章 66: Chapter 66 : Personal Training
Author note :
Sorry, not a lot of plot progressions here. I would start the plot again next chapter. Thank you for your support! :)
-Zeta Faes-
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Four days later,
"Keep up your pace, Kouki!"
"Don't look at the ball! You will get fooled! Follow the waist!"
"Don't be passive! Spread your arms open! Don't let your opponent drive forward easily!"
"Good job! Take a rest!"
Furihata huffed his breath erratically, finding himself sitting on the ground after almost an hour of his own personal training. In front of him stood tall a spiky-haired blonde man in the earlier twenty grinning at him widely. The man is Kengo Godai, one of his former coaches from the basketball community.
"So, what do you think about my progress?" Furihata couldn't help but ask, especially after the hard training he received.
His coach just gives him a single nod of approval.
"Not bad for only one-hour training," Godai answered. "It is not easy to follow your opponent's movement if he is proficient in street basketball. But you have a very good foundation in one-on-one defense, so I have already expected something like this."
Furihata beamed a little, happy for the praise. Other than being the coach of the basketball community, Kengo Godai also has reputation for being the king of street basketball in Tokyo for almost three years before Aomine took over the title two years ago. So, getting the approval of such an expert like him is a good sign for Furihata.
"So, what do you think I should improve? And do you have any tips to play against Aomine?"
Godai seems to think for a moment before he sighed and sit on the ground beside Furihata.
"First of all, what do you think of Aomine's greatest strength?" He asked, making Furihata think for a second.
"I don't know." Furihata shrugged. "There are a lot that I could think of his strength. His speed is incredible.. And if he plays against me, he could use his physical as an advantage. And to top of that, he could score from anywhere he likes. But I don't think it could be said as his greatest strength."
"You are right." Godai nodded. "If we only talk about speed, I think you can match him easily with enough training. And while his physical attribute is better than you if he only has his physical ability and his speed, even I will be better than him. But the fact still remains, he is the best street basketball player in Tokyo right now, right? That means he has more than that."
Furihata nodded his head before firing another question.
"What about his scoring ability?"
Godai pondered for a moment before he opened his mouth.
"I hate to admit it, but he really has an ungodly talent in that department. You saw his clip, right? You should also know how he can score in whatever condition you put him into. However, I would rate it as the third-best trait he possessed. Do you know what is the first and the second?"
Furihata shook his head, allowing his coach to continue his explanation.
"The second one is his unmatched reaction." Godai said. "Honestly, while I wanted to say his spatial awareness too, Aomine didn't really use it to his advantage. I mean, he is aware of where his opponents are and probably could see their next movement. However, he would use it to charge in the direction of the strongest defender or to the crowds just to flex his skill. No, I will not put his spatial awareness that high."
Furihata nodded in agreement.
"But as for his reaction, well, I bet you have already seen the clip and made your own conclusion, right?"
Once again, Furihata nodded his head. He knows that Aomine's reflex is without a doubt the best in the tournament. Honestly, it feels like Aomine has an observation haki from one piece where he could detect and predict your opponent's next move and act according to it within the next second, and it scares him a bit.
But if Godai said it is just his second-best strength, what else could top that?
"It is his unpredictable thinking that is the most troublesome trait of Aomine." Godai answered his unasked question. "It is something that he developed along with his career in the street basketball world. His movement is erratic, and he likes to incorporate a lot of fake movements into his dribble. And the most annoying thing is how he can make something that we thought impossible seems easy enough for him. You saw all his formless shoot, right?"
Furihata nodded while grimacing a bit when he remembers a few of them.
"My best advice, if you face Aomine, is, unless the ball is completely out of his position, don't stop chasing for the ball. And don't make an assumption about what is impossible and what is not. He would prove you wrong."
Furihata sighed helplessly, couldn't think of any way to stop Aomine completely.
"So, what do you think I should do? Is there anything I can improve yet?"
Godai nodded his head at him.
"We can improve your reaction time first. With how unpredictable he is, Aomine would be the worst nightmare for a logical player like you. It would be best if your instinct could kick in before your logical thought comes through your head whenever he does something weird or unfamiliar for you. I will also teach you several tricks to deal with a street basketball player. Come here."
Godai stood up from the ground, followed by Furihata.
"Here!" Godai threw the ball to Furihata and took a stance for defense. "You go offense. Don't do your super long three. I will show you a few tricks you can do if your opponent drives forward."
Furihata nodded, ready to drive forward. However, within a second, he could see Godai making a subtle movement as if he wants to poke the ball from the right, which Furihata quickly avoids reflexively with a crossover move.
'Damn!'
Furihata couldn't help but curse as he knows Godai's intention. While Furihata is decent with both hands, he feels more comfortable dribbling with his right hand. By making a feint movement to his right, Godai forced him to drive to the left side which was kind of uncomfortable for Seirin's point guard.
However, Furihata is not that weak. He gritted his teeth as he charged to the left side, trying to get closer to the basket. And when he is close enough, Furihata made a sudden quick stop with a crossover, creating enough space for him to shoot while throwing off Godai's guard.
'Ha! Got you!'
Or so that is what he thought. However, before he could do anything more, Godai managed to recover his form and closed the space between them immediately, not allowing Furihata to take a shoot.
'As I thought, it is not enough.'
Furihata clicked his tongue in annoyance at the sight of Godai who keeps pestering him. Fortunately for him, as Godai charged forward to close the distance, it left his guard open for Furihata to charge forward once again. With a slight hesitation move, he gets away from Godai easily.
'Nice one!'
But when he feels the false secure sense after getting away from the guard, he felt his instinct kicked in, telling him something dangerous comes from behind. And true to his instinct, right before he could grab the ball and take steps further to go layup, Godai poked the ball from behind, stripping it off his position.
"GODDAMNIT!"
Godai just let out a small chuckle as he heard Furihata curse out loudly.
"Why are you so frustrated like that? You come here to learn, right? You should also expect a good old-fashioned beating like that."
Furihata scowled at his coach.
"Yeah, easy for you to say that. You are not the one who get the beating here. Hell, I have never won a single game against you, today!" He whined childishly, making his coach chuckled more.
"Well, it is good that you get that here. I get this lesson in the hardest and the most humiliating way, in the middle of the tournament. Not everyone could afford a coach for street basketball, you know?"
Furihata nodded, clearly understanding what he said.
"Anyway." Godai clapped his hands, gaining Furihata's attention. "You saw what I was doing earlier. What do you think?"
Furihata pondered for a moment before he gives him his thought.
"Well, I can see you make a jab step to invite me to drive forward before I could think what to do. Besides not letting me get into my tempo, you also forced me to go to the left which you know I am not comfortable with."
"You are right." Godai nodded. "You learned it from Fujita, right? It is the most basic defense in a one-on-one situation. You just didn't expect how effective it was against a street basketball player. Also, you don't even need to force him to go to their uncomfortable side. I know for a fact that Aomine has never displayed any of that. Instead, you could force him to rush forward, playing in your tempo. Don't let him get into his own tempo. That could make a lot of difference during the game."
Furihata nodded in understanding while his thought ran wildly.
'Is this what Red felt when I lectured him after I won the scrimmage? Karma is such a bitch.'
"What else do you notice?" Godai asked once again, snapping Furihata from his thought.
"You let me get away from your guard deliberately." Furihata narrowed his eyes in fume. "You led me into the false secure sense that I got away from you before you stripped the ball out of my position."
"yeah." Godai nodded his head, looking at him amusedly. "Don't worry about it, though. I will teach you how to do that later. For now, let's continue our review. What else do you notice?"
"Excuse me?" Now, Furihata has a confused face at his question. "It is not just two?"
"Yeah, there is still the third lesson. Think about it."
Now, it took almost a minute for Furihata to rewind the last play on his head before he shook his head helplessly.
"I don't know. I cannot see anything else from the last play."
Godai just nodded his head at that.
"Well, that is understandable, considering what I mentioned is the mistake in my defense." Seeing the confusion grows further on Furihata's face, he added quickly. "Why do you think you could make a space with your sudden quick stop in the first place?"
"Aaah…" Now Furihata understands what Godai wanted to say. "It was because you had your back on my face, right?"
"Yeah." Godai nodded. "This is probably the most important thing in defense. Never give your back to your opponent. Once you do that, your opponent would have many ways to get rid of your defense. Not only that, but you will also unbalancing your own central gravity, making it harder to recover and get back for defense again."
"Well, easier said than done, I guess." Furihata muttered, imagining having to do that against Aomine. He grimaced a little, didn't really look forward for the confrontation.
"Don't worry about it. You can still have two weeks before your game against Aomine. We can polish your defense to be ready for him the next game, alright?"
Furihata nodded his head as he didn't know what else to say. They keep chatting for a while until they were snapped by the sudden voice calling them out.
"Furihata-san, Godai-san, you are here?!"
When they turned around, they could see a brown-haired shy boy has his eyes widened in surprise. They recognized the boy quickly as Furihata couldn't help but asked the same,
"Sakurai-kun?"
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Author note :
If you want to support me more, you can visit my Patreon page on patreon(.)com/ZetaFaes
You can also read this fanfiction up to chapter 86 on that page. Thank you! :)
-Zeta Faes-
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