The Way of the Center

Many people have already entered the basketball court one after another, without exception, they all gathered around the sidelines, watching the duel between the two big men on the court. The training has not yet started, but the two people on the field are already sweating profusely.

"Okay, boys, come and assemble." Ricard cleared his throat, his roaring voice overwhelmed the discussion crowd, and everyone turned their heads to him.

The crowd who heard the coach's shout slowly dispersed, and honestly gathered in the past. Only Andrew Morris and An Jie are still competing, and neither of them is willing to leave the court first.

"It seems that your energy is a bit too much. If you don't come here again, I will count 500 push-ups each of you!" Ricard seriously reprimanded the two rivals. He was a strict head coach when he was in high school. That doesn't change when I get to college.

"Oh! They came quite early!" At this time, the door of the gymnasium was pushed open, breaking the dead silence of the basketball court after being reprimanded by the head coach.

A middle-aged man with gray hair and beard came in, he looked older than Ricard. This person is formally dressed and meticulous, giving people a very spiritual feeling.

"Hey, Moore." Ricard simply shook hands with the comer. This man is Ricard's assistant coach, but also Ricard's senior.

"Okay, thank you for coming to the basketball court on time. I just counted and no one is late. It seems that everyone here still has a correct attitude."

"Everyone knows that our school has not been very good in the past few years. It has been several years since we were unable to participate in the knockout rounds of March Madness. I know that some of you are old players who were on the team last year, but I still have to say, you Play badly, and the results are in front of everyone."

"Heh, do you think college basketball is easy?" A player complained in a low voice. He should be one of the "veteran players" of last year's school team.

"In the future, you must add coach before your name when you talk to me." Ricard's ears were bright, and he quickly and loudly pushed back.

"I've never underestimated college basketball, and I didn't say it was an easy thing to make it to the March Madness playoffs. Because of this, you all will practice very hard in the future, and the failure ends here. The practice that used to be sloppy There will be no more casual games, and you will almost have to sacrifice all your spare time on the basketball court. Of course, I promise to give you one day off a week.

"Oh, damn it!" At this point, there was a lot of discussion among the people below.

Ricard ignored the crowd's discussion and continued talking on his own.

"You are not allowed to be late for training. What I mean is that if the training starts at five o'clock, anyone who arrives after 4:50 is considered late. Being late for one minute means turning back and forth 50 times. Of course, don't forget that one back and forth is counted as one .It is not allowed to take leave without reason. Want to go to the movies with your girlfriend? Please wait until the day of vacation. That is to say, except for the day of vacation, your life is only going to class and playing basketball at other times. Other than that You still have to obey my training plan and talk back to me? Five hundred push-ups. You can do it if you don’t want to, get out of the gym and never come back. Gentlemen, who is not satisfied now that you can quit now, I will never stop .” Ricard turned his body to the gate of the gymnasium and made a gesture of invitation.

As soon as the words fell, three people came out with dissatisfaction on their faces, and walked straight out of the gate of the gymnasium. "What do you think you are doing? We are not prisoners, take these idiots to your March Madness." Dissatisfied cursing echoed in the big basketball court.

"They were the top three players in our scoring list last season." Old Moore reminded Ricard quietly. Moore has been an assistant coach at Iowa State University for five years. He is an experienced right-hand man and can provide great help to Ricard who just came to the team.

"Then I guess we'll have new scoring points this season.

They don't deserve to be on my team, our goals and pursuits are totally different. ’ Ricard didn’t even look at them.

"Congratulations, everyone. Your competitors have lost three more players. As you saw just now, the two big men fought inextricably." Everyone turned their attention to An Jie and Morris.

"Don't forget that you have fierce competition here. Half of the people who stay now will not be able to play with us in the new season. The quality of the game is not the first in my judgment. I care more about it. It's everyone's determination and attitude. Maybe you can bear it now, but after a period of training, you may choose to leave like the three just now."

"Now I can't teach you how to play basketball well, until your physical condition can reach the level I want to teach." When he said this, Rickard glanced at Anjie. This guy has a lot to improve, but his physical fitness is the first step he must take to become professional.

"Turn back and run, easy. Now you all move for me, we will only practice this today, let me see if you can do the most basic for me first." Rickard took it out of his pocket whistle.

………………..

After everyone stood in a row at the bottom line, Ricard blew his whistle, and the quiet basketball court was immediately filled with the sound of basketball soles rubbing against the wooden floor.

"How many runs are we going to do? Coach," one player asked loudly.

"Oh, it depends on how many times you can run in an hour. Don't be lazy with me, don't you know how to run back and forth? You can only turn back when you touch the bottom line with your hands!"

"Hey, I've never seen the boys on this basketball court train so obediently before." Old Moore looked at the running figures in the court with a smile.

"The previous coach was too loose with them, causing many old players to get used to laziness. Now that we have recruited so many newcomers to compete with them, who would dare to neglect them. And among these fresh blood, some of them are really good He deserves to be cultivated." Speaking of this, Rickard's eyes fell on An Jie unconsciously.

"It's really you, kid." Moore patted Ricard on the shoulder. He hadn't looked forward to the new season for a long time. What kind of team would such a person train? It will be fun to work with this new partner.

………………..

After running for half an hour, An Jie's whole body was already soaked in sweat, his chest heaved more and more, and he had already started to breathe heavily.

The confrontation with Morris just now cost him too much energy, and he has never performed high-intensity exercise in such a systematic way. An Jie's footsteps gradually slowed down, and his legs seemed to be filled with lead, and it was very laborious to lift them up. This is the first time in his life that he has received formal basketball training, but it is too different from the interesting training with the ball he imagined.

"What's the matter, boy? Can't you walk?" Morris ran up from behind Anjie. He was also sweating profusely, but his speed was almost the same as when he started.

Seeing Morris who was gradually distanced from him, An Jie was speechless. Although he was very unconvinced, he could only helplessly watch Morris' back getting further and further away from him.

Already six or seven people walked off the field, either lying on the floor panting, or looking for water to drink everywhere, they all gave up the first item of the first training. The non-stop back and forth running lasted for an hour, which is really not something everyone can hold on to.

And all the training after today was just like what Ricard said, there was nothing but running back and forth. After a round of running, we rested, and after the rest, we continued to run the next round. Even for a minute, the players did not touch the basketball. In this way, everyone faced the sunset and ended the first basketball training.

………………..

An Jie walked in the corridor of the empty dormitory, feeling exhausted all over his body. After training, he had to find a part-time job in a fast food restaurant. It took several hours to stand at the counter for ordering food, and he really wished he had the chance to sit for a minute.

Coincidentally, the business of the fast food restaurant was really good that night, with a steady stream of customers, An Jie never had a chance to rest.

"Oh my god! Did you go to the fight team at the wrong place?" Jason, who was playing computer games at the table, saw An Jie who was limping after entering the door and fell directly on the bed. He threw The mouse curiously stepped forward to see if there were any "parts" missing from An Jie's body.

"Fuck, where are you going to touch it, kid!"

"Hey, I've never seen you like this before. You're such a lunatic that you don't know how tired you are when you play basketball."

"Who the hell told you that we were playing basketball this afternoon, and that coach made us all run back and forth all afternoon." An Jie recalled that painful experience and felt even more powerless.

"It must be that the basketball team's performance has been so poor these years. The school is going to transform you into a track and field team." Jason looked at his roommate sympathetically, thankful that he was not selected by the coach. He returned to the computer and continued playing the game while talking to An Jie.

"If you want me to say that you can just quit, you won't even be allowed to touch the basketball in such a bad basketball training. It would be more refreshing for the two of us to play wild ball, don't you think?"

An Jie didn't respond to him for a long time, he had already fallen asleep just now.

"What the hell." Jason looked at his sleeping roommate, and then returned to the game world with full concentration.

……………….

With a height of 2.19 meters and a wingspan of 2.34 meters, such a guy did not come to the United States to play basketball, but just to study abroad.

Looking at the data of the players' physical examination after training, Ricard was stunned by Anjie's information. In fact, why doesn't Anjie want to enter the door of professional sports? It's just that in the eyes of most Chinese families, the job of a professional athlete is so out of reach.

"Honey, aren't you sleeping yet?" Peggy made a cup of hot coffee for her husband, and walked to Ricard who was still working.

"Oh, I didn't even realize it was so late." Ricard took the coffee from his wife and held his wife's hand on his shoulder.

"It's only the beginning of September, and there are still two months before the start of the new season. What are you researching?" Peggy picked up the player report on the table and read it casually.

"We are a team that has not reached the NCAA playoffs in 22 years. There are too many things to do. Not only do I have to study the opponent's players, but I also know very little about my own players. Moreover, I I also found a player worthy of training. How to guide him correctly is also a very headache."

"Okay, no one can cross all the steps in one step, you should go to rest."

"Huh." Ricard stretched his waist.

"You're right, you have to continue to torment those boys tomorrow."

………………..

The first day of training is over, the other schools have just started, and the team hasn't even assembled yet. But Ricard started preparations for the new season two months in advance, which is a very long period of preparation even for professional players.

It is one of his goals this season to make breakthroughs in performance. To achieve this step, two months is already very tight for him.

And his second goal is to rack his brains to figure out how to develop the Asian "gold mine" he found is the best. He is not a dedicated center coach. Maybe he needs to add some new faces to the coaching staff if he wants to have better results.

During the two-month preparation period, the players who can make it to the end will be the players he wants and the players who can lead the team to victory.

During the two-month preparation period, if An Jie can survive the training and survive the trial training, then his possibility of success will be a step higher.

The rise of Anjie and the Iowa State University Cyclones officially begins today.

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