It is indeed not easy to be a professional athlete, but with countless battles with Xiao Yao in the ring over the years, Zhou Zhihao knows that Xiao Yao's physical fitness is not inferior to that of a professional athlete. Whether Xiao Yao can play professional basketball Zhou Zhihao dare not say, but if Xiao Yao switches to boxing or free fighting, Zhou Zhihao knows that he is definitely a professional-level player.

Xiao Yao has made up his mind to do something over the years, and there are very few things that he has not done. For more than a year, Zhou Zhihao felt that Xiao Yao could get a professional contract, so he just verbally stimulated Xiao Yao, and he really wanted to bet that he would never do it.

What Zhou Zhihao didn't know was that for more than a year, before the new season next year, it was just a backup choice given to him by Xiao Yao. What Xiao Yao is thinking about is getting a professional contract before the new season this year. To this end, Xiao Yao also made preparations.

Generally speaking, professional players train in clubs, teams, but some stars also have their own personal training teams. Although Xiao Yao is not even a professional player, he has also decided to form his own personal training team in order to get a professional contract before the start of the new season this year.

Xiao Yao is not bad for money, and he also knows people in the professional field of basketball. This personal training team, he naturally wants to find the top one.

A top-notch team of personal trainers, generally for top stars. The United States is recognized as the hegemon of basketball, the world's top basketball stars in the United States, and the world's top basketball coaches and trainers are also in the United States.

When Xiao Yao was in Italy, he contacted Evans, whom he met in an exhibition match, and asked him to help him find a candidate for his personal training team. Evans was an All-Star in MLS and a top basketball star. After retiring, he has always been involved in basketball, so he is not only familiar with the basketball circle in the United States, but also has a close relationship. Among the people he knows, there is certainly no shortage of top-notch and well-resourced personal training team members.

Hearing that Xiao Yao was going to change careers to play professional basketball, Evans was both surprised and excited. He was also very interested in this matter, and quickly connected him with several top professionals in the industry.

The personal training team is for Xiao Yao, and Evans is only a middleman and cannot sign an employment contract with them instead of Xiao Yao. Whether Xiao Yao and them can reach cooperation and form a team will need to be decided after the two sides meet and contact.

The day after Xiao Yao's wedding, after announcing the news that he was going to play professional basketball with his relatives, friends and partners, he flew to the United States with Sun Tingting to meet with the personal coaching team that Evans helped him find.

The choice is a two-way street. Xiao Yao wants to see the personal trainer team, and the people in the personal trainer team also want to look at Xiao Yao.

Xiao Yao didn't have any doubts about them after listening to Evans introduce the resumes of these people and knowing which basketball superstars they had coached or served respectively. On the contrary, those few did not directly agree with Xiao Yao, but asked Xiao Yao to do some tests according to their requirements first. They had to look at the test results before deciding whether to accept Xiao Yao's employment and cooperate with Xiao Yao.

These people used to guide or serve the top superstars of American professional basketball, but now it's not that they can't find a job, but they don't want to work for the time being or haven't met their favorite employer. People of their level, ordinary professional basketball stars may not be able to invite them. They were willing to meet Xiao Yao because this matter was special enough.

Training an amateur player who has not undergone any systematic training and is halfway through the process to become a great professional player is a very interesting and rewarding thing for them. The amateur player is also a well-known entertainment star who has no shortage of media attention, and if this is done, the impact will be no small and it will be even more attractive to them.

Of course, there is a premise for this, and that is that it must be able to be done. And it's not just about getting amateur players to get professional contracts. By their standards, a player would have to be a regular starter for a top-flight team, if not an All-Star, to do it.

Although they have coached and served top players before, they also know how difficult it is for professional players to gain a foothold in the top league, and how difficult it is for amateur players to turn professional, so it is conceivable that it will be even more difficult for amateur players to become the main starters of a team if they want to play in the top league. Ordinary amateur players probably can't do it, and it's because Evans said that the employer is Jan Shaw that they are willing to try and meet with Xiao Yao.

As one of the joint MVPs of the American Professional Basketball All-Star Celebrity Game a few years ago, Xiao Yao is not unknown in the basketball circle in the United States, at least many people know that such a Chinese star who plays basketball very well among the acting stars. Some of them also have an impression of the name Jan Shaw.

When Evans was looking for them, he not only showed them the video of Xiao Yao's participation in the American Professional Basketball All-Star Celebrity Game that year, but also showed them the game video of Xiao Yao's participation in the Charity Star Game in China and the China Professional Basketball All-Star Celebrity Game at the beginning of this year. As professionals, they not only felt that Xiao Yao's performance in these three games was very good, but also saw that Xiao Yao did not seem to do his best in these three games.

This didn't do his best, not that Xiao Yao deliberately hid his strength to play the old man's ball. In the handling of many balls in many rounds, Xiao Yao must have gone all out, otherwise it would not have been possible to score so many points and assists and win three MVPs. This did not do his best, which means that Xiao Yao did not play at his full strength throughout the game.

All three games were star exhibition matches, and it was normal not to play at full strength. The problem is that Xiao Yao didn't play all the time to win that kind of data, if he played all the time, what would be the result? Although those three games were all amateur players or non-professional games dominated by amateur players, Xiao Yao's opponents were basically amateur players, and the reference value was limited, but they still saw Xiao Yao's huge potential to become an excellent professional player.

However, a competition is a competition after all, not to mention the so-called exhibition match. After meeting Xiao Yao, several professionals still asked Xiao Yao to do some tests according to their methods to have a more comprehensive and detailed understanding of Xiao Yao's basketball technical ability, tactical understanding and physical fitness.

Xiao Yao did not reject this request, and happily agreed to a few people to do the test they requested.

The test took a total of two days, and the results not only satisfied several professionals, but could even be said to have surprised and surprised them a little. Of course, it was a better kind of surprise and surprise than they expected.

Once both parties are satisfied, the next step is to sign an employment contract.

Each of these professionals has their own area of expertise, and they work together in a team that is responsible for different aspects. There are technical trainers for movement techniques and tactical explanations, data analysts for video and data analysis, physical trainers for physical and strength training, dietitians for daily dietary nutrition and body regulation, and doctors and physiotherapists for sports injury treatment and post-exercise muscle fatigue recovery. Xiao Yao provided them with different responsibilities, rights and remuneration for each person, but the duration of the contract was the same, and it was a short-term contract of three weeks.

What Xiao Yao means is that after the contract is signed, he will have a two-week special training in the United States under their guidance and help, and then participate in a trial at a professional basketball club. If the trial is passed and the professional contract is obtained, he will sign a long-term contract with them, and they will become Xiao Yao's long-term private team. If the trial training is not passed, whether it is Xiao Yao's problem or not, it means that the cooperation has not achieved good results, so...

Players in MLS basketball have ten-day short-term contracts, and three-week short-term contracts are not unthinkable for these people. Xiao Yao was dealing with them for the first time, and this consequentialist approach was also a normal thing in the minds of Americans, who were more interested in profits. If you can't become a professional player, you still have to sign a long-term contract with them and support a bunch of them, then you are stupid and have a lot of money.

The two sides signed a contract, and Xiao Yao had his own personal training team. Next, there is a two-week special training.

In response to Xiao Yao's situation, the training team formulated a very detailed and somewhat harsh training plan for Xiao Yao's special training in the past two weeks, and Xiao Yao gritted his teeth and persevered. And the effect of the two-week special training is also relatively obvious.

Sun Tingting, as Xiao Yao's "newlywed" wife, has been training with Xiao Yao during this time. Even if Sun Tingting is not a basketball professional, even if Sun Tingting is with Xiao Yao every day, she can clearly feel the changes in Xiao Yao in the past two weeks.

After the two-week special training, Xiao Yao was ready to return to Huaxia with the training team to participate in the trial of the professional club. This was originally agreed with the people of the training team when he signed the three-week short-term contract before, but on the eve of Xiao Yao informing the training team that they were ready to return to Huaxia, the people of the training team had other ideas.

"Do you have to go to a club in China for a tryout?" technical coach Daniel Williams asked, "Although this year's MLB draft is over, there are still about ten days before the start of the season, and the team can still sign free agents." We can work with Evans to recommend you to a MLL team and contact a MLS team directly for you to try out. With your abilities and our reputation in American basketball, it's not like you don't have the opportunity to get a contract with a professional basketball team. ”

"Maybe. Xiao Yao said, "However, although there are still more than ten days before the start of the season, the main framework of the players of the American professional basketball team should have been built." Even if I can get a professional contract, I don't think I'll be able to get a lot of playing time in a short period of time, and maybe I'll be relegated to the Development League, or even fight for a chance to play in the Development League. ”

"It's not impossible," Daniel Williams nodded, adding, "but it's a test and a stage that a lot of players have to go through. Can you go to the Chinese team and play as a starter? I think you're probably going to go through that stage the same way. ”

"It's different," Xiao Yao shook his head, "The chance of playing the starter directly is very small, but it's not impossible." What's more, my fame and influence in the United States cannot be compared to my presence in China. So the opportunities I can get in the Chinese professional team, at least the initial opportunities, are different from the opportunities I can get in the American professional basketball team. ”

"In Huaxia, there are really a considerable number of people who will buy tickets just to see me. Xiao Yao continued, "As long as a team signs me, it is unlikely that the Chinese professional basketball team will keep pressing me from playing, because the media and the public will criticize the team for signing me as pure hype, just to deceive fans and my fans to buy tickets." There is no development league for the team to send players to test and work, so at least at the beginning of the season, I will definitely get a certain amount of playing time in the league and have the opportunity to perform. ”

"But in the end, a player needs to be strong enough to establish himself in the team. Daniel Williams said, "If you have the quality, even if you can't play in the early stage, you will wait for the opportunity later." If you don't have the strength, even if you play in the early stage and don't perform well, you will have no chance later. No matter how much fans like you, but if you don't perform well, the team will have a reason not to let you play, or even the team will send you on the field, and the fans will boo you and ask the team to reduce or even deprive you of playing time. ”

"That's the truth. Xiao Yao nodded, "But I think that in addition to my own strength, the path and process of career development are also very important, and the improvement of my own strength is also related to the development path and process." ”

"For example, Yang Chen," Xiao Yao said, for example, "I think if he hadn't played in the Chinese professional basketball team for two years and won the Chinese professional basketball championship, the regular season MVP, and the finals MVP, he might not have become the draft champion of the American professional basketball team." If he is not the champion, maybe he will not have so much playing time in the early days of American professional basketball, he will not become the main team or even the core of the team so quickly, and he will not become a great star inducted into the Hall of Fame in the end. So, I think it's a better choice to start with professional basketball. ”

"Jan Chen?" Daniel Williams thought for a moment and nodded unconsciously, "What you said makes sense. ”

"Jan," Daniel Williams said again, and suddenly laughed, "Ha, Jan, your name is also Jan, and you and Chan have the same name." ”

"No, Chen's name is a Chinese name, and his Chinese name is Yang. Xiao Yao said with a smile, "And my Chinese name is "yao", and Yang is my own English name. ”

"Did you choose your own English name Yang because of Chen?" said Daniel Williams, "Do you think of Chen as your idol and have long thought about following the path he walked back then?"

"No!" Xiao Yao shook his head and said, "Chen's parents are both professional basketball players in Huaxia, he has received professional basketball training systematically since he was a child, and when I was a child, I learned music, musical instruments, photography, and even how to act. I'll tell you a secret, when I was five years old, Chan wanted to send me to professional basketball training, but I refused. At that time, I also loved basketball, but I also liked a lot of other things, and I never thought about being a professional basketball player. ”

"It's a pity!" Daniel Williams shook his head and sighed, "If you had accepted Chen's suggestion back then, maybe you wouldn't need us now, and you would have become a major player in the American professional basketball team." ”

"Perhaps, but I don't feel sorry for it. Xiao Yao smiled, "There is no doubt that Chen is a great player. But because I rejected Chen when I was a child, if I can achieve the same achievements as Chen in basketball, if I can achieve the same achievements as Chen in basketball, then I will be a greater player than him. ”

"I like you to think so!" Daniel Williams laughed, "I think I like you even more." Let's work together to help you achieve this goal! As you said, let's go to the Chinese professional basketball team for a tryout!"

"No problem, let's do it!" the others nodded in agreement.

"You're going to like Huaxia, trust me!" Xiao Yao said with a smile.