Friends(1)

In the morning, everyone gathers in the lobby. Dan, Matt, and Josh came back to the hotel around 9:50 last night. They had a great time with Jian in the night market. They came back to their hotel, and Jian went back to the one for the Taiwanese players after hanging out together.

Alex showed the boys the way and took them to the stadium after breakfast. The place they were heading to was only five blocks away, so they could have access there by walking easily. The group arrived at the place very soon at eight in the morning. In the stadium, Roger lined the players up in front of the dugout and introduced the coaches from the Major League to the boys, and they also met up with the other group from Taiwan. Two groups of players stood in two lines and listened to his speech. They would be coached together but in different groups, pitchers' group and batters' group. On the last day, there would be a game for them to evaluate and see how they've improved in this camp. The coaches then separated the players into two groups after Roger finished the opening speech, and the training began. Dan and Josh were taken to the outfield with other pitchers to start the first day, and Matt and Jian stayed in the infield with the fielders.

Soon, hours later ,the clock on the wall of the dugout says it's almost noon, and the first day is close to the end when every member is focusing on their own tasks. The batters are taking turns to do batting practice on the field while the pitchers are collecting balls in the outfield. Jian's standing in the left-handed batters box for his turn to swing. He wiggles his shoulders to relax then gets set. He keeps his eyes on the pitcher and waits for the pitch to come. The pitch comes in, Jian sees it and starts the motion. He rotates his body and moves his arms to contact the ball. The bat contacts it, and Jian hits the ball into the air and to the right.

On the field, the ball goes high and deep to the right field, then it flies over the wall. Some pitchers in the outfield witness it, and they're impressed by the power. Dan watches the ball fly over the wall and laughs. "That's a homerun. He's great, isn't he?"

"He is." Josh stands next to Dan. He smiles and responds.

"He got power. Wow. It's quite rare to see a catcher have such power." Dan's impressed. "Usually they're like commanders, not necessarily good at hitting." He continues to say.

"I know. People emphasize the value of being a leader on catchers and overlook their batting skills all the time, but Jian's not one of those. He's a combination of a good commander and a good hitter." Josh says.

"You are a big fan of his, aren't you? It sounds like you're so proud of him." Dan turns to Josh and chuckles.

"I am. He's my best friend. I always knew he would be great." Josh says. "He's a natural…I see talents on him."

"I do too." Dan nods. "He's not only a good player but also a good man. I can see that from his behavior last night. He's so friendly and kind."

"Yeah. He's the partner you would want to have on and off the field." Josh says. He agrees with Dan.

Dan hears that and takes a second to come up with another question. "Can you tell me more about him? Since you keep saying that he's good." Dan's curious.

"That's a good one. I can tell you a lot of things." Josh laughs.

"That's fine. I only need one. Only one thing." Dan says.

"Well," Josh stops laughing and becomes serious. "in this case…I would say…he was the first friend that I ever had in my life." He looks at Dan and speaks.

"For real?" Dan's surprised.

"Yes" Josh nods, then he explains to Dan why he says that. The Taiwanese boy was a shy and quiet kid, no kids wanted to play with him because he was really quiet, so he was ignored a lot. Josh didn't know how to approach other kids and had a hard time making friends, so his father sent him to a baseball team, hoping it could help him make some friends. However, it was still difficult for the little boy in the beginning since he didn't know how to communicate with his teammates, and he was afraid of any interaction. Josh always wanted to run away, but one day, another boy made everything change; Josh was sitting alone on the bench watching his teammates talking when the practice was over, Jian came to him and asked him what he was doing because he wanted to play the new one. Then they started to talk, Jian even invited him to his house to hang out, and it was the beginning of their friendship. Jian became Josh's friend to speak for him, helping him with the things that he wasn't comfortable with, and he also encouraged him to talk and speak for himself since he wouldn't be able to stay around all the time. Jian was the person who helped him stay out of his comfort zone to take challenges and grow.