Chapter 439: Homework for the Girl
The boys walked away from the pitch immediately, some letting out a relieved sigh. Most of them, though, were worrying sick since they all felt like their performance was below the standard.
Unfortunately, nothing they could do about it other than pray that the game today wouldn’t be used against them in the future.
While the boys walked back to the locker room, the same couldn’t be said for the girls. Both Sakura Aizawa and Kumiko straightened their posture immediately, knowing that it was time for them to start working.
"Tell me, Shishida-san, if you were me, after watching today’s game, what would you do?" Kageyama-sensei asked casually.
Kumiko tensed for a moment, words starting to form inside her head at lightning speed. Kageyama-sensei might be casual, but the girl treated this as the final exam that she had to pass through.
After calming down her head, she finally took a deep breath and asked back, "First, it all depends on what kind of system you want to use for this national team, Sensei. That is the foundation before we want to move elsewhere."
Three senior coaches just raised one of their eyebrows simultaneously before Kageyama-sensei answered, "Continue. Analyze what kind of combination works for certain scenarios and how you would take care of that."
Knowing that she passed the first test, her voice became steadier.
"First of all, if you want to use the defensive system from team A, you can see that it worked well for the first 30 minutes. However, that required high stamina and high mobility from each player, and that would only waste so much potential in the offensive players like Suzuki-kun or Miyashiro-san."
In fact, Kumiko was quite familiar with the system. This was the thing she used for three years in a row with Hakodate Nishi, and the only regret she had was that it wasted Hiroshi’s potential so much.
"Then, in an offensive system from team B, this will give us a higher probability of scoring a goal, and this will also look more appealing to spectators’ eyes. However, as you can see from the first thirty minutes, facing a low-block defense team, they would struggle a lot, and let’s be honest. Everything started with Morita-san, and he deserves to be the team’s maestro. However, once he was locked down, more problems would appear, such as each one of them trying to attack from their own side or something like that."
Kageyama nodded secretly, knowing that this was a problem. Having a bunch of talented attackers might seem nice, but they all had their own egos. It would be okay if someone strong enough managed to take control, but once that person was out of the equation, everything would succumb to chaos.
"So, the best way to do this is to balance team A and team B, which is what you did earlier by changing the players for more than half the time the game was played." Kumiko continued. "The question is what kind of balance would the team need? Some players are not suitable for one system, and the others are good, but they don’t mesh well with the other players. So, everything still depends on how things develop in this camp."
Silence followed as Kumiko finished the explanation, with Tadahiro Akiba, the team’s assistant coach, nodding appreciative.
’Yeah, as expected from her. She doesn’t look at the game from an individual perspective, but from the overall shape of the game. Her suggestion is also careful but still insightful enough to give Kageyama-sensei a point. She has a knack for this.’ He muttered under his breath.
Kageyama-sensei nodded quietly before turning his attention to Sakura Aizawa. "What about you, Aizawa-san?"
"A—Ah, yes!" Sakura Aizawa stuttered for a moment, somehow feeling nervous. How could she not, when the girl next to her managed to answer everything flawlessly?
Still, the girl took a deep breath as well before starting her explanation.
"For me, the main concern is their physical state." The girl stated while taking out her notes. "Based on the medical team’s report, coupled with my observation, some players seem to fail to maintain their best physical state. I know that this is the preseason time and most of the high schoolers have just done with their entrance examination, but that doesn’t justify their sluggish performance."
Kageyama-sensei nodded slightly, glancing at Sakura Aizawa for a moment before saying, "It even includes your friend, yeah?"
"Ahaha... The entrance examination is quite stressful, so he picked up some weight during the process..." Sakura Aizawa rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.
Indeed, Kawabe was one of the players who failed to show his best performance today. The boy didn’t even run more than 6 km in 60 minutes; he played, and his explosiveness wasn’t there anymore.
He might still show a flash of his brilliance here and there, but everyone here could recognize that he was far from his best state.
Kageyama-sensei nodded in acknowledgement, not making it a big deal for the team. Kawabe was one of the most important players in this camp, and if he raised this issue out of nowhere, it would make him look like he was targeting the boy. No, that would affect the team’s cohesion, and since it wasn’t just Kawabe who had the issue, the man could still forgive him.
"Okay, a homework for you girls." He finally replied, making the girls tense instantly. "For Shishida-san, I want a report of each player’s analysis, what they were good at, their weakness, their most suitable system, everything that could help the team. Work together with Akiba-san, I will wait for your report at the end of the camp."
"Yes, Sir!" Kumiko nodded solemnly as she received this sacred mission.
"Aizawa-san, you will work with Ogai-san in this case. Make a report of each player’s physical condition, what they need to work on, and the recommendation on what to do in the process. We will send them all to each one of their clubs for consideration. Is that understandable?"
"Y—Yes, Sir!" Sakura Aizawa was still nervous, but she also accepted the homework readily.
"This will also be a long two weeks of camp, so if you see something wrong or something that can be improved by the team, say it immediately." Kageyama-sensei paused for a moment before continuing with a solemn look. "Before the camp is over, let’s make sure that we have the best 23 players in the country!"
"YES, SIR!"
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