58. Training Start (III)

*AFTER ONE WEEK*

Rei continued to train diligently in this one week. He did the stance drill whenever he had the time and got help from Sora and Meiko for the tennis ball drill.

It was Sunday again and after breakfast, this time only Shirogana and Rei went to the park and Kazi Senior's training started again making Sora and Meiko busy. Reaching the park both of them went towards their previous spot.

Rei started his jogging in the park and after that his exercises. After one hour of that Rei was ready for his test. Shirogana sat on the bench and said, "Ok now show me your progress in the stance."

Nodding his head Rei sat in the stance. Slowly one hour passed but Rei showed no signs of suffering. Another 30 minutes slowly passed and Rei started to shake. His body shook more and after 20 more minutes, he fell as he couldn't continue.

Checking the time Shirogana made his way towards Rei. He helped Rei up and said, "Good job you went on till 1 hour and 50 minutes. If you continue like this by the time summer break comes to an end you will easily cross 3 hours. Now go and rest for a while we will start with the next test."

Rei felt satisfied hearing him praise and slowly went to rest. He massaged his legs to ease the pain. After 20 minutes he got up ready for the next drill test. Shirogana nodded and went a bit far with the tennis ball in his hands.

He slowly started to throw the balls and Rei caught them with smoother action than before. It was still rough but was good enough considering the time he had good improvement.

After a couple of catches, Shirogana came near and said, "You did a good job in training the drills taught to you. Now you should not slack on the training and continue the drills because you made some improvements. You are still not at the level of your fellow catchers in a similar age group."

Rei could only nod while listening to the harsh truth. He started baseball again too late and had to practice more than others to catch up to them.

Shirogana nodded and said, "Don't feel discouraged by it. You can at least catch up to them if you continue to train rigorously this summer. Now I will teach you the next drill."

Rei nodded, remaining silent and completely attentive about the next drill. Shirogana continued, " Today I will teach you the blocking drill, alright. Now blocking drill main point is to teach a catcher to create a wall where the ball thrown doesn't cross him/her. Now first you need to go on both your knees like this. Keep some distance, not too much only about a glove length.

Now keep your glove hand on the ground between both the knees with the glove wide open and the other hand behind it for support. Keep it hard so that the glove doesn't move much due to the force of the ball.

Now bend your chest a bit inside and touch your chin to your chest. Close slump your shoulders inward so the ball can go towards the home plate if it touches the shoulder.

Now this drill is mainly important when the fielders try to throw the ball into the home plate. So the ball doesn't generally come right into your mitt instead bounces off the home plate. So you try to create a wall for the ball to not bounce past you. Did you get everything I just said now, Rei."

Rei nodded and got ready to perform but was stopped by Shirogana, "Don't to perform this drill you need to wear the catcher's gear so you won't get hurt." and went out of the park leaving Rei."

Rei stood there thinking how would he perform the drill as he didn't bring the gear with him. Shirogana came after a couple of minutes with a large bag in his hand. He kept it in front of Rei and said, "This is a catcher's gear. The one you back home is still too big so you use this. I bought a second hand one for now."

Rei looked at the bag and did not move. He heard Shirogana, "Come on wear it." and went towards the bag. Opening it he saw a relatively old and well-kept gear. He didn't know how to wear it so turned towards Shirogana for help. With the help of Shirogana, he wore the gear completely and stood to look at himself.

He heard Shirogana, "Rei look over here." and turned towards him. Shirogana took a photo of him and kept the phone back inside his pocket.

"Now start practicing the drill I just showed you," said Shirogana folding his hands.

Rei felt his actions a bit constricted but continued the drill. He slowly went on his knees and took a glove distance between them, He kept his glove hand in front and his other behind it. He tucked his chin inside his chest and bent his chest a bit inward.

"Your shoulders should be inside not stiff," told Shirogana.

Rei freed his shoulders and caved them in. Shirogana nodded and said, "Ok this is good. Remember to not lift your chin. If the ball bounces and hits your throat which is not covered by the gear it would be fatal for you."

Rei nodded and Shirogana continued, "Ok now I will throw the ball and bounce it towards you. Try to remain in that position."

Shirogana threw the tennis ball and bounced it directly towards his chest. The ball stopped after touching his chest and rolled in front of him. Shirogana continued to throw the balls at him.

Some of them touched his body and stopped while others bounced off his body and went behind him. Rei tried to catch some by moving his glove which was a mistake.

Shirogana stopped after half an hour and said, "Ok let's stop here for today. There were some mistakes you made. Your body was not bent some times allowing the ball to bounce off your body. You should never move your glove and it should stay in the same position at all times."

Rei nodded and remained quiet.