The instructions were pretty simple, so there were no questions.
“Set…”
FWHEE
As soon as the whistle blew, the 3 players at the front of the line sped off towards the goal 90 feet away. There were 3 people in similar clothing to the coach’s at the other end holding stop watches.
They flew down the field as fast as possible, not wanting to lose any ground to their competitors.
The fastest one was Riku, the tall and smiling figure who came out on top with room to spare.
Once they finished, the 3 staff made wrote down the times on their clipboard before directing the players to return to the line.
No one said any of the times out loud, making it hard for the players to know how they faired in the first trial. The staff’s faces were also unreadable.
“Set…”
FWHEE
As the other players were starting their runs one group at a time, Ken’s mind began to work. He remembered seeing somewhere that the average Major leaguer stole bases in 3.5 seconds, with the fastest being just north of 3 seconds.
Since they were competing against under 18 athletes, the expectation should be 3.5 to 4 seconds to be considered a good time.
While he was thinking this through, it was already getting close to his turn. Ken quickly turned his brain off and focused on the task at hand.
As he made it to the front of the line, he looked at his father briefly before turning his attention to the staff members 30 yards in front.
“Set…”
Ken got into position, ready to push off the moment the whistle sounded. After he had taken his Physicality Elixir, his body was finally able to react to his much improved mental capacity, increasing his reaction time immensely.
FWHEE
The very moment his brain registered the whistle, Ken’s body moved into action. His reaction time was so fast that it made both Hiroki and Daichi look incredibly slow.
Ken could feel his powerful leg muscles contract, giving him a burst of speed with every kick. He quickly got up to full speed, powered by his long legs and his pumping arms, pulling him towards the finish line.
As he moved over the line, he heard the click of the stopwatch, followed not long later by another 2, indicating Hiroki and Daichi had crossed afterwards.
Ken tried to peek at the faces of the staff, however they were clearly professionals at keeping their emotions in check. Not one of them looked impressed, nor did they allow him to get a peek of their clipboard.
“Damn Ken, that was fast.” Daichi said, shaking his head.
Ken smiled and was about to form a witty response, until he was told to head back to the line.
They completed the drill another 3 times, likely to get an aggregate result.
Soon enough, they were taken to another part of the field where the next drill would take place. It felt a little jarring that they didn’t have any of their results just yet, but they couldn’t exactly complain.
“We’ll be measuring your vertical leap next in this test. Please line up and have your standing reach calculated first.” Chris announced, directing the players to the line.
Ken saw the odd looking equipment and felt a little confused. It was a steel frame which had horizontal vanes that looked like they could be rotated rather easily.
It wasn’t only him, there were a few other players who looked at the apparatus with confusion. Yet it seemed as if the players who’d been there before knew what it was.
Riku was the first to walk up to the apparatus. He stood with his feet flat on the ground and extended his hand upwards, knocking the vanes away that he could reach.
Once that was done, he simply walked away, back to the end of the line.
As Riku approached, Ken decided to ask him a few questions.
He quickly introduced himself and performed a small bow, it was quite rude to speak up to someone new without doing so, at least in Japan.
“Hey, the name’s Riku.” He said, the trademark wide smile still on his face.
“It’s a shame I didn’t get to see your pitches in the finals.” He lamented, though his expression didn’t change.
“A-Ah yeah. I also would have liked to pitch on the day, but Akira did well.” Ken admitted, though he quickly got back on subject.
“Hey Riku, what is that thing anyway?”
“Oh that? It’s called a Vertec or something. They get your standing reach first and then measure it against your jumping reach. The difference between the two is your vertical leap.”
Thankfully, Riku seemed friendly enough that he even went into more detail without prompting.
“Okay that makes sense.”
“Have you done this before? What’s your vertical leap?” Daichi asked, his curiosity piqued.
Sometimes people just wanted to get a base value so they could compare.
“Yeah we did it last year as well. I got a 32 inch vertical leap last time, but I’ve been working on my leg muscles so I’m hoping for a better score this year.”
The three nodded. Now that they at least had a number from someone who’d been in the National Team before, they had a baseline to work from.
‘I need to get higher than 32 inches.’
Ken, Hiroki and Daichi were all thinking the same thing in their mind as they waited for their turn.
Soon enough, the three had their standing reach recorded and went back to the end of the line. Now was time for everyone to do their jumping reach.
Riku was the first to be tested. His jump felt huge as he leapt into the air and pushed away the vanes before landing on his feet.
He got another 2 tries before he was told to wait by the side.
Once again there were no results read out to anyone, letting the teenagers minds go crazy in anticipation.
Chapter 300! Let’s go!
Mass release: 4/10
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