Chapter 80: Training and Preparation
At night, the moon is bright and the stars are sparse.
Akutsu clasped his hands behind his head and leaned against the headboard of his bed with his feet crossed.
The dim moonlight shone through the window onto his desk, where a tennis racket with a black and red frame lay quietly.
"whispering sound……"
Akutsu's eyes were fixed on something, and he didn't know what he was thinking about, and he uttered a syllable subconsciously.
As the corner of his mouth twitched, he felt the pain on his face again. The redness and swelling from the ball hit by Shang Shanyou in the evening not only did not go away, but became even worse.
“It turns out that being slapped in the face really hurts.”
After thinking about all sorts of things, Akutsu decided not to go to school tomorrow. He subconsciously didn't want others to see him like this.
"But those two serves..."
The pale yellow eyes glowed in the darkness, and Akutsu was still recalling the two serves that Uesugi Yu had hit.
[Tennis is not that simple...]
For some reason, Shangshan You's words echoed in his mind, and he thought of his mother's relieved and pleased expression after he returned home and "reluctantly" agreed to her.
"Hmph...boring..."
Suddenly, the young man snorted coldly and turned to the inside. The room was completely plunged into darkness...
…
After roughly solving the problem with Akutsu, Uesugi Yu returned home and called Shishido Ryo, telling him that the problem had been solved and asking him to recover quickly and then come back for training.
After all, the national competition is just around the corner and they don’t have much time left.
…
The next day.
All the regular members of Hyotei are gathered again. After being freed from the complicated matters and exams, everyone is much more energetic, and fighting spirit begins to burn in many people's eyes.
They had just won the Kanto Championship, so how could they not be eager to win the next national championship.
After Coach Sakaki came over, he didn't give too many instructions. He just handed a thick training plan to Atobe and then left alone.
For Hyotei who is now on the right track, his routine training does not require his supervision.
There is a second team waiting in the wings for the Hyotei's first team. The monthly on-campus ranking competitions and weekly second team challenges are the driving force that urges the first team to keep improving.
"It seems to be an intensive training program."
Atobe flipped through the schedule in his hand, his eyes lit up. Sakaki Taro not only marked everyone's shortcomings, but also made relevant training plans.
After looking at the performance of several people, Atobe knew that not only were they working hard, but the always calm and taciturn Coach Sakaki had also arranged many things.
"Everyone must give me the corresponding training volume in the next two weeks, otherwise they will be directly deprived of their place in the starting lineup."
Atobe stood at the front of the team and roared with full energy. There would definitely be more powerful opponents in the national competition. If Hyotei accidentally fell at the beginning, it would really become a joke.
"yes !"
Team One and Team Two responded in unison that no one in the reformed Hyotei Tennis Club would be careless about this matter.
There were some guys who relied on their seniority to slack off, but they were dealt with by Coach Sakaki and Atobe long ago.
Of course, if strictness alone is not enough to convince everyone, then the achievements and glory achieved by Hyotei will become the biggest motivation for these members to train hard.
…
The forms were distributed to the department and everyone received their own copy.
Uesugi Yu roughly compared the content he had been training with the content instructed by Coach Sakaki in his hand. He found that the general direction of the two was actually the same, and only some minor details needed to be adjusted.
His current physical condition does not require any intensive training. He just needs to continue practicing the breathing method and the constant practice.
The only things that require special training are skills and ball sense, which play a big role in his continuous integration of Demon Slaying Sword Technique into the tennis system.
This includes the mysteries beyond the ordinary moves that he wants to practice later, all of which require superb skills to support.
"Coach Sakaki's vision is really sharp..."
Uesugi Yuu was filled with emotion, and at the same time, he was curious about Coach Sakaki's past. This kind of thing that most people could make a career out of, was probably just a hobby for him.
Turning his head to glance at the watch on Xiangri Yueren's hand, Shangshan You smiled in his heart. The other party still had a lot of areas that needed improvement.
"Very good, now disband and start free training!"
After a while, seeing that no one had any objections, Atobe gave an order and everyone went to look for their own training props.
…
"Shangshan, do you think I really need to wear all of these?"
Xiangri was holding up several heavy weights with a miserable look on his face. If he were to carry out training with all of this, he would surely collapse from exhaustion in a few lifts.
"I wouldn't mind if you wanted to go play with the second team."
Shangshanyou smiled and shrugged. If Xiangri refused, Atobe would not show mercy.
"Um... okay, I knew you would say that." Xiangri was reluctant, but still tied the weights to his feet honestly.
"Oh~ I'm really not used to it. I can't jump high now."
After putting on the weight, Xiangri Yueren felt his body sink. After jumping twice on the spot, he clearly felt the huge burden on his legs.
"Okay, stop complaining, my two are heavier than yours."
Shangshanyou lifted two thicker weights in front of Xiangri and then placed them on his wrists.
"Don't forget this custom racket!"
At some point, Oshitari suddenly patted Mukaito from behind and handed a pure black racket to Mukaito in front of him.
"What is this?"
Xiangri reached out his hand to take it, and immediately felt his hand sink.
"How can it be so heavy!?"
He looked at Oshitari behind him with a look of horror.
"No, no way Σ(っ°Д°;)っ"
“ Haha~ That’s right!”
Oshitari pushed his glasses with no prescription and a sinister smile appeared on his face.
"Ah~ please spare me..."
Xiangri Yueren let out a wail.
…
Uesugi Yuu smiled. He was very used to Oshitari's stabbings. Sometimes even Atobe couldn't avoid his powerful blows. This Kansai wolf was getting darker and darker.
After walking around the two of them, Shang Shanyou went to the other side and picked up a wooden racket with a very loose net. He no longer needed to train his wrist strength with a shot put racket like the others.
On the contrary, such a racket tests the feel and control of the ball more. At this stage, the in-depth development of the sweet spot technology is also a branch of his training.
As I recall, Kijujiro from U17 defeated Momoshiro Takeshi, who was about to enter his third year, using only a racket with two cross-strings.
On the ghost hand, the vertical center of gravity smash hit with only two strings is more powerful than that hit by Taocheng's complete racket.
It can be seen from this that even just a small technique like the hitting area can cause a huge gap in strength between the two sides.
Even now, he still has many basic skills that have not reached the level of the U17 group. As his body continues to grow, he still has many more advanced tennis skills to improve...
Boom!
…
Boom!
…
The ups and downs of hitting the ball can be heard everywhere in the Hyuk-Ei Stadium. In such a hard training atmosphere, the national competition in August is about to begin...
