56. Training Start (1)

Waking up the next day Rei did not go to his daily jog. Shirogana told him not to stress his body before he starts his training. Rei slowly made his way towards the washroom to freshen up.

After washing his face he went towards the hall and sat on the couch. Narumi and Meiko were already making breakfast while Shirogana and Sora had not woken up yet. Shidou slowly came into the room and sat beside Rei.

Shidou suddenly asked, breaking the silence, "So you are going to train today, Rei?"

Rei nodded replying, "Yes Oji-san told me he will make me do some drills to get me back in shape."

"But please be careful when you play Rei. It is ok to take it slow, you still have a lot of time left to improve, Rei" said Shidou with worry.

Rei could only nod hearing his worry. He smiled and replied, "Don't worry Old man I know my body so I won't push it."

Both of them continued to talk until Sora came and called them with a sleepy face. All of them completed their breakfast. Shirogana turned towards them, "So who is going to come with us both?"

Both Meiko and Sora raised their hands indicating they wanted to tag along. Both of them were curious about what Shirogana would make Rei do to help him. Shirogana only nodded and said, "Ok now go get ready we will go to the park."

Rei changed his clothes and came back taking his glove. After all of them came, Shirogana turned on the car and drove towards the park. They went towards their usual place after reaching the park.

Shirogana then turned towards them and said, "Ok now all three of you complete your jog and also the exercise."

Hearing him all three of them started to jog around the whole park for half an hour and completed their exercises after that. Rei was able to follow the pace of the siblings showing his stamina.

After completing the exercises the siblings sat on the bench and Shirogan made his way towards Rei and said, "We will mainly have to practice the use of soft hands and it is very important for a catcher. Now first we have to concentrate your stance before doing a drill for it."

Rei nodded understanding as he also saw in many interviews about catchers saying the hand should have a soft hand as it will make receiving pitches look effortless.

Shirogana then asked, "Do you remember the stance and all the stuff I thought you 2 years back."

Rei simply replied, "I remember most of it." Shirogana nodded and proceeded to teach him.

"Ok now listen first you have to squat down like this. Sit on your heels apart from each other, having some comfortable distance. Now your back should also be very low so you can move around quickly. Now as you feel your right hand more comfortable compared to the left one so catch the glove, like this. Keep it in front of your body to give directions to the pitcher. Your other hand should be closed so that you don't get it hurt and should be behind your back. Now this is the most basic stance it is called the 'Primary stance'. There are 2 more but you have to first master this. So now you try it." showing the stance to Rei slowly and describing it clearly to him.

Rei listened with complete attention not trying to disturb him. Rei slowly squatted down and sat on his heels. He took some distance between each of the heels. He looked up towards Shirogana to see if he was correct.

Shirogana simply said, "Have more distance between your heels and keep all your weight on them. Be comfortable with the distance."

Rei simply nodded and took some more distance until he was comfortable with it. Seeing this Shirogana nodded and Rei proceeded to the next step. He kept all the weight on the heels and bought his body low. It started to get a bit uncomfortable but he sustained it. He slowly closed all the fingers of his left hand and brought it behind him and his right hand in front of him.

Shirogana nodded and said, "Ok now stay in that position as long as you can." went and sat on the bench looking at him.

Rei took a deep breath and continued to sit. After 20 minutes his body started to slowly shiver as it was getting hard. After 30 minutes he couldn't handle it anymore and fell down on his butt. Seeing this, Shirogana went towards him and gave him a hand.

Rei stood up taking his hand dusting off the dirt. Shirogana sighed and said, "You have to stay like that for at least 3 hours. That is the average length of a game now. Start practicing in your room from now on."

Hearing Shirogana. Rei got shocked. Staying in that position only for half an hour felt painful for Rei and now he got to know he has to stay for 3 hours on average was shocking. He clenched his hands in the determination of training harder.

Both of them went to the bench and sat down taking a rest. The siblings also started to play catch ball in the meantime. After some time they went back to their previous position and Shirogana a tennis ball in his hands.

He then said, "Ok now go to the distance and sit in the stance meanwhile I will throw you this tennis ball. You have to catch it without using the glove, it will help make your actions smoother."

Rei simply went a bit of a distance and Shirogana started to throw the ball at a slow pace. They continued to play like this for a while. It was easy for Rei to catch the tennis ball especially as it was thrown slowly. After a whole hour of playing they sat on the bench.