and he wouldn't stop until he found it.
