Let’s Appreciate Will, the Kit Man
By: Victor Leung
Tags: Ted Lasso, Apple Tv Plus, Television, Bullying At Work, Bullying

Season 1, Episode 10: “The Hope That Kills You”

Will’s hand extended waiting for a shake.

The ruse that Ted planned may have started Will off on the wrong foot with Nate in terms of first impressions. Nate's first impression of Will is one of misplaced anger that he may have been fired. Will’s extended hand is slapped away, and we never see him properly introduce himself to Nate, at least not on screen.

We don’t know if Will ever got that handshake. 😭

At this pivotal point in AFC Richmond’s season, Will shows a great deal of competence taking over for Nate and the team doesn’t miss a beat because of it.

Stay hydrated, Greyhounds!

When he’s not placing out the towels or handling the players' kits, he always has water bottles ready to hand off…

*shrug*

… even when Ted is ramping up to a heartfelt speech. This interruption provides one of the season’s last humorous moments in an otherwise heartbreaking finale.

Season 2, Episode 1: “Goodbye, Earl”

Will returns in the second season when the coaches are discussing the virtues of being “unlucky”. Will stops by the office with a pretty reasonable request.

For the record, Will’s mom would make an excellent Center Forward

We learn that Will has a mum who just turned 50 and Will was able to leave work early to celebrate that thanks to the generosity of the coaching staff… but not so much Nate.

Pressure makes what now?

After Will leaves, Nate tries to justify his being mean to Will with the idiom “Pressure makes diamonds” but flubs it by saying “Pressure makes pearls,”… foreshadowing for the slip up that Nate makes later on in the season.

Season 2, Episode 2: “Lavender”

In the next episode, we get another glimpse into Will’s personal life.

Parisian bedrooms, eh Beard?

Turns out he has a girlfriend who loves lavender and finds it very calming. Will seems like a very chill guy as well. Do you know who has no chill at this moment?: Nate the Great, who does not appreciate the lavender scented fabric softener Will used on the towels.

Maybe a certain change is throwing off a coach’s headspace too?

Nate tells Will not to make changes that will mess with a player's headspace… (interesting choice of words foreshadowing an episode title later) Also, notice the height disparity between Nate (5' 4½" /1.64 m) and Will (5'10' / 1.78m). Talk about punching upwards.

The way Nate summons Will to the coach’s office is extra cruel and degrading as well.

Could’ve saved a little time and left those doors open…

He does it by slamming not one, not two, but a total of THREE doors shut so that Will has to knock on two doors that were just open a moment before.

Nathan Shelly, king of the spit-take. No mirrors were involved this time.

On the practice pitch, we find that the water cooler has gotten an infusion of pineapple. But clearly, Nate is not a fan.

Pineapple does sound tasty…

It got Ted’s seal of approval, and surely it at least comes close to the high marks he had for Ted’s first sip of Nate‘s sport drink mix.

Incompetent outsiders or mean-spirited insiders?

And Nate’s feelings towards Will are pretty clear here by his “outsiders” line, trying to relate it to Ted’s struggles with Doctor Sharon.

When the Diamond Dogs discuss whether or not to bring Jamie Tartt back to AFC Richmond, Nate demonstrates the utter lack of self-awareness by yelling at Will in the middle of his sentence where he is recalling the bullying he suffered at the hands of Jamie.

“I don’t understand how someone can have so little self-awareness.” -Michael Scott

We’ve seen Will lay out the towels on the bench correctly in the past. He could just be having an off day, dealing with some personal issues, or maybe second-guessing his own competence by being constantly put down by his superior and predecessor.

Season 2, Episode 3: “Do The Right-est Thing”

Luckily for Will, he has only ever known the new and improved Jamie Tartt when he re-joins the team. This is the Jamie that has learned his lesson about bullying someone who is just trying to do his job as the kit man and to treat him as much a part of the team as any player or coach.

Will must be thinking: “Wow, our new ace player knows my full name!”

In the middle of some fancy footwork, Jamie asks Will for a pinny to join the reserves side and calls Will “Mr. Kit Man” which we can attribute to a Jamie-ism. He accidentally hit the nail on the head again because Kitman is indeed Will’s last name.

Beware the wrath of Led Tasso.

This is where Will’s luck runs out when Ted does his Led Tasso persona to align the team with Jamie again there’s an easy target in the dutifully set up hydration station. Beard was right that “no one was hurt”… except maybe Will’s feelings, and lots of wasted sports drink.

If you look closely, Will is walking up the steps to retrieve the bottle that Led Tasso threw.

But it wasn’t fun for Will because he had to clean that up himself… Led has some apologizing to do. Let’s just hope that guy never shows his face again.

Season 2, Episode 5: “Carol of the Bells”

Sometimes you just have to sit back and admire the majesty of Santa Isaac.

It’s Christmas time for Richmond. Will doesn’t join the players for Higgins’s Christmas dinner at Christmas, presumably because he spent it with his own family. We see Will sitting behind Isaac as they’re doing the secret Santa exchange in the locker room.

Turns out Will loves cash too…

In the middle of the conversation in the coach's office, we see Will opening a Verani Sports shoebox with a massive pile of cash in it. It isn’t clear which player was his secret Santa. The money is more likely a gift from the entire team for Will, judging by him seeming to thank everyone in the locker room for their generosity.

Players putting the money in his mouth for Sam’s Birthday (Season 1, Episode 2: “Biscuits”)

If we focus on the shoebox angle, we find another parallel to Nate’s journey. It wouldn’t be the first time the team used a shoebox to collect money for a gift.

[SPOILERS FOR SEASON 2, EPISODE 7 AHEAD]