Two Useless Skills

Ross is one of the best players in the school, he's also a third-year student like some others and the captain, but he's very unique with his speed and ability. The top student in speed, but for some reason, he has been unable to best the captain when it comes to speed and the captain was also unable to best him. The captain speed wasn't really great, but when he utilizes his ability, he always took the same position with Ross who was a speed ability user, none of them has bested each other.

Ross also has the personality and feature of a captain, and he's always striving to be the captain but he was not chosen and was just selected as the assistant captain, so because of this, he always train very hard to best the captain in every single attribute maybe he'll be chosen one day.

"I would've have loved to challenge you but the coach is here already, so we have to go into full training." The captain said with a smile.

A squared headed man with a black short hair could be seen walking through the gate towards the student. He wore a black overcoat and black trouser with a sleek black boot that bounces him up as he walk towards them. Everyone ran towards him and bow down a little showing respect.

"Welcome Coach Sao." They all said.

Clearing his throat, they all moved back and sat on the greenly carpet in a circular motion.

"I don't have much to say because our time is very short so you should all listen." Coach Sao said and everyone sat upright. "I think you all know that All School Tournament is only about three months ahead and we've been training hard just to get better position this season. So, what I'm getting at is, I'll be teaching the third-year students some new skills as you all know that they're mostly the hope we had in this school and some talented ones among you. While I teach the third year these new skills, Karim and Ross will show you how to do a few silent ball works, so I want you all to focus." Coach Sao said.

"Hm Coach, why is Karim and Ross not learning these skills with us?" A female third year student asked. She had a slightly square head with curve edges and her blonde hair that covers every single part of her head, from her forehead leaving next to no skin there and almost covering her eyes, down to her back skull and swept downward but there's a blue band around it. Her name is Promise.

"They already know the skills, I guess." Coach Sao replied. "Don't be surprised, you know Karim train under me and Ross train somewhere else outside like many of you, so I believe that as I have taught Karim and others that train under me from outside, I'm sure Ross' coach would have taught him too but I don't know about you people and that's why I want to teach you guys here." Coach Sao said and there's was no more question as the first year and second students followed Karim and Ross to the center of the field while third year students move with the coach to the goal post.

The coach ordered them to move some of the cone forward and they did, leaving the ones at the center of the field for the second-year and first-year students to train.

"What I'm about to teach you now is what is known as the Tiger Strike and Shadow Move." Coach Sao said. "These two skills are well known and practice among footballers but many have regarded these two skills as useless because of its timing." The Coach explained. "I want you all to watch me closely."

Picking up one of the many balls on the field, the Coach placed it behind his leg and took a running stance, many would have thought he wants to run and leave the ball behind but the students were quick to understand as he kicked the ball with his left back foot, the ball was moving backward and it was as if there's no skill displayed in that moment until he moves his right foot backward, it had moves so fast that many were unable to keep the track. His right foot hit the ball and it flew upward going above every one's head, the ball gives about 20 feet before moving downward and as it landed, there's was a great distance between the coach and the ball.

"The skill is impressive right? And useless at the same time, right?" The Coach asked and the students nodded, because they all think what's the essence of using this skill when one cannot gain the ball back, if the person that performs the skill is a high-level speed related ability user, it would have been a different story.

"I know what you're all thinking, the skill might be useful with a speed user right? But I'll tell you it's as useless as when other people use it. If a speed user performs this skill, do you think their attacker will give them the chance to gain the ball back? No, because the attacker will use every sense of their ability to stop them and the ball will be gained by another person. The skill is only useful when used to pass, but the ball can also land in the opponent hand." The coach explained as he went to take another ball.

"Promise, I want you to kick this ball with all your strength." He said as he passes the ball to the girl who had kicked it instantly and the ball moves with a great speed.

Taking the running stance he took before, he moves his right leg backward in a circular motion, then moving his left leg in a triangular motion, it hit his right and as he moves forward, he moves out of their sight and in a few seconds, he appeared right in front of the ball Promise had kicked earlier.

"That wasn't any teleporting or invisibility skill or spell." The Coach said as he moves towards them with the ball under his feet. They all thought he would have used either of those two skills he said.

"What I just did there is what is known as the Shadow Move. You can see that it's really impressive but it's useless at the same time. It's impressive when you see other people perform it but you'll realize how useless of a skill it is when you perform it yourself." The Coach explained.

"This skill is mostly used by defenders to counter high level and experienced speed user, some striker also uses, but why it's regard as useless is because of the time and concentration it took to perform it. You can see that it took me some time to perform the skill and if it's a match, my opponent would have gained the ball.

But if your concentration is solid while performing the skill, your timing will be perfect. This skill requires a lot more focus than every other skill out there, if your concentration and focus is on the ball and your timing is perfect, no matter where the ball is, you will be transported to the ball and even if it's with your opponent, once your concentration is solid, your body will be transported to the ball." Coach Sao said.

They all thought it's a crazy skill, they imagine the keeper having the ball with him already and someone uses the skill and the person was transported to the ball, then the ball moves out of the keeper to the person. They all thought of how crazy it is, but then they thought why would people regard it as useless when it's this magical.

"But sir, why is it regarded as a useless skill when it can be used anywhere even if it takes time to be performed." Promise asked the question on everyone's mind.

"I was going to tell you that before; you know, it's not regarded as useless because of the time it took, I can even perform the skill without staying in one place but concentration matters a lot. And due to this concentration, many have marked this skill as useless, only a few could perform it perfectly without losing concentration. I'll say anyone can perform this skill without losing concentration but it's almost impossible to do while in a match, especially when your team is losing, all your focus will be on winning the match. And I can say it's the same for me, only 5 out of 100 hundred percent can use this skill perfectly in a match." Coach Sao explained.

"But then, why do you want to teach us when you know we can't perform it in a match." A male student asked. The Coach smile as he kicked the ball under his feet upward.

"That's why I first talked about the Tiger Strike and I want you to listen well and use these skills to your advantage in the upcoming competition. Today, I'm going to teach you these two useless skills and before our next training, I want you all to learn it perfectly. So, in our next training, I'll teach you how to make these skills useful and use it to your advantage against your opponent. Karim and Ross will be joining us in the next training, although Karim already knew about it but I'm not sure about Ross." The Coach said as he removes his overcoat revealing a black Jersey which was a signal for training to begin.