Learning the basics of football

It's been 1 month since I started working on my physical abilities, since my father is a coach and my mother own a pretty well working business I can say that my family is pretty rich and that in itself helped me tremendously.

Compared to my life in my old world in which I had to earn everything on my own this time I could get most of the things I needed just by asking my parents.

I started by getting myself a very qualified personal trainer who was one of my father's friends, then I also asked for some good nutritionists to make sure I have the best diet possible.

That in itself was enough to make my results skyrocket. Even on the outside my body no longer looked as sick and as skinny as it used to look which made both of my parents very happy, I'm pretty sure my body have finally overcome the state of my past ill body.

Since I was their only son my parents weren't scared of wasting resources on me and actually gave me everything I asked which also helped me a lot, all I had to do was workout and follow the diet given to me, all the cooking was done by a chef.

And other than the look a lot changed in my body.

'System show me my physical stats'

[PHYSICAL:

Stamina: 10-> 35

Acceleration: 10-> 24

Top speed: 10-> 23

Jump: 10-> 25

Agility: 10-> 30

Kinetic vision: 10-> 40

Reaction speed: 10-> 29

Power: 10-> 20

Balance: 10-> 25

Stat points: 0

Random stat points: 0]

What I've been focusing on the most was increasing my stamina so that I can follow some routine basic football exercises, now I can finally train for an hour and maybe even more as long as the intensity wasn't too high.

Yet apparently my kinetic vision is what improved the most, that can also be explained by the fact that it's the easiest to improve since that's something every human use on a daily basis even without realizing it.

Most of my other stats have also improved pretty well, my personal trainer was pretty shocked at how fast I was progressing so I'll take that as a good sign. At least I'm convinced that I'm on the right path.

Today was gonna be a bit special, it's a Saturday and I don't have school, I'd usually go to continue my physical training but my father proposed to personally coach me.

One weird thing that I notices during that month was that when I tried to use the [Eyes of the Lord] special weapon on my father it to see his stats it somehow failed, apparently if the gap of level is too big I can't even see his stats which made me curious about what he was going to teach me today.

He also said he'd bring someone with him. This person was seemingly late so me and my father headed to the football field and started passing the ball to each other as a warm up.

While giving each other some small passes he tried explaining to me the right technique to pass accurately and the best place to deliver the ball. While I had a hard time understanding everything he said I did my best to follow his teaching.

Recently he have been increasingly talkative about his past, he used to dream of becoming a professional footballer player and wanted to be a star midfielder but he got injured which ended up ending his career earlier than it should've been.

That would explain why he's so worried about me suddenly training so intensely even though I was previous ill, and it also explains why he's so knowledgeable about passing.

He kept on going on his rent about passing and the theory behind it but since I was still a complete beginner who barely knew the rules of football I couldn't understand much of what he was saying. But that was only up until his friend finally arrived.

"Hey James it's been a while!" Suddenly a tanned man called out for my dad, he had a very atypical but stylish hairstyle and dyed hair. He obviously wasn't someone ordinary, he had a sort of aura around him which was extremely intimidating even from afar. But weirdly enough I had a strange familiar feeling when seeing him.

"Hey Lavinho it's been a while!" My father replied while shocking me and making stop on the spot.

Lavinho? The lavinho? Looking at him once more there was no doubt. He had a different hairstyle and hair color but it was the same Lavinho I knew. His sunglasses managed to hide his look a bit but he was still very recognizable.

Seeing him chitchat with my father so casually made me understand who my father was talking about when he said he'd bring a friend today. But that only made me more confused about how my father knew such a world class player.

"So you're James' son huh? I heard you hated football and suddenly woke up one day wanting to learn how to play? Did the god of football talk to you while you were in a coma? hahahaha!" He asked jokingly while obviously trying to understand what made me change my mind.

"I simply realized I wasn't as sick as before so I can very well aim for the title of best player in the world." I replied seriously

"Bahahahah James!! Your son is hilarious!!! Haahahahha!" He nearly fell down from laughing.

"You have never played football in your entire life and still wish to become the best?" He asked while trying to be a bit more serious.

"Yes you heard that right." I couldn't be bothered by his mockery since I couldn't deny how ridiculous my own claim sounded.

Nobody other than myself know about my own gift and special weapon and it's fine that way.

"Alright then let's change our deal James, your son seems pretty interesting so I'll train him for 1 week since that's the time of my vacation here, if he manages to impress me I'll personally recommend him to the Villareal academy."

"Hahaha I told you I was sure you guys would get along. Then I'll be going to my team's training and will leave you guys be." My father replied and immediately ran back to the car while not even letting me ask him any questions.

Right after my father left Lavinho started by explaining to me that at my current level learning skills was going to be completely useless and that if I wanted to get better and learn the basics I couldn't start by shooting nor defending or passing.

"The basics is getting used to the ball, getting used to moving around with a ball in your feet, dribbling! that's the base of football, in Brazil, my home country, even without any goal or team every kid play football even if alone, and it's because it all starts by dribbling. Dribbling is the essence of football, even if you don't know how to shoot as well as others why would it matter if you can dribble everyone including the keeper?" His speech while being completely absurd it did make sense, especially that it was coming from one of the world's best players.

At first he simply asked me to do 2 runs around the field with the ball in my feet, then we started doing some random freestyle dribbles, I was horrible at it but having one of the world's bests teaching me helped me advance way faster than anyone would on their own.

Every single tip on how to improve my dribbling and ball control that I needed at first was handled to me on a silver plate, I couldn't have a better start.

At the end of the first day only 2 of my stats changed but it was definitely a huge change.

[Ball control: 10-> 13

Dribble: 10-> 14]

I never expected to gain 7 stats in a single day since even when I tried to play with the ball before not a single stat improved, being coached by a professional really was something else.

------

The second day was dedicated to creative shooting. I already had a hard time with dribbling on the ground but he made me juggle with the ball then shoot for the whole day.

We did that for hours until my whole body was exhausted.

[Ball controll: 13->15

Dribbling: 14-> 15

Volley: 10-> 12

Kicking power: 10-> 11

Shooting accuracy: 10-> 11]

The training was hard but the results were amazing, I could feel myself improving at a very fast rate and my stats showed that as well. Once again my overall stats were raised by 7.

------

The third day was dedicated to me getting trashed. I had to defend against Lavinho's dribbles, I fell more times than I could count, defending him was simply impossible.

But weirdly enough it was the day that gave me the most overall stats.

[Composure: 10->13

Condition stability: 10-> 12

Tackling: 10-> 12

Defense awareness: 10-> 11]

I wasn't able to stop him even if he was going easy on him I was being played for the whole day but even then it was very worth it.

------

On the fourth day we simply repeated the first day and focused on dribbling

[Ball control: 15->16

Dribbling: 15->17]

It was the day were I gained the less stats but I was slowly starting to feel like this sport was no longer unfamiliar to me, the feeling of the ball in my feet started slowly getting ingrained in my brain.

-------

The fifth day was a mixture of many shots he tried teaching me, I failed terribly at most of them but it was still a nice day.

[Kicking power: 11-> 13

Shooting accuracy: 11->13

Long shot: 10-> 11

Free kick: 10-> 11

Penalty kick: 10-> 11]

Another +7 stat points, improving so fast felt almost unrealistic. but I wonder if that would be enough to impress him.

-------

For the sixth day it was once again the defense training, I still was unable to even touch him let alone the ball, he was way too evasive and had me beat by far whether it be in physical capabilities or in technique.

This time he was a bit more serious about it which made me realize how far away from me he was, I could feel like he was testing my resolve for my goal to be the best in the world. He was showing me what it meant to be at the top.

[Composure: 13-> 14

Condition stability: 12-> 14

Defense awareness: 11-> 12

Tackling: 12-> 14]

It was a huge increase in stats but the best thing was none other than the system notification I got at the end of the day.

[Congratulations on completing the quest "introduction to football."! ]

[Congratulations on obtaining 10 stat points!]