Rebirth In Kurokonobasket - Chapter 130

It was the second day of the camp, and Shun stood amid a crowd of players, looking at the bulletin board that had the results of the first-day test.

Shun wore a stone-grey tank top and black shorts and stood near the end of the crowd.

He looked at Douglas, who was the tallest of the group, and asked.

Shun: “Hey, can you see anything?”

Douglas shook his head but then grinned.

Douglas: “Follow me. I will lead you to the front.”

Ming raised his fist and said.

Ming: “Alright, kids. Form a line.”

The others sighed but did gather behind Douglas. And, Douglas pushed his way through the crowd like a boulder. He was tall and bulky, so he was quickly able to make his way to the front.

Shun stuck close to Douglas, and when they reached the front, he ducked in front of him and saw the bulletin board.

Shun scanned the list of players and saw the Division-One list.

Shun: “Let’s see if I made it.”

Shun started up from the top and read the names.

Shun: “Gilbert Knight, Ivan Petrovic, Bruno Muller, Antony Grigor, Carlos Santos, Rafael García, Roger Mael, Leonal Claude, Douglas Pierce, Lin Ming, and… Ah, Kageyama Shun.”

Shun clapped and spoke.

Shun: “Hey~ We all got in! Good work, everybody.”

Others: ‘He got in at age thirteen.’

All of them thought that Shun would be at best in Division-Two, but to see him in Division-One was a shock to them. They hadn’t seen each other play, so they had no idea about Shun’s capabilities and only had his age to work.

They upped Shun’s status in their minds.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Immediately after that, they moved to a new gym, it was smaller than they one Shun played his game in, but Shun noticed that it had cameras lined on the wall.

There was an open storeroom, and Shun caught a glimpse of basketball equipment that he had seen on the internet but hadn’t seen in real life.

Shun: “Hey! Look a rebounder. I have never seen one in real life.”

A rebounder was a contraption that would catch the ball under the basket for shooting practice and pass the ball to the shooter for another shoot.

Roger looked at Shun and smiled.

Shun looked at Roger and shook his head.

Shun: “I don’t want to use the rebounder.”

Roger raised his eyebrows and asked.

Roger: “Eh, why?”

Shun shrugged his shoulders and explained.

Shun: “When I practice shooting, I rebound the ball on my own. I shoot, chase the ball, retrieve it, and get back to position to shoot.

Getting into the rhythm can be important for a shooter. I train myself my running between shots to imitate in-game conditions.

For me, if I can get into a good rhythm while imitating in-game conditions, then it would be easier for me to get into it during a real game.

I can’t imagine myself eliminating the running part of my shooting routine, and the rebounder would exactly that.

Roger looked at Shun, who said something that not many people be willing to do so easily.

-*-*-*-

Shun looked around the gym and saw five new players in the gym.

All of them were sitting around the court apart from each other.

Shun was about to approach them for introductions, but two people entered the gym. He looked at them and recognized both of them.

Shun: ‘Coach Albert Hamilton and the other lady was standing with the coaches. She also might be a coach.’

Coach Albert clapped his hands to gain everybody’s attention and spoke loudly.

Albert: “Gather up, people!”

Eleven players and two coached gathered at the center of one of the courts in the gym.

Albert: “Congratulations on making it to Division-One.”

He pointed at the gym in general and said.

Albert: “This gym would be your training spot for the rest of the camp, so you guys should come here first thing in the morning.

Now, time for introductions. My name is Albert Hamilton. I will be your coach in Division-One.

Work hard, and we won’t have any problems. I don’t care what you do outside of practice, but when you guys are with me, I won’t tolerate any slacking-off.”

When he finished, Sarah stepped forward and introduced herself.

Sarah: “My name is Sarah Snow. I will also be your coach in Division-One. I only expect one thing from you all, and that is discipline.

You can ask me anything as long as it is relevant to basketball. Don’t be hesitant, and ask questions, no matter how trivial you think they are. I will give answers to the best of ability.

The harder you work, the harder I would try to facilitate you while you are here.

She pointed at Rafael’s direction.

Rafael stepped forward and introduced himself.

Rafael: “Rafael Garcia, Spain, eighteen years old. Power Forward. I have played for Spain’s U-19 team.”

Rafael stepped back after his short and precise introduction.

Shun clapped for him, but his claps faded away when no one else clapped.

Shun cleared his throat and fought off an embarrassed flush on his face.

Roger stepped with his usual soft smile on his face and introduced himself.

Roger: “My name is Roger Mael. I am from France. Seventeen Years Old, and will be playing in this year’s U-19 championship for France. I play center.

I look forward to working with everybody and gain valuable experience.”

Douglas: “Douglas Peirce. I belong to Argentina. I played for Argentina’s U-19 team last year, and I play center. Let’s get along.

I love working out, so let’s compete to see who can bench more.”

Douglas flexed his muscles, laughed, and stepped back.

Bruno stepped forth and spoke.

Bruno: “Bruno Muller. I am from Germany. I played for the German U-19 team, and this is my second time here participating in this camp. I play Power Forward. I will be in your care.”

After Bruno was Ming’s turn and he smiled as he spoke about himself.

Ming: “It is nice to meet you all. My name is Lin Ming. Please use Ming to address me. I am a Point Guard and played for China’s U-19 team last year.

Let’s make this a fun stretch of days while we work together.”

Ming stepped back and glanced at Shun, who was next in line. Shun stepped forward, and all eyes gathered on Shun. Shun was also the shortest player here.

Shun put on a bright smile as he acquainted himself.

Shun: “My name is Kageyama Shun. I am from Japan. I primarily play Point Guard. I still haven’t played for my country and am thirteen, soon to be fourteen years old.

I am the youngest, so I will be looking forward to any advice or help that I can get. So, don’t hold back and correct anything you don’t like.”

Shun stepped back and waited for the next person to introduce himself.

All of the players looked at Shun like he was a unique animal in the zoo. The tallest player, who had bright red hair spoke.

???: “Oye, did he just say thirteen years old? What the hell is he doing here?”

The person beside him had an afro, he spoke.

???: “Eh, he is thirteen? I wasn’t listening. That is awesome, isn’t it?”

Another player grinned as he leaned forward to get a better look at Shun. He had spiky white-grey hair with black streaks.

???: “Hey! Hey! Hey! He is already here at thirteen. I think this year is going to be super fun. I am not going to lose, though.”

The other players didn’t make any comments and just glanced at Shun.

Sarah clapped her hands and said.

Sarah: “You can talk later. Let’s finish the introductions first.”

The person next to Shun stepped forward, he was a red-haired man with a sharp fearsome look and was one of the two red-heads of the group.

Leonel: “My name is Leonal Claude. I am from Italy. I play as the small forward. I have played for Italy’s U-19 team. It is my first time here.

I like music, and you would find me listening to it on earphones, so when you see that, just assume that I am not interested in talking.”

With that, he stepped back and looked ahead without looking at anybody.

The person next to Leonel stepped forward and introduced himself with a grin on his face.

Antony: “My name is Antony Grigor. I am from Russia. I am a small forward and played for Russia’s U-19 team. Let’s have fun while we are here. It is my second time here.

Let’s practice a lot and hang out after practice.”

He stepped back, and it was the next person’s chance. He was the person with the afro.

Carlos: “Hello. Carlos Santos, here. I am from Brazil and play as a small forward. I played for U-19 Brazil Team last year. Please, take care of me, and I will do the same.

Also, this is my second time here. So, ask me anything you want to know.”

Carlos sounded carefree and relaxed as he introduced himself.

He stepped back, and the second red-head of the group stepped forward and introduced himself.

Gilbert: “Gilbert Knight, American. I am eighteen years old, and this is my third time here. I play the Power Forward position.

I played for U-19 Team USA, and am a three-time national high school champion. Plus, on top of all this, I am a Genius with a capital G.

Be nice to me, and I will be nice to you. Nice to meet you all.”

Gilbert’s introduction was powerful, and his last line made Coach Albert sigh and made Sarah frown.

Ming raised his eyebrows as he whistled.

Ming: “Three times, huh.”

Gilbert stepped back, and the last person stepped forward to introduce himself.

Ivan: “My name is Ivan Petrovic. I am from Serbia. I play as the shooting guard. Last year, I played for the Serbia U-19 Team and led my team to win the championship.”

He glanced at Gilbert as he said the last part, and Gilbert just smiled with anger flashing on his face.

Ivan: “It is my third time here. I will give all of you a warning, stay away from me, and don’t wake me up if you see me sleep, don’t talk to me if not on the court, or ask me for advice.

There will be no second warning. I get really pissed when someone wakes me up from sleep. I repeat I don’t like being woken up, so don’t do it.”

[A/N: I have nothing against Serbia, and this is just a part of Ivan’s character taken from Rukawa Kaede.]

Shun raised one of his eyebrows as he heard the last blatant threat.

Shun: ‘Phew… that was so intense. All of these guys are so eccentric,’

Albert once again sighed and made Sarah frown more.

Shun and ten other individuals, finished their introduction and Division-One was set for training together for the rest of the summer camp.