Welcome to the team

Over the weekend, Hideki was very happy and shared the news to his mother, now Kanai told Hideki "Okay Hideki-kun tomorrow let's eat at the cafe to eat your favorite Mom's Spaghetti and Katsudon." Both of them enjoyed it as Hideki enjoyed talking about the tryouts in which he said that he tried hard to get into the team and was told that he managed to squeak by the team's first string, he doesn't know if he'll be a starter or in the bench.

Monday came by quickly and Hideki's classes were done, of course he's the prospective 1st among all freshmen in the academe portion in Hanabira Junior High, also all of his teachers like him as he is an exemplary honor student and loves to help his teachers whenever they are in a pinch in lessons. 

Hideki and Benjie got inside the basketball court for the first stringers they saw the managers Yamamoto and Takahashi, Takahashi was a new manager for the team and this was the first time the players saw her too. Takahashi greeted Hideki who entered the gym and said "Hi Takeuchi-kun, I'm Megumi Takahashi." Takahashi saw Benjie and said "Oh Nakamura-san, hello to you too" Hideki chuckled and said "Hi Takahashi-san, you can also call me Hideki if you want to, I don't mind actually" Takahashi smiled and said "Sure"

Takahashi then told Hideki and Benjie, "Hideki-kun, Nakamura-san, If you've got a moment, I'll get your measurements for the jerseys, but if you're uncomfortable with me getting the measurements, you may use the sample sizes instead and we'll adjust from there. Coach will be here in 30 minutes as you 4 freshmen were scheduled to have their measurements taken" Hideki said "Sure, I'll take up on your offer Takahashi-san, thank you." Benjie opted for the other option, "Sorry, Takahashi-san, I'll go for the other option"

Megumi guided Benjie and Hideki to the changing room to get their measurements, for Benjie it was quick so he was the first one, then it was Hideki's turn, Megumi got Hideki's measurements much longer than needed, reality is, she was admiring God's greatest gift known as Hideki. But nonetheless, she was done and it was time for their warmups so Hideki and Benjie proceeded to go back to the gym and Hideki faced Megumi and said "Thanks, Takahashi-chan" Something (sweat) got into Hideki's right eye and closed it temporarily, so Megumi blushed as Hideki got back to the gym. 

Megumi's mind was running a hundred miles per second, Hideki let her call him by his given name and he called her 'Takahashi-chan' and winked at her, she almost fainted, good thing Yamamoto caught her and asked "You okay Megumi-chan?" Megumi got out of her trance and said "I'm fine Yamamoto-senpai, thank you" Yamamoto looked at Megumi for a second and asked, "Have you gotten Takeuchi's and Nakamura's measurements?" Megumi blushed for a second and she quickly nodded and then gave Yamamoto the measurements. Yamamoto said her thanks and asked Megumi to prepare the bottles of water for the players.

Hideki and Benjie were warming up and two players were walking up to them, Hideki kind of recognized their faces on the tryouts, they were the other freshmen who were called too last Monday, Hideki rose and presented his hand for a handshake and asked "You're Renjiro Sato and Shogo Aoki right?" Renjiro Sato and Shogo Aoki shook Hideki and Benjie's hand and confirmed "Yeah, so you're Hideki Takeuchi and Benjamin Nakamura right?" Hideki and Benjie nodded.

As the four freshmen were talking to each other while warming up, Coach Yoshida blew his whistle and said "All players please gather around." The players gathered around Coach Yoshida and he saw that his players were all warmed up, so he told them "Okay, good job you all warmed up, so I'll quickly introduce myself first, I'm Coach Takahashi Yoshida Hanabira Junior High School's Head Coach. I want you to all know that our team's bread and butter is defense, so that's why I chose all of you, as a famous international coach said, 'the best defense is the best offense' so we'll focus on our fundamentals in defense." 

Coach Yoshida then said, "Now without further ado, let's begin practice!" Coach Yoshida then told all the players to do various drills which made sure to improve their defense and reaction.

After an hour Coach Yoshida then reverted to "two versus two first to 5 points scrimmages" so they could build synergies both defensively and offensively. 

After the scrimmages, it was already time to wrap up practice so he blew his whistle and said "Okay gather in front of me." All players followed suit and sat in front of Coach Yoshida, as everybody sat Coach Yoshida said "Okay, as you are all cool down we'll have to introduce ourselves to one another so we can know who we already are, some of you may know the others but I want you to remember each and every one of your teammates and the staff, we're all in this together for a year. Let's start with the faculty, then managers, then the players"

A young middle-aged man stepped forward from Coach Yoshida's side and introduced himself "Hi everybody, I'm Assistant Coach Naoki Suzuki, my role on this team is primarily to help with the offensive strategies and how to use them."

An older gentleman steps forward and introduces himself "I'm the team's adviser Masato Tanaka, you may know me as your Mathematics teacher, and I am the one primarily representing the team to the school administrators and board and is the final guy to find for signatures on practice matches and schedules"

A blonde-haired young man steps forward and introduces himself in English "Hi everybody, I'm the co-adviser Mr. David Williams, your English assistant teacher, what I do is do whatever Mr. Tanaka lets me do, but additionally, I provide insights to coach Yoshida as I am a former NCAA player in the USA" the room was silent and a little bit awkward so Hideki raised his hand to help translate, as he translated what Mr. Williams said, everybody was in awe and clapped their hands, both to Hideki's translation and Mr. Williams' repertoire.

Then Yamamoto stepped forward and introduced herself, "I'm Ayumi Yamamoto, a senior, and one of the managers of the team. Basketball is not my primary sport but in my third year as manager, I continue to grow to appreciate basketball. If you have inquiries you can ask me. My primary role in this team is purely logistics and being a bridge for the players and staff."

After Yamamoto introduced herself, Megumi then stepped forward and introduced herself shyly "H-Hi everyone, I'm Megumi Takahashi. A freshman. Like Yamamoto-senpai, I do not have any basketball knowledge, but I want to help so my role is to do what Yamamoto-senpai is not doing, such as laundry, water refills, and various tasks during practice. I joined the team to know more about basketball…" As she said the last sentence she looked at Hideki for a bit, but the guy didn't notice it.

Then after the managers, the team captain said "Okay, I'll start for the players. I'm Yuki Tanaka the team captain and Shooting Guard, my playstyle is primarily to score points for the team with my three-points and jump shots"

Next was the vice-captain "I'm Kaito Suzuki, I'm not related to Assitant Coach Suzuki in any way, we just have the same family name. I'm the team's starting point guard, and my primary role is to guide and drive our offense"

The last senior then introduced himself "I'm Daiki Yamamoto, Ayumi's twin brother. My position's the Power Forward spot and I am a rebounding specialist"

Next was the Sophomore representative "I'm Tatsuya Morioka, the backup Point Guard, I enter the game when needed or when Suzuki-senpai needs to rest or is in foul trouble"

Then the tallest player in the room introduced himself "I'm Ryota Kobayashi, Center position, I am an interior defender and interior scorer"

The last Sophomore introduced himself "I'm Haruto Ito, I'm the 3-and-D guy. For the readers out there, 3-and-D means I primarily operate to shoot threes on Offense and be a defensive menace in Defense" 

Then Shogo humbly introduced himself to start the freshmen "I'm Shogo Aoki, a Small Forward, I'm just average on offense and defense, pleased to meet you all"

Next was Sato, "I'm Renjiro Sato, Center, I love to block shots and rebound the ball"

Benjie then introduced himself "I'm Benjamin Nakamura, you can call me Benjie if you want, I'm from the USA. My position is also the Small Forward, I'm a versatile defender and specialize in rim-finishing."

Then lastly Hideki introduced himself, "Hi everybody, I'm Hideki I can play any position, but I rather play the Power Forward spot, as for my playstyle, I specialize in many areas of the defense. My ability allows me to be an effective defensive unit."

Coach Yoshida then concluded the practice by saying "Okay, thank you for the introductions, this is the beginning of the school year so we'll be in this team for a whole year. With that, I want to set our goal for the year. My end goal for this year is to be able to exceed the top 16 without being lucky. Last year we were lucky to face a team in the top 32 that was missing their ace player, I want to reach the top 16 with our own skill. Am I clear for this year's goal?" Everybody shouted, "Yes Coach!" Coach Yoshida then looked at the staff and asked "That's from me, do you guys have any additional input?"

Mr. Tanaka raised his hand and said "I have, an announcement, the one we talked about earlier coach" Coach Yoshida nodded for his approval, and then Mr. Tanaka proceeded to talk "Okay, for the announcement, we will have our first practice match against Nambara Junior High School another team in the Tokyo area, I'm pretty sure this will be a good learning experience to gel with the others." 

Coach Yoshida said "Thanks Tanaka-sensei, since we will have the practice match 4 days from now, I'll announce the starters for this match. Take note, this is just a practice match so you may or not be the starter for the official tournament matches, as we will try to mix and match the different starter combinations"

"Center Ryota Kobayashi"

"Power Forward Hideki Takeuchi"

"Small Forward Benjie Nakamura"

"Shooting Guard Yuki Tanaka"

"Point Guard Kaito Suzuki"

Coach Yoshida then continued to talk, "This is the starting five, so me and assistant coach Suzuki will match you up with the other 5 players and 5 players from the 2nd string to acclimate with your teammates"

Coach Yoshida then asked, "Does anybody have any questions or violent reactions?" Nobody answered so Coach Yoshida said "Okay, I'll take that as no. This ends practice for today, see you tomorrow"