The Monday evening training session had just finished. The players were heading toward the showers, their jerseys soaked in sweat and their breath visible in the cool air.
Eric Maddox stood on the touchline, collecting the GPS tracking vests and checking the data on his tablet. The "Shadow Box" drill from morning to this evening session had been a success; Declan Whittaker's reaction times were down by another 0.2 seconds. It was a small margin, but in the NextGen Ascension League, 0.2 seconds was the difference between a goal and a blocked shot.
"Coach!"
Maddox looked up to see Mr. Markus, the youth club's director, walking across the grass. Markus was a stout man who usually wore a worried expression, but today he looked oddly formal. He was wearing a suit instead of his usual track jacket, and he was carrying a thick, cream-colored envelope with a heavy wax seal.
