Chapter 433: Goalkeeping Training & Higo’s Competitors!
After the opening speech, the training session finally began. Well, it all started with a physical test, as even though the coaching team had already had the data from the medical team, they would still prefer to look at the players directly, feeling like they could find something worth mentioning that couldn’t be measured with data.
Higo and the other two goalkeepers also joined the group at first. However, they weren’t there until the end, as the goalkeeper coach had another menu for them. Well, it was understandable, since goalkeeping was a completely different matter than playing outfield.
Right now, Higo was with the other two, Zion Suzuki and Tomoya Wakahara, who were in the middle of a session with Norio Takahasi, the man of a few words. Or... At least, that was what Higo assumed, before the man destroyed that image immediately the moment he took an action.
"Come on, Wakahara! This is not your first time here, so move faster!"
"Higo, you are like my grandma having a back pain! Turn sharper, the ball is not waiting for you!"
"Suzuki, where the fuck does all the training from the Reds get in your head?! This is a fucking basic, for God’s sake!"
Yeah, who would’ve thought that a man so quiet like him could have such a sailor’s mouth, cursing in every few words he spouted? It also didn’t help that his stern gaze was eyeing those three like a hawk, putting additional pressure on the three goalkeepers.
Honestly, the training itself was not anything new. It was just a ladder drill to sharpen their footwork and positional adjustment. Before this, they had done box jumps and medicine ball slams in the gym as well.
Yeah, a weird name for an exercise, Higo knew it full well. Still, he couldn’t deny the effect. Oh, it didn’t give an immediate effect. However, the boy could feel his core and lower body get engaged in those exercises, getting trained to give him the explosiveness to launch himself in the air.
After that, they also trained for their goalkeeping ability. That was when Higo was introduced to something called the reaction ball. It wasn’t even a ball shape, just something as big as a normal football, while having a bumpy and uneven shape.
The training was simple. Norio-sensei would kick the ball low, letting it bump on the ground. Its uneven shape would make the ball bounce wildly, going unpredictably. The goalkeeper’s task was to react accordingly, preventing the ball from crossing the line.
This was a good way to train a goalkeeper’s pure reaction. Unfortunately, with Higo’s clairvoyant ability, everything was far easier for him. The boy could just see where the ball would bounce a second before, and that window of time was enough for him to move.
As a result, he just owned the exercise, not allowing any single ball to get past him.
"Okay, so, in this exercise, we have Higo as the best, Suzuki as the second one, and Wakahara as the crane tail," Norio-sensei said flatly. "That means Wakahara will have to help with the kitchen, washing the dishes after tonight’s dinner. I will give words to the staff there first."
Wakahara groaned immediately, knowing that he couldn’t escape the punishment. Yeah, to ensure the competitiveness of the group, Norio-sensei set a punishment system, where the last one in the training session would have to help the kitchen staff do something.
As the morning session was over and they were about to go for lunch, Higo couldn’t help but mutter, ’This sure is a nice change...’
What he meant by that was the competitive nature in the camp. After all, usually, he was the only one who trained as a goalkeeper in Hakodate Nishi, so the boy didn’t have to worry about getting his position replaced. Now, though, he had to fight with two other talented players for one spot, which also changed his mindset a little bit.
Overall, though, nothing had really changed. The adjustment period, where he was afraid that he would look like a country bumpkin or a complete noob, didn’t happen, and he crushed all the exercises flawlessly.
"Hey, Higo-san, you sure are amazing! You didn’t look like you were reacting, but foreseeing where the ball would land!" The dark-skinned goalkeeper, Zion Suzuki, approached him after the training session was over. "I heard you came from a small city in the north where you are the only goalkeeper there, so how did you train with that kind of backward facility? Are there any mundane things you did that help you as a goalkeeper?"
Higo couldn’t help but have the corner of his lips twitching here. Who would’ve thought that Zion Suzuki, the one Kumiko warned him about, was such a chatterbox with no filter in his mouth?
Hell, just in a heartbeat, he barraged Higo with question after question. The boy just said that Hakodate was a small city, insulting it for having a backward facility, and treating him like an idiot.
Honestly, if not for the boy’s pure, innocent expression, Higo would’ve thought that Zion was trying to insult him.
"Zion, what do I tell you about asking something appropriately?" The other goalkeeper, Wakahara, just sighed helplessly before turning to Higo apologetically. "Sorry about him. He has an amazing skill, but his mouth runs way faster than his brain can catch up. I am so afraid that he would offend someone he cannot afford to offend sooner or later."
"Bah! Why are you trying to act like my mom, Senpai?!" Zion just brushed off the concern nonchalantly.
"Shut up, you Brat! Is that how you talk to your senior?!"
Watching their antics like this, Higo couldn’t help but wonder, "Have you known each other for a long time?" After all, if he remembered correctly, those two didn’t come from the same team.
Both boys looked at each other for a moment before nodding together. "Yeah, we have been teammates in Urawa Red Diamonds a few years ago before I moved to Kyoto. He is my annoying junior, if I have to say." Wakahara rubbed Zion’s curly hair fondly.
"Well, yeah, but I am the senior one in here. I mean, I have been in the national team from the U-17, while this is his first time here, so he should’ve called me senpai." The boy said smugly while waving his hand on his head pretty quickly.
Seeing them bickering like this, Higo couldn’t help but laugh a little. ’Yeah, with them around, the camp sure will be way more interesting than I thought, huh?’
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