Chapter 4 Confrontation

Elmhurst Community Center is the liveliest place in the community every night, and most of the people who come here for fitness activities are residents of the community and neighborhood. The fitness facilities inside are very complete, and the gym is considered the most popular place.

For most Americans, exercise is essential to their daily lives, and some are even equivalent to work. Sweating in the gym after work every day is a great thing for them to enjoy.

In addition to the gymnasium, the activity center has a 25-metre swimming pool, two table tennis halls and a badminton hall. The largest area is the basketball hall, which has two courts.

One piece is open to the public, and as long as you pay a small fee every month, you can come here to play every day. The other is a dedicated training ground for the Red Hawks, a Chicago AAU (American Amateur Athletic Federation) team.

Speaking of which, to briefly introduce the AAU basketball team, the AAU basketball team starts from the 8-year-old age group, and each age group is divided according to age or grade, and there is basically no crossover between the groups. There are hundreds of AAU teams in each age group, spread across the United States. If an AAU team feels strong in a league, they can play in the one-year-old age group, called a playup, but not playdown.

These teams of all age groups are selected from the beginning of March each year, and the team trains until the end of July, when the various national basketball leagues end, for about five months, during which time there are at least two or three times a week of training, all on weekday evenings, and every weekend can also participate in games. The more serious AAU teams play an average of 40-70 games in a season.

The coaches of the team, they are volunteer coaches without any pay, some are parents of the players, and some are coaches purely out of love for basketball. In fact, until a basketball player finally makes it to the NBA and becomes a professional player, there is no commercial contract for the athletes. Most of the AAU coaches have played in the NCAA, so they have a good understanding of what to teach their children to practice, how to practice, and what to practice.

Quinn. Snyder, the coach of the Red Hawks' 15-year-old age group, looked at the warm-up players on the field with a depressed expression. Due to the average overall strength of the team, this season's competition ended early. It's summer vacation and the team has been inconsistent lately, with only nine players training today.

I wanted to organize a teaching competition today to let the players practice some of the tactics commonly used in the game, but it seems that I can only give up.

"Hello, sir." A greeting came from Snyder's ear, who was bored. Seeing an Oriental man walking with a teenager, he frowned. "Hello, how can I help you?" Although Snyder was a little confused, he still said politely.

The team is not open to the public during training and access to the stadium requires confirmation from the stadium management, and not everyone can enter.

"Hans said, your team is short of people." After getting Snyder's affirmative expression, the man continued, "So, I'll take the child to try my luck. ”

Hans is the caretaker of the arena, and Snyder is German-American. The two have a good relationship and know that Snyder has been uneven recently.

Snyder's eyes looked at the young child, who was more than one meter eight points tall, with a thin body, slender limbs, very bright eyes, and a confident look. I sighed, it would be nice to be a black man. There are a lot of Asian kids playing in this community, but the Red Hawks have very few places for them in all age groups. It's not that they can't do it technically, it's mostly because the physical confrontation can't reach the intensity of the AAU competition. This is not the case with blacks, who are generally physically better than children of other races.

Sun Yi heard that his father was briefly introducing some of his situation to the other party, so he turned his eyes to the basketball court. The stadium is clean and tidy, and the floor of the court is completely laid with special materials. The overhead light is sufficient, but not dazzling. There are three tiers of seating on both sides of the stadium, which can be used as spectator seats during games.

Such a good stadium is really rare in China. And there are not many venues, so I would rather take care of a few cleaning aunts and clean the stadium every day than open to the public. Stadiums like Sun Yi's feet are really everywhere in the United States. I have to say that the mass sports facilities of the US imperialists are really enviable.

"Hi kid. You can call me Quinn. Snyder gestured to himself with his hand. Of course, if you pass the team's test today, you can change the name. ”

Because he deliberately slowed down the pace of speaking, his deep voice seemed full of aura. Sun Yi withdrew his gaze lingering in the stadium, and the white man in front of him was in his thirties, about 1.85 meters tall. He has a thick beard and is neatly trimmed. Blue eyes under a raised brow bone, a high nose bridge and pursed lips usually make the person facing him stressful.

"Hello, Mr. Quinn. My name is Sun Yi and I hope to join your team. Speaking American English, which is not yet fluent, Sun Yi replied generously.

"I'm looking forward to seeing what you do." Snyder shrugged, "Now go to the team's warm-up, and there will be a game to test your strength later." "Apparently Mr. Snyder is not a.

Switchback running, leg raises, three-step touch, side-sliding step...... It is similar to the domestic training, but from the perspective of the importance of warm-up, many people in the domestic training are perfunctory. But these American children around Sun Yi are as serious as an official competition.

Finally, it is to move and stretch each joint, from the neck, shoulders, waist, knees, ankles, fingers will do a set of warm-up exercises. This special warm-up session has to talk about Coach Snyder's experience.

Snyder was a member of the University of South Florida varsity team before withdrawing from the varsity team due to a serious knee injury. This blow was too unfortunate for Snyder, who loved the sport deeply.

In his junior year, he decided to switch to sports medicine. He met his current wife, Susan, and after graduation, they opened a sports rehabilitation center in Chicago.

Because of his own experience of injury, Snyder paid special attention to the body of this group of children. Before each training session, the team members must complete all warm-up items with quality and quantity.

Snyder divided the warm-up squad into two teams and briefly introduced Sun Yi to everyone. With a whistle in his mouth, he walked to the center of the court, ready to let both sides jump the ball.

Sun Yi's position is the point guard, and the point guard is a small black man. A pair of big eyes looked very smart, and nodded to Sun Yi with a smile. Obviously, he is a very good child who deals with people.

Snyder threw the ball into the air, and the two jumpers jumped almost at the same time, and finally the ball was picked up by a white center on Sun's team. All the opposing players quickly settled into the defense, there was no chance of fast break, and the ball was handed over to the point guard to organize the attack.

"Hey! Grandchild. "The little point guard handed the ball to Sun Yi." The guy across from you is a ruthless character. Obviously, everyone is curious about what kind of strength this strange oriental teenager will have.

Sun Wenyuan was in the stands, looking at his son who was holding the ball outside the three-point line, and all the offensive players took the initiative to pull away to create offensive space for Sun Yi. Son, come on.

Glenn. Sampson is 15 years old and 1.85 meters tall. As the main quarterback of the Red Hawks, he is good at breaking through. With enviable physical fitness, he can make a lot of difficult dunks under the basket. His defense is also commendable, and when he defends, he will stick to the opponent like a plaster, and will not give the opponent any space.

Faced with this unfamiliar opponent, Glenn did not pounce directly on the opponent. Instead, take a defensive stance and carefully observe the opponent's movements. His arms are long, and the five fingers of his right hand are spread out, controlling the distance between the two sides. Place your left hand in front of your knee and be ready to cut off your opponent's ball.

Sun Yi dribbled and observed the opponent. The center of gravity of the defense is very low, so that the body can exert power at any time. The distance is well controlled, and he can threaten the basketball in his hands at any time. The defensive posture of defending the middle and attacking made Sun Yi sigh secretly, there are so many cattle in the United States, and he met one as soon as he came. Since the two met for the first time, they were more cautious about each other.

Schneider saw Sampson's defensive strategy and nodded secretly. Smart guy, in the case of not knowing the details of the other party, this is a very safe way to deal with it.

On the court, Sun Yi's dribbling rhythm became faster, and he did several crotch dribbles in a row. Sampson was unmoved, still separating the basket from Sun Yi not far away.

Sun Yi found that there was no chance of a breakthrough, and his heart was crossed. The center of gravity of the dribble jerks forward, feigning to break through. Immediately followed by a step back, a hand raise is a three-pointer. The opponent's reaction is swift and the thrown ball will fly past Sampson's fingertips. Because the opponent is taller than himself, he unconsciously leans back a little in the face of the opponent's block when shooting.

A wonderful parabola that connects the ball to the basket. Swish! Three-point hit. Schneider's eyes jumped slightly, beautiful shooting movements, perfect shooting angles, and a supple feel, and he was still able to hit under Sampson's strong defensive pressure, indicating that such a shot was not accidental.

Sun Wenyuan, who was on the sidelines, stared at the basketball thrown by his son with his eyes. The fingers, which were trembling because of nervousness, were clenched into fists and swung fiercely in the air the moment the ball entered the net. Well done, son.

"Good shot." "Well done." Teammates on the field congratulated Sun Yi one after another, and it was difficult to see anyone who could score easily in front of Sampson. Sun Yi responded to everyone with a smile, but the cold sweat in his palms involuntarily secreted. This guy was so fast, he almost got covered.