Yonghe Road

Chapter 39 Personal Training
Director Mei Wending personally selected him to play in the game, but Luo Chuxiu didn't even give Director Mei Wending face, which made Lei Sheng very depressed.

Luo Chuxiu thought Director Mei was just saying it casually, so how could he take it seriously? As the coach of the Baile Village basketball team, he was responsible for the team. Defeating opponents and winning championships on the court was his mission.

As for other social etiquette, as an elementary school physical education teacher, he doesn't want to care about so many things. He doesn't want to be a principal, so there is no need to curry favor with the leaders.

If there is any leader he must report to, it is Luo Youcai - the sponsor and financial backer of this basketball team.

Winning the game and getting the championship is his best explanation to Luo Youcai.

How to win the game?
Before the game, you should be fully familiar with the physical condition, technical level, psychological characteristics and position of each team member, make a reasonable division of labor according to the actual situation of the team members, clarify the responsibilities and tasks of each team member in the game, give full play to the advantages of the team members, and then carefully design the game tactics based on the strength and characteristics of the opponent during the game, including offensive tactics, defensive tactics, fast break tactics, positional warfare tactics, etc.

Obviously, considering his coaching professionalism, Lei Sheng is not qualified to play, and the substitutes are just there to make up the numbers.

Luo Chuxiu spoke frankly, and Lei Sheng was very dissatisfied when he heard it.

"Didn't you listen carefully to what Director Mei said the other day?" Lei Sheng frowned at Luo Chuxiu. "Director Mei said that many NBA stars started out fighting randomly, and there was also Ying Dao from Slam Dunk..."

"Sakuragi Hanamichi." Luo Chuxiu reminded Lei Sheng again, but then gave him a "so what" expression and said, "How can you compare with those people Director Mei mentioned? Their random fighting is just because they don't have the guidance and professional training of a teacher, but you are really fighting randomly because you don't have their talent. Do you understand, Mr. Lei?"

Luo Chuxiu probably felt that her words were too harsh, so she tried to comfort Lei Sheng, "Mr. Lei, everyone has their own strengths. You may not be talented at basketball, but you're good at raising bees."

“I’m also good at growing edible roses.”

Lei Sheng was not convinced. He really was. After the training camp ended, he drove Zhong Ziqi home under the pretext of sending him home, complaining to him all the way in the passenger seat.

"It's just playing basketball, do I need talent? I don't believe that I spent money to buy a basketball, and the basketball still has to see if I have talent before it will play with me. Talent, bullshit talent, what the hell is talent?"

"Talent does exist," Zhong Ziqi said. "For example, our son Chunshui is very talented in singing and has had a golden voice since he was young."

Lei Sheng was about to refute Zhong Ziqi, but he shut up when he heard the word "spring water".

Seeing Lei Sheng silent and looking gloomy, and thinking back to how Luo Chuxiu had humiliated him during training today, Zhong Ziqi couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He consoled him, "So what if you don't have talent? There's a saying that goes, 'Diligence can make up for lack of talent.' Do you remember the story of Tong Dizhou when we were in school?"

"'We Must Strive to Be Proud'?"

It was surprising that Lei Sheng still remembered the title of the text. He was instantly inspired and came up with an idea: "Zi Qi, how about I ask you to be my personal basketball coach?"

"What the hell?"

"I'll pay you."

Zhong Ziqi couldn't refuse Lei Sheng's proposal, but he had a request: "Can you pay the tuition first?"

Zhong Ziqi was short of money, and Lin Yingying was due for her prenatal checkup. Lei Sheng, understanding the Zhong family's difficulties, readily transferred three thousand yuan to Zhong Ziqi and said, "Three hundred per lesson. I'll schedule ten lessons with you to see how good Teacher Zhong is." That was the deal.

A few days before the next training camp, Zhong Ziqi went to the playground of Baile Village Primary School every day to practice basketball with Lei Sheng.

Start with simple standing high dribbles, and practice standing high dribbles for 10 to 15 minutes every day, dribbling 200 times with each hand.

Once Lei Sheng has mastered dribbling in place, move on to dribbling on the move. Start by dribbling slowly to get a feel for the ball's control while moving, then gradually increase the speed to practice dribbling up and down the court for layups. Practice 3-5 sets each time, dribbling from one end of the court to the other for each layup.

After that, I practiced advanced techniques such as front-body crossover dribbling, behind-the-back dribbling, and between-the-legs dribbling. I practiced for 15 to 20 minutes every day, repeating each technique 30 to 50 times.

Lei Sheng's shooting technique was very poor because his shooting posture was not standard at all. Zhong Ziqi spent a lot of effort to correct his shooting posture, making him keep his feet slightly apart, knees slightly bent, and the center of gravity placed between his feet.

He demonstrated to him while explaining the key points of holding the ball. However, when it came to playing basketball, Xiao Lei had no talent and was a bit clumsy, which often turned Zhong Ziqi's patient teaching into an impatient roar:

"Spread your fingers naturally, leaving your palm empty. Place the ball over your right eye. Keep your palm empty, understand? When shooting, generate power from your legs, straighten your arm, and flick your fingers to release the ball. Flick your fingers, do you understand?"

Seeing that Teacher Zhong was about to explode in anger, Lei Sheng threw the ball away and said, "Wait a minute, I'm going to go drink some water."

Then he ran to the sidelines to get his phone and transferred another two thousand yuan to Zhong Ziqi. He ran back and said to Zhong Ziqi with a smile, "Teacher Zhong, I think teaching basketball is really hard work. I just increased your tuition. Three hundred yuan per class is not enough. It must be five hundred yuan."

Lei Sheng waved a palm in front of Zhong Ziqi.

Zhong Ziqi felt embarrassed to get angry again. The student was so sensible and studious. As a teacher, he must protect his student's ambition, so he started physical training for Lei Sheng again.

"Lei Sheng, upper body strength is very important for shooting and rebounding," Teacher Zhong's voice softened, a smile in his eyes. "We can do push-ups to improve upper body strength. Do 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps per day. Is that okay?"

As Zhong Ziqi spoke, he wondered if Lei Sheng could do push-ups. So he lowered the difficulty: "If you find standard push-ups difficult, you can start with kneeling push-ups. It's okay if you can't, I'll do it with you."

They did push-ups together to improve upper limb strength, squats together to enhance lower limb strength, plank exercises to improve core strength, and shuttle runs and rope ladder training to train agility, simulating various footwork movements on the field, such as small steps, cross steps, etc.

After serving as Lei Sheng’s personal trainer every day, Zhong Ziqi would return home covered in sweat.

Hearing the door open, Lin Yingying hurried out from the kitchen. She couldn't wait to tell Zhong Ziqi that she had gone to the city for a prenatal check-up and the baby in her belly was safe and sound.

"Ziqi..."

Lin Yingying was stunned when she saw the person coming in from outside the door, and the enthusiastic smile on her face instantly became awkward, because the person coming in from outside the door was not Zhong Ziqi, but Lei Sheng.

(End of this chapter)