Bab 35: Learning new moves
I pulled open the gym door and found Kiyoshi, Kotaro and a few other players already here practicing on their moves.
Ok, the free time has finally started. I'm gonna use this time to learn some moves from some players. I have 2 uncrowned kings here with me, I'm gonna make the best of it. I then put my stuff on the bench, laced up and went to approach Kotaro.
"Yo Kotaro. You got a minute, can you explain to me the technique behind your dribble?" I asked.
"Sure, but I'm telling you, there's actually very little technique behind it. What I do is just pound the ball extremely hard, and flick my wrist as I dribble. This adds extra momentum which makes the ball travel faster." Kotaro said.
"That's... all? Then why is it when you use fewer fingers, the speed at which you dribble is slower" I asked, unsure. No way it can be that simple. Although I would say it is actually pretty hard to fully flick your wrist when dribbling.
Kotaro: "Oh the fingers just improve my grip on the ball. Basically the fewer fingers I have on the ball, the less force I transfer from my hand to the ball. Oh and if you want it to appear really fast, just bring the ball closer to the ground. The ball is actually travelling at the same speed but it takes a shorter time to travel from hand to ground to hand which tricks your opponent."
"Woah, I did not know it was that simple." I replied. It was pretty shocking, I thought all the good players in the anime might have some sort of special technique but it seems pretty simple when Kotaro put it that way.
"Then do you have any tips I can use to improve my handles?" I questioned.
Kotaro: " Yeah, I have a few. You can do additional weights. The stronger your arms, the harder you can dribble the ball. Bringing your hands closer together also improves control of the ball. There is also less chance of the ball getting stolen as it spends more time in the palm of your hand.
Well, I personally think you should work more on your post moves. Your handles are pretty decent already, you could probably dribble as fast as a three for me."
Weights huh. Arrggghhh, I hate weights, after I do them I feel like I can barely lift my arms properly. My arms also feel so stiff that I can't shoot a basketball for a while after doing them. But its all for the basketball man, no pain no gain.
"I'll take note of that, Imma go ask Kiyoshi for some tips now." I said.
"Aight, try to learn as much as you can from him." Kotaro replied.
I then proceeded over to Kiyoshi who was working on his jump shot. I stood at the side and watched him get his reps in. As I watched him, the more I realized how fundamentally sound he was.
He never tried any highlight moves, he just did the same thing over and over again. Every move he did was exactly the same and if he did something wrongly he would repeat.
"Hey Kiyoshi, you done with your reps?" I asked when Kiyoshi stopped shooting.
"Yeah. You wanna play 1v1 or something? I saw you standing at the side earlier waiting for me." Kiyoshi asked.
"Nah. You are a pretty bad match up for me at the moment. Give me a few months to grow then we can go again. Can you give me some tips for playing in the post?"
Kiyoshi: " Sure. I can give you a few basic tips. First of all every move you have must always be in a package. That way your defender will never know what you are going to do. I recommend every package move to have at least 3 or 4 moves. If there is 1 or 2 it will get way too predictable way too quickly.
Next, you should keep pump faking. Try to get your defender up in the air. Once he gets into the air, jump into him and draw the foul. If you want to play in the paint you gotta be able to take contact. A lot of it. I recommend you bulk up a little bit more. The more muscles you have, the better you are protected.
Lastly, once you learn a move, you must keep practicing it. Get so good at it till it feels natural. if not, in a game you might mess up your footwork and end up taking an extremely though shot."
"Damn that's a lot of information. But could you teach me some of your moves though, you seem like the perfect guy to ask for that." I said.
"Sure, now listen carefully..."
As I listened to Kiyoshi explain his moves, I had a sudden thought. In my previous world, these are college level moves, for Kiyoshi to be able to do them really says something about how good players actually are.
_At night_
At night, I collapsed into my sleeping bag too tired to move. Suddenly, I heard my phone vibrate and I reach over to read the message.
Miku: Are you sleeping?
Me: Nope. Gonna sleep soon though.
Miku: You have a game next week right? Do you want me to go over and support you?
Me: Sure. Do you wanna go out after that?
Miku: I don't mind, I need to ask my father first though so I cannot confirm now.
No way. Finally all my efforts to get to know Miku is finally paying off. After our study sessions together, we had been on texting term but none of us really initiated going out or something like that.
The world of anime is the best.
_______
Power stone or a kidney stone.
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
JW_Ngiam
JW_Ngiam Creation is hard, cheer me up!
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone