Chapter 12 Graduation from junior high school

Watching Coach Taoka leave with an excited expression, the players who were training breathed a sigh of relief. Shigeichi Taoka's training is particularly strict, and the atmosphere in his absence is not so depressing. Especially the fish pillar, because Shigeru Taoka looked at the height of the heavy fish and thought that the fish was a material that could be made, so he was particularly strict with him. His physical exertion in training is naturally greater than that of ordinary people, and it is his physical strength that has become his weakness. As a result, during Shigeichi Taoka's high-intensity training, Yuzumi often couldn't hold back and vomited, and at the same time, he began to get bored with basketball.

The morning training was mainly based on technical training, and among all the players present, except for Naito, who was a novice, everyone else had more or less contact with more or less professional training. Due to the absence of coach Shigeichi Taoka, the training continued under the auspices of captain Matsushita Asahiken, and according to the targeted training arranged by the coach before, with the cooperation of the sparring partners, the training intensity was much smaller than when Coach Taoka was in the past. Since the training intensity is not large, the atmosphere is quite harmonious, and I chatted with the sparring partner while training.

Except for Naito Tetsu was also taken to a corner by a sparring partner to practice dribbling, no one ever bothered Naito, and in addition to teaching the following precautions when dribbling, the sparring partner put Naito aside and ran to chat with Sister Harugami Liting. As the saying goes, the master leads the way, and the cultivation depends on the individual. is talking about Naito now, even if there is no sparring partner by his side, Naito will practice hard by himself. Since he started practicing his right hand dribbling more than two months ago, he has been practicing for more than two months, and now his right hand dribbling is not bad, but he is not satisfied, he still wants to practice his left hand dribbling. At the beginning, the sparring partner saw that he was awkwardly slapping the ball with his left hand as soon as he came up, and asked him if he was left-handed, and he didn't tell the sparring partner that he was not, just nodded silently and continued to shoot the ball. This time, he didn't have much requirement to participate in the team training, he just wanted to be proficient in dribbling with his left hand, so he used his left hand to dribble all morning.

Training in a cheerful atmosphere will make time pass quickly. Looking at the electronic clock hanging on the wall showing 11:40, the veteran players all ended the training in unison, ran to the locker room to wash up, cleaned up and came out, Naito walked last, followed them directly to the school cafeteria.

The afternoon training starts at 14 o'clock, and the afternoon is mainly physical training, and the training is much stronger than in the morning. Under the leadership of Captain Panasonic, everyone lined up to jog around the indoor basketball court, running lap by lap. I don't know how many laps I ran, but Naito, who was following the captain, felt that Matsushita Asahi Sword in front of him was out of breath, so he began to stop slowly. There are only two or three people who can insist on following the captain to the end, and among these two or three people, in addition to the captain Matsushita Asahiken, there are only Naito, Ryoji Ikegami and Yusaku Ozawa, who is in the senior year.

This is endurance training, after more than ten minutes of rest, the next step is the course switchback running practice, running from one end of the court to the other end of the court, constantly running back and forth ten times each as a group, each group of runs and a minute or two of rest, and then continue to run a group, a total of ten groups. After the switchback run, I carried out 10-100m normal running, variable speed running, interval running, full speed running, full-speed running, full-court fast dribble run, full-court Z-shaped fast dribble run, chest pass full-court speed running and so on. Although there are many projects, the training time has been appropriately shortened by the captain, and the rest time has been appropriately extended.

Training lasted until 17 p.m., and even if the training time was appropriately shortened, most of the players were still tired enough. Those who are willing to practice will take the initiative to stay, and those who are not willing to practice will go directly to the locker room, wash and change, and go home with their backpacks. Naito, on the other hand, chose to stay and practice, watching everyone pack their backpacks and come out of the locker room and leave the arena. Naito silently picked up a basketball, hid in a corner to the side and continued to practice his left-handed dribble. Not everyone left, except for Naito, who stayed to practice, there was also one person who stayed.

Naito remembers his name as Ryoji Ikegami. This person gives Naito the feeling that he doesn't talk much, has a very flat personality, has a very good physical fitness, and trains very seriously and hard. Naito was slapping the ball on the side while watching Ikegami practicing frog jumping, and after practicing frog jumping, he practiced sliding step training. The two of them didn't speak like this, and practiced themselves without saying a word. Naito's training project is very simple, that is, practicing dribbling. There are a lot of sports on the pool, but most of them are defensive and strength.

The next day, after training began, Naito was about to continue practicing his left-handed dribble. "Senior Naito, come here. Senior sister Harugami stopped him and motioned for him to come over.

"Senpai, what's wrong?" Naito Tetsuya wondered?

"Well, you don't have to practice dribbling for the time being."

"Why?" Naito wondered,

"With your current height of 193 cm, which is the second tallest in the team, then according to your height and physical fitness, you will be given two positions: center and power forward. At present, the height is a little shorter than you, and the two seniors of the senior year, Ou Nan Fuma and Inoue Toyosu, one plays center and the other plays power forward, and these two positions don't need much dribbling and ball control. Therefore, most of your future training will be followed by the two seniors. Basketball manager Liting Harugami explained.

"Then who do I learn from first?"

"That's how it was arranged, the week before you had to learn from the seniors of Danan's hometown the skills of the center in the interior position, defense, card position, and rebounding. In the following week, the skills to learn from Inoue Toyosuke are: power forward positioning, positioning, defense, passing, layups, shooting from the restricted area, and free throw skills. ”

"Oh, okay, but I'll do a three-step layup, and I'll make a free throw. Naito responded.

"Oh, do you really make three-step layups and free throws?" Harugami skeptical.

"Of course, you don't believe it, I'll show you a layup now. Naito Tetsuya confidently affirmed, nonsense, how can you not make a three-step layup? Although the playing level was not very good in his previous life, he must be able to make at least three-step layups and free throws, and this is only one of the only skills he can master in his previous life. He also has a skill called anticipation, which can be used when grabbing rebounds, and based on the parabola of the basketball flying after it is thrown from the shooter, he can judge whether the ball will go to the basket a second or two in advance. This is what he learned when he played football, and anyone who has played football will know that it is difficult to get the ball with his head if he can't predict the landing point based on the trajectory of the ball, especially when the striker heads the goal. In addition, there are volleys, which need to predict where the ball will land and kick it out before it hits the ground.

"Okay, then you can try. Harugami immediately ordered the others to give up a basketball hoop, and everyone stood by and watched.

Naito took the basketball from the sparring partner, stood outside the three-point line and began to dribble. Suddenly, a start, one, two, three, the third step is just a step in the free throw line, jump into the air and rise, put on a one-handed grasp dunk action when I want to dunk, suddenly remember that it is a layup, and immediately change to a double escort layup in the air, because the jump head is almost flush with the basket, the layup becomes a basket, and the ball is put directly into the basket.

"Wow!!, jumping so high," Harugami and the others, who were watching from the side, couldn't help but let out a sigh.

"Very good, it's not a standard layup, but it's really good. Since you can go to the basket, you don't have to learn. Harukami affirmed Naito's performance. "I won't look at the free throws, and I'm sure you will. ”

"Alright, let's continue training, hurry up and train!!" Harugami shouted as he dispersed the players who were watching nearby.

"Da Nan, this junior brother will be handed over to you for a week, you have to try to teach him all the inside skills you know within a week. Otherwise, when you leave, you won't have a chance to teach if you want to. The basketball manager Harugami Liting called the team's center Danan to his side and commanded.

"Haha, no problem, I'll teach him well!" Da Nan laughed.

In the following week, Naito learned the inside center technique under the guidance of his predecessor Daisuma. A week later, he began a new study under the guidance of big forward Toyoyoshi Inoue. In just two weeks, Naito learned the skills that the two predecessors of Ou Nan and Inoue Toyo had taught, not how much Naito's learning ability changed, but the technical level of Da Nan Fuma and Inoue Toyoshi was really limited, and it could only be regarded as some internal basic skills.

The training every day was very hard, and Naito, who had learned the technique, had to repeat and repeat the exercises. There must be Tetsuya Naito and Ryoji Ikegami who stay every day to practice, and the two are the last to leave the stadium together every day. Due to the frequent practice, Naito and Ikegami slowly became familiar, and with Ikegami's permission, Naito also learned from Ikegami to defend outside when he practiced. A fulfilling training life makes them feel like time flies.

Shigeichi Kooka didn't come back until the end of the winter break since he left that day. Training is done in an orderly manner every day. On the last day of winter break, team manager Riting Harugami approached Naito.

"Naito, you don't have to train today, there is still one day left to end the winter vacation. Wait for you to go back to the dormitory to pack your luggage, Coach Taoka hasn't returned to school yet, so I'll take you out of school for a ride. Senpai Harukami said to Naito.

"Okay, thank you, senior sister!"

"This is our last semester, I, Yusaku Ozawa, Ou Kusuma and Sasaki Oribe are going to start quitting the team after winter break, and the team will depend on you in the future, Naito juniors have to work hard!。 ”

"Time flies so fast! I didn't expect that Haru's senior sister also quit the team?" Naito said.

"That's for sure, I'm graduating soon, so of course I have to give way to the new team manager. ”

"A new manager was chosen so soon?" Naito was surprised.

"It's stupid, where is it so fast, the new manager will not be determined until Coach Taoka returns. Senpai Harugami glanced at Naito and explained.

"Alright, alright, let's go, you go and pack your things. Harugami couldn't help but say, urging Naito Tetsuya to hurry back to the dormitory to pack his luggage.

Naito, who packed his luggage, was led by the team manager Harugami Liting and sent Naito out of the gate of Lingnan High School. Got on the bus passing by Chiba Junior High School, waved to the window to Sister Harugami Liting, who was waving to him, and looked at Lingnan High School that was going backwards and gradually moving away, "I will be back soon" Naito said silently in his heart.

The two-week or so winter break ended quickly. Naito, who returned to Chiba Kunijunior High School, took a day off, and after a day off, school opened again. Every afternoon after school, Naito continued to practice ball, go to school, get out of school, and then practice, and every day he continued to repeat the practice of Daisu's hometown, Inoue Toyoyo and Ikegami Ryoji.

Coach Shigeichi Taoka came to see Tetsuya Naito in early February, just a few days after he returned from another prefecture. When he came, he was in a good mood, with a smile on his face all the time, in addition to being concerned about Naito's training, he also brought Naito the news that he had discovered a basketball genius in a junior high school in Tokyo and successfully recruited him to Lingnan High School. When I think about that genius boy, he has always been happy when he came back from Tokyo.

From early January to late March, it's soon spring break again. Since the spring break is during the Spring Festival, the Lingnan college basketball team has not arranged training, because everyone is going home for the New Year. Tetsuya Naito's cheap father, Hirofumi Naito, also rushed back from the United States to take Naito, who lived at school, home, and the father and son spent the New Year at home together.

Spring break is also very short, that is, about two weeks. After the year, Hirofumi Naito accompanied Naito for a few more days, and returned to the United States to work before the end of spring break. From the day of spring break, all junior high school students have graduated, and when spring break is over, they will go to their favorite high school in early April. April 8 is the first day of the new semester of high school, and Naito has been looking forward to this day for a long time.

PS: Naito junior high school is finally over, and the next chapter is about to enter high school and start high school basketball life.