20 Jump
It is still pouring rain outside. There is hardly anyone who dares to come out.
"The weather is so bad..." The convenient store employee had his jaw resting on the counter.
They didn't have any visitors since morning because of the awful storm that is storming Welcity right now. The pour of the rain heavy and then coupled with the strong wind no one would even dare to go out with an umbrella and watch their umbrella broke.
sigh.
The employee felt bored and opened the TV. He took the chips he had been snacking upon and ate some.
The show is about two men arguing about different topics surrounding the league. Suddenly, they brought up Michael Peyn and that he is a phenomenal Legend and an Anomaly at the same time.
The Store clerk couldn't help but bob his head in agreement of the two. He is apparently also a huge fan of the legendary basketball player who had just perished this year.
"Man, it would be great if Michael came back from the dead and sweep the league once again. He has to show how basketball is played in front of the arrogant Karoleen's face... Sigh..."
"Do you have umbrellas?"
Someone came to the counter and spoke to the clerk.
"It is in front of the 4th basket beside the magazine racks- !? God! you scared me!"
The clerk nonchalantly took his eyes off of the TV and looked at the customer. He was surprised as he did not expect how tall the customer is.
It is Allan who is on his black raincoat while dripping wet.
"I already looked but couldn't find any."
'Huge! How tall is he?'
The clerk shook his head and heard the problem. He stood up and looked at the basket near the magazine rack and found no umbrellas.
"Please wait a moment."
Allan watched as the clerk knocking on a door. He faintly heard the clerk's voice asking his Boss if they had some umbrellas in stock.
Suddenly, his attention was taken by the show on the television showing a clip of a 6-foot 10-inch tall (208.3 cm) high schooler who dunked on full power.
It was a strong dunk and visibly unstoppable dunk. Allan could tell just by watching.
He looked at his hand and feel into his own thoughts.
"Sir?"
Allan looked at the Clerk who appeared in front of him.
"Sir, I am sorry but it seems like we run out of stock. The umbrellas were sold out due to the heavy rain."
"Alright."
The clerk returned to the counter and watched the TV.
Allan looked at his hand before clenching it into a fist. He looked at the TV for one last time before leaving the store.
"Thank you for coming!" The clerk noticed Allan leave and did not forget to say his line. When Allan's figure blended in the rain he couldn't help but think, 'Is he a basketball player? He is tall so it would be great if he is one... Man! Why am I not gifted such height?'
...
In Lance's apartment, Lance took a meter and fixed it on the wall. He decided to train his vertical jump.
The average vertical jump for Lance's age is 17 inches (43.2 cm) and a 20-inch jump (50.8 cm) is already good for 15 - 16 year old but Lance already has a whopping 40 inch vertical which is well above the average verticals of his age.
"My father could jump up to 46 inches which means 40 inches might not be my limit."
He looked at 40th inch and saw that it is already high. He was once again amazed by this talent he never knew he had.
"If could increase this even more, then that would be better."
He looked at the 10-foot mark and jumped to reach it. Suddenly, he felt heavier and could barely touch it.
"I forgot. A standing jump is weaker than a run-up one."
He decided to record his own jump and try to improve it. He took a notebook and a pen and placed it on the desk nearby.
He looked up and only realized how high the ceiling is.
"13 feet? (3.45 m)"
Suddenly an idea came to him.
"Maybe I can install a hoop here and practice my dunks."
He looked around and roughly analyzed the floor area of his apartment.
His apartment has a 1,100 square foot (102.2 sqm) floor area which is divided into 5 rooms. The living space is where the living room, kitchen and dining area is placed, it accounts for the 65% of the floor area. It also has 2 bedrooms, one is a master bedroom with 150 sqft (13.9 sqm) floor area and another with130 sqft (12.1 sqm) floor area. The remaining area is allocated for the bathroom and storage.
Lance looked at his living space and thought that it is actually quite spacious.
Then going back to the reason he fixed a meter on the wall. He began to warm himself up and stretch his joints.
When he is ready he stood in front of the meter and got his standing reach recorded on his notebook.
"With this, I get to know how high I could jump."
He looked at the notebook once again and wrote the record he remembered he got during the tryouts.
"5-foot 7 inches (170.2 cm) and a 7-foot 7 inches (231.14 cm) standing reach... Just about the same as what I got during the tryout... Let's see how high can I jump?"
He bent his knees and gathered all his weight down before jumping. When he jumped like a spring the tension built up in his calf was instantly released. Afterward, he slapped onto the wall and landed on two feet.
He couldn't rely on his eyes to check the height so he powdered his hand to make a mark on the wall.
When he looked up he was satisfied. He jumped a little higher than earlier.
10 feet and 5 inches (3.17 m). He followed the tip of the hand mark and used the meter fixed on the wall to find the height.
"Still not good enough."
Against tall players, such reach is going to be insignificant.
He wrote it down and looked at the mark.
"34 inches (86.34 cm)."
He wasn't satisfied and jumped again.
10-foot 4 inches (3.14 m). 33-inch jump.
then, again...
10-foot 6 inches (3.19 m). 34-inch jump...
10-foot 6 inches (3.19 m). 34-inch jump...
"Still not good enough..."
10-foot 8 inches (3.25 m). 36-inch jump...
10-foot 9 inches...
...again and again, until he recorded down his 20th jump. He felt his heart racing and somewhat out of breath and tired.
His last jump was a 41-inch jump...
"I don't know if it's luck or something but I can definitely jump higher! My limit is not 40 inches!"
Lance smiled as he looked at the height of the highest mark he reached.
Above the hand marks on his wall the highest one reached the 11th feet mark on the meter.
"I have to jump higher!"
He began to rack his mind and look for ways to increase vertical jumps. Training the calves, the core and the entirety of his legs. Even though he came from the future he does not know everything.
"If only smartphones are available around these times."
He began to reminisce on the technology of the future when information is as common as grasses on the ground. Unfortunately, smartphones are yet to be invented in the current timeline and flip phones which are the ones popular are not capable of surfing the internet freely yet.
Suddenly, he remembered something and smiled.
"Will ankle weights help me increase my vertical?"
He began to look through his closet and saw 2 pairs of ankle weights.
"I knew I bought some."
The first pair is the lightest one with a weight of at least 4.4 lb (2 kg) each while the heaviest one is 2.2 lb (1 kg) heavier.
"Should I use these?"
After coming into a decision, he began to strap the lightest ones first and decided to get used to moving with weights first. He moves around for a while and felt the increase of weight in his ankles. It is not too heavy but it does affect his movements by a lot.
"Before training with these, I think I should get used to it first. Just to be cautious."
