Chapter 141 141 Test Day
Chapter 141 141 Test Day
I demand your power stones as I was deemed worthy by the singularity to present you with its hero\'s tale, so motivate me to write more and upload chapters faster.]
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"Alright kids it\'s time for this month\'s physicals," Coach Carlos exclaimed as he led the kids into the testing gymnasium. The building has quite a speciose feeling to it with many stations set up similar to a draft combine.
All the different Ace Academy players could be seen going through various stations. The most prominent stations were the cone drills set up to test the player\'s agility and speed. Another section of the gym was entirely focused on gathering data on the player\'s flexibility.
Coach Carlos guided his group towards the flexibility station first allowing them to ease into the tests. The first part of the flexibility test was the sit and reach challenge. This test entailed the players sitting on the ground with their bare feet outstretched against a box with a ruler on it.
The first to step up to the test was a boy named Marco who got a score of 20 inches which is considered good for a 9-year-old boy. hearing his score Marco heaved a sigh of relief knowing that flexibility is not one of his strong points. A girl named Jenna was up next who managed to get an absurd score of 39 inches which is considered an excellent score even for girls who are naturally more flexible.
The test continued and many more players took their turn at the sit and reach test with no one scoring less than 18 inches which is considered the passing mark for their age group. To no one\'s surprise, the goalkeepers who constantly work on their flexibility consistently scored higher on average than the other players. Jack was the keeper who scored the highest with a score of 36 inches.
His score not only amazed the players around him but also earned him approving nods from the coaches. After he was done it was Finally Rakim\'s turn to take his test. He had never actively tested his flexibility, but he believed it to be great, after all the Yoga he does on a daily basis. So, when it was his turn, he wasn\'t too surprised when the coach read out a score of 38 inches.
Although just a level below Jenna when considering the 3-year age gap he was actually better off. Coach Carlos raised an eyebrow up hearing his colleague call out his score but still calmly noted it down. Rakim\'s score caused some of the players to exclaim in excitement, but it died down a second later when Logan Adams matched his score.
The players reacted with more enthusiasm upon seeing his score as he seemed more popular with his teammates. The lanky blond boy simply smiled brightly at his friends and joined them but not before sending a glare at Rakim. They were both wingers with similar playing styles which caused a lot of friction between them.
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"Don\'t mind him Rakim the dream, he\'s just jealous that you are younger than him and just as good," Jake told me with a comforting smile having seemingly caught the glare Logan sent me. I wasn\'t that bothered but still appreciated his attempt at comforting me.
"Yeah, if he makes trouble just tell him I got a higher score than him," Jenna also known as Jen told me from my side trying to either comfort me or remind me that she got the highest score. Big Sam didn\'t say anything and simply nodded in support as he focused on the coach.
"Thanks, Guy\'s but his actions don\'t bother me that much," I honestly told them but judging by their sympathetic looks they didn\'t seem to believe me. What else did I expect from the three of them who seemed to let reality blend with fiction?
On my first day, I wasn\'t sure what to think about them since their introduction was quite odd. However, on my second day, they were the only ones who made an effort to get to know me. Eva was right in her assumption of Logan not liking me as he made that pretty clear on my second day here.
I assume that he felt threatened by my skill or maybe it was my handsomeness, either way, he doesn\'t like me. If it was only his feelings I wouldn\'t have minded, but the fact that his large friend group makes up almost 40% of our Pride 3 group. So, when it came to group exercises, they would actively try not to pass to me which started to get annoying.
At some point, I even actively Intercepted their passes just to get involved in the exercises. They tried to complain about it but the fact that I didn\'t lose possession of the ball left them little room. In fact, Coach Carlos reprimanded them for being childish and told them to stop fooling around during his training sessions.
Although the atmosphere during training improved, that didn\'t stop them from doing their best to exclude me during other situations. That\'s how I ended up getting to know these 3 betters. They didn\'t seem to care about the other kid\'s opinions and just looked to be having the most fun.
Like I guessed they were fans of the show Power Rangers but they also like a variety of different shows. What really made us bond was when I found out they liked anime, especially Yu-Gi-Oh which we bonded over. I appreciated the OG Duel Monsters show but my favourite is the 5D\'s spin-off. Making these unlikely friends their group of 3 became four as we bonded over our love for football and the fictional world.
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"Next we have the box dribble test," Coach told us with a huge grin as he led us to two squares of cones. The exercise was pretty self-explanatory as all you had to do was dribble the ball from the bottom right cone anti-clockwise around the box. The same goes for the box on our right where you would start from the left cone and dribble the ball clockwise around the box.
"Now I know what you\'re thinking how hard could it be to dribble a ball around the box, I mean my grandma can do it in her sleep and she is in a wheelchair," Coach Carols chipped in just as we started to relax our vigilance for this test. His words did earn him a few laughs from some of the kids whose confidence grew another notch.
"So, to make things more interesting you will be timed, try to get the lowest possible time whilst also maintaining control of the ball. If it slips away from you your attempt is over and you only get 3 so be careful," he said again instantly dampening the confidant smiles from those around me. Mine Included as I furrowed my brows thinking of my possible time if I go all out.
I wasn\'t too worried though since my ambidexters feet would prove to be a massive advantage during both sides of the tests. Eager to get started I lined up on the left square wanting to turn left first. My reasoning behind this decision was the fact that during games I naturally turn right from the left wing so I should give this my full attention first.
I was not first in line however as Jenna seemed more eager than me to try her hand at this challenge. With her also being a winger and her nickname being the Swift I was expecting to see her display her speed in this test. And I wasn\'t disappointed as she sped off along the straight of the 4 by 4 square leaving her opponent in the other box in the dust.
Throwing homage to her namesake she turned the corner with a swift Ronaldo chop not losing control of the ball. Before I had time to take in her action, she reached the second corner. Unlike before she didn\'t perform a fancy skill but instead knocked the ball ahead of her and past the cone.
But before it could trickle away from her control, she used her right foot to drag the ball back under her control just as he turned the corner. The next moment she sped down the straight with all her speed fighting for every millisecond she could reduce. She had beaten the boy in the other course by far and her score of 3.3 seconds reflected it setting the bar high for the rest of us.
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To Be Continued...