Meeting New People

The person looked up at Shun and Ming and then stared at them for a while before smiling and motioning towards the free chairs.

???: "Please, I don't mind some company."

Shun smiled and pulled a chair and sat in front of the new person. Ming followed and sat beside Shun.

Shun looked at the new person and said.

Shun: "Hi! My name is Kageyama Shun. Shun is my first name, so please call me Shun. I am from Japan."

The person nodded and introduced himself.

???: "Hello. My name is Bruno Müller. You can call me Bruno. I am from Germany."

Ming took the opportunity to introduce himself.

Ming: "Lin Ming, China. My first name is Ming, so use that."

Bruno nodded and looked at Shun, who spoke once again.

Shun: "Bruno, your haircut is really cool. The shaved design looks awesome!"

Bruno flashed an embarrassed smile and said.

Bruno: "Thank you."

Ming stared at Bruno and said.

Ming: "Man, you are different from your looks. I thought you would be the super-serious, silent type."

The continued to eat their meal, and Shun asked.

Shun: "So, did anyone of you come to this camp before?"

Bruno looked up from his food and responded.

Bruno: "I got the invitation last year, so this is my second year."

Ming shook his head and said.

Ming: "It is the first time for me."

Bruno looked at Shun, waiting for an answer. Shun also shook his head and answered.

Shun: "It is also my first time."

Ming pointed at Shun with his thumb and spoke to Bruno.

Ming: "This guy is thirteen."

Bruno's eyes widened as he looked at Shun, so Shun explained the same thing as he did to Ming before.

They talked about their flights before Ming asked.

Ming: "So, what position do you guys play?"

Bruno answered first.

Bruno: "Power Forward."

Shun waited to finish chewing his food before answering.

Shun: "Point Guard."

Ming's eyes lit up as he answered.

Ming: "Hey! Me too, I also play Point Guard."

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Halfway through their meal, another person joined their table. He asked in a deep and cheerful voice.

???: "Hey, guys. Can I eat with you?"

Shun looked at the person, and he was happy to meet another new person.

Shun: "Sure, join us."

The person sat down on the empty chair with, and his plate of food set down on the table with a heavy thump.

Ming looked at the plate and looked at the new person in amazement.

Ming: "Woah."

The plate was loaded just to the point before the would food would overflow from the plate.

Shun looked at the person, and he could only use one word to describe him, and that was Buff or Jacked.

Before starting eating his food, the new buff person introduced himself.

???: "Hey, my name is Douglas Pierce. I am from Argentina. I play Center."

The other three introduced themselves to Douglas.

Douglas smiled at everybody and then looked at Bruno.

Douglas: "I know you. Argentina played against Germany last year in the U19 championship. We lost to you guys."

Bruno turned to Douglas and stared at him. Ming and Shun gulped because Bruno's stare looked so severe.

After a moment, Bruno gave an embarrassed and nervous smile as he spoke.

Bruno: "Sorry, but I am bad at remembering people."

Ming and Shun sighed in relief but once again braced themselves to see Douglas's reaction.

But their worries were unfounded when Douglas loudly laughed as he slapped Bruno's back that looked like would knock the air out of someone, but were actually pretty soft for Douglas.

And, Bruno was just tough as he looked as he took the slaps without any problems.

Douglas: "You don't have to worry about it. And, we lost fair and square, so I am also not mad about it."

Ming and Shun once again sighed in relief.

Shun put up a question for Douglas.

Shun: "First time here?"

Douglas nodded while stuffing his face with food, and then tried to ask the same question, but could only gibberish with all that food in his mouth.

Shun smiled as he understood the meaning behind the gibberish.

Shun: "First for Ming and me, and second for Bruno."

Then the topic of Shun's age came up, and he repeated the same answer to him.

Ming spoke to Bruno and asked him a question.

Ming: "Bruno, what can you tell us about the training camp."

Bruno thought about his experience from last year and asked.

Bruno: "You guys are aware of the division of the participants at the start of the camp, right?"

Shun nodded and said.

Shun: "The level of coaching is decided by a test on the first day of camp."

Bruno nodded and continued.

Bruno: "The test is similar to the draft combine test. The test involves both physical and technical tasks to measure the players' statistics.

We also play a five-on-five game that is recorded.

Now, you would think that this would be enough to decide the division of the players."

All of the other three nodded, so Bruno continued.

Bruno: "All of these results are recorded, but the decision is not just based on this data. We all know some qualities can't be put into numbers.

So, to measure those, all the coaches in this camp watch all the tests and games.

They mark down the players that interest them and then watch the recordings of all the test afterward.

So, the test results aren't the main criteria of evaluation. The main criteria are the coaches' perception of you.

If you didn't do well on the test, but the coaches think that you are good enough then they would assign you a higher division.

There are three divisions. There is no limit on how many can join a certain division, but usually, Division-One has the least members, and Division-Three has the most members."

The three of them took in the information, and Douglas asked a question.

Douglas: "What are the difference between coaching in different divisions."

Bruno gathered his thoughts and said.

Bruno: "The coaches in this camp are all college-level coaches."

Before Bruno could continue, Douglas asked.

Douglas: "Eh, why college-level coaches, they could've asked for professional team coaches to join. Are they being cheap?"

It was Ming who answered the question. He sighed and explained.

Ming: "College-level coaches and professional-level coaches are different, but that doesn't mean that college-level coaches are inferior, in fact, college-level would work better for us.

College-level coaches have worked with high school graduates for years, they understand how players our age play better than any professional-level coach could ever understand.

They would be able to guide us better than any professional-level coach."

Bruno nodded and continued.

Bruno: "Exactly now, continuing from before, the number of people in Division-One is lower, which means that the coach per player ratio is low, and they would be able to devote more time to each player.

The coaches are also at a higher level, the better you place in the divisions.

Plus, Division-One facilities have cameras placed around the gym that would record your every move that you can watch later."

Shun sighed in amazement as he leaned back in his chair.

Shun: "That was a lot of information to take in."

Ming laughed as he said.

Ming: "One thing is clear, this camp is going to be a lot of fun."

After that, they ended up talking for a while, and Douglas ended up refiling his plate three more times.