Aran complained in a low voice to Kita Shinsuke, "Doesn't that sound a bit familiar?"
Since this was a training camp held before the Interhigh, considering that each team would need time to rest afterward, this training camp was only scheduled for five days.
Hinata's daily routine basically consisted of watching matches with the coach, occasionally acting as a referee, then undergoing various fundamental training sessions.
Although he also really wanted to take the court and play, Inarizaki currently had more important tasks at hand, so he could completely understand why the coach didn't arrange for him to play.
But the problem was.. during the self-training period, Coach Kurosu didn't leave him any time to play against Kiryu-senpai and the others.
Damn it, Coach Kusubashi had told him to praise his opponent more when playing against Kiryu-senpai, but he didn't get a single chance.
Coach Kurosu beckoned to Hinata, who had just finished his serve practice: "Come, today we practice arm swings."
A basket of volleyballs and a training mat were placed beside him.
Hinata immediately shoved the volleyball to Miya Atsumu and jogged over to the coach and the Kita Team.
Kneeling on one knee on the mat with great proficiency, Hinata looked up at Kita Shinsuke, who had crouched down beside him, said, "I'm ready."
Kita nodded. "Two hundred with your right hand first, with a one-minute break every twenty-five."
This kind of arm-swinging passing drill could be described as having zero technical difficulty; the only requirement was that every ball had to be passed to the exact same spot, so there was no need for Miya Atsumu.
For Kita Shinsuke, this was an equally simple task, he could even use it to practice his ball control precision at the same time.
Watching Hinata, Miya Atsumu rubbed his chin.
His basic training for today has already finished, Kaifang hasn't prepared any equipment for advanced setter training here either; right now, Hinata has also been called over to practice his arm swings..
If he stays here, he'll probably be called over to pick up balls in a little while.
—He certainly didn't want to pick up balls.
It's decided, I'll go next door to harass Aran.
Kurosu turned back to look at Rishia Heisuke: "Heisuke, you're next. Continue practicing your serves for now."
"Yes!" Rishia replied.
What they need to do now is break down the originally continuous spiking motion into various parts, achieving sufficient training effects through specialized training methods while minimizing wear and tear.
It was just like assembling machine parts—crafting every single small component to perfection before finally assembling them all together, piece by piece.
The entire arm swing training process was very fast; from the moment Kita Shinsuke received the ball from Coach Kurosu to Hinata spiking it, the whole process took no more than three seconds.
Moreover, because it was near the wall, the ball wouldn't fly too far, making the ball retrieval very fast; in fact, the most time-consuming part was actually the rest periods.
Seeing that Hinata had finished two hundred rapid-fire spikes, Coach Kurosu nodded.
Taking a glance at Rishia Heisuke, who was still serving, Coach Kurosu said to Hinata, "Alright, let's switch to the left hand and try it now."
Regarding Hinata's current arm swing speed, he was still very satisfied; it was excellent among his peers and even within the entire high school grade.
Hinata raised his hand to indicate the hitting point, Kita Shinsuke, who was responsible for tossing the ball, nodded, indicating that he had noted it.
Shinsuke Kita immediately took a volleyball from the basket beside him and tossed it precisely to the point where Hinata would swing.
With a loud bang, the volleyball was struck by Hinata at an extremely high speed, hitting the exact spot Coach Kurosu had indicated.
"Yes, keep that state, do it again." Coach Kurosu nodded, then signaled with his eyes for Kita Shinsuke to continue tossing the ball.
Right at that moment, a voice suddenly rang out from the gymnasium entrance: "Shoyo! Let's play!"
Watching the situation in the empty gymnasium, Kai Kiyoharu shrank his neck.
Help, why is it the coach and the captain again..
Coach Kurosu didn't care that much and simply turned his head and replied, "Not today. After the arm swings, there are other physical training items. Tomorrow, then."
Kai's expression nearly cracked.
He's been saying that yesterday and the day before too! Except for the different events, it's almost exactly the same!
Hinata also cast a pitiful look, but Kai, having been verbally rejected by the coach, didn't dare say no and could only leave dejectedly under Hinata's gaze: "Yes, Coach."
He walked into the adjacent large volleyball gym dejectedly, only to look up and meet a circle of people's gazes.
"Is Hinata not coming yet?" Bōwàng asked aloud.
Kai answered truthfully, "They're being held back by their coach to practice arm swings."
A flicker of visible disappointment flashed in his eyes, Kiryu Ya patted his hands together: "It's fine, let's just continue. We can go ask again tomorrow."
Kai swallowed the words that were about to escape his lips.
He felt that tomorrow would yield the same result; Hinata's training schedule was far too packed.
Suna, who was sitting by the sidelines scrolling through social media, said nothing.
As the only person from Inarizaki nearby, Suna knew very well why Coach Kurosu wouldn't let Hinata come.
Simply put, Hinata ate too much at Shiratorizawa, now he needs to use basic training to properly consolidate and digest everything.
Constantly cramming new information into your head is useless; you have to thoroughly master the knowledge you've already learned.
Suna turned off his phone and stood up, preparing to go over to Hinata's side to take a look.
But before he could even take his first step, Usui Mitsuru's voice came from behind him: "Suna, Suna, you little things are short one person, so.."
I refuse.
After saying that, Suna used the speed he used to chase Quick Attacks on the volleyball court to dash straight out of the Inarizaki Volleyball Gym.
These people really will go on forever when they start fighting..
After the evening's self-training session ended, everyone went to wash up and rest one after another, while the coaches left the school to go out for a late-night snack.
The training camp is already halfway through, they need to summarize their current situation.
"Coming to Osaka means you have to eat okonomiyaki!" Coach Kurosu, who had been in an excellent mood these past few days, decisively added a portion of meat to his own.
Coach Omimi looked at everyone, but ultimately said nothing.
Within the high school coaching staffs, most of them were still quite young; even the oldest, Coach Kusubashi Michiko, was only 42 years old.
This level of late-night snack isn't even enough to warrant a night run to burn it off.
So..
Omimi raised his hand: "I want to join too!"
The discussion among the group was basically centered around the upcoming Interhigh tournament, with the focus being on various potential opponents.
When mentioning the King, Itachiyama, Coach Fujimine sighed with regret, "It's a pity. Hinata's fundamentals are still far from where they need to be; otherwise, he would be a very suitable counter against Itachiyama."
Inarizaki's repeated losses to Itachiyama were mostly because their most prized attacks were smothered by the opponent's receives and blocks; Hinata would indeed be an excellent tactical counter.
“You can't rush technical skills,” Kurosu said with a smile, looking toward Coach Fujimine, “Shoyo is only 16. Whether it's his physical development or his playing style and technique, he's nowhere near the age where he needs to settle into a fixed form.”
Besides, his progress has been faster than I expected.
Coach Fujimine froze for a moment.
If it were him, he would definitely do everything as quickly as possible, he would use his players as soon as they were ready.
But then again, Inarizaki doesn't lack talent, so they naturally have enough time to wait for a player to be fully prepared before they take the court.
—The temperament of a powerhouse, indeed.
As the only team in the entire league that cannot reach the national level, there is truly nothing they can do in this regard; after all, the board of directors has never focused their attention on their men's volleyball team.
Kurosu pushed up the glasses on his face: "At this stage, even for the rest of this year, I won't set the technical requirements too high."
What I need.. is actually just for him to realize that 'he can become very strong'.
Coach Fujimine nodded. "I understand what you mean, you want to focus on the players' mindset, right?"
This time, it was Coach Kurosu who was surprised: "So, what's the deal with those two from your place?"
Doesn't this clearly demonstrate the responsibility of a mentor to "nurture" their students? How could they allow such a serious conflict to arise among the players in the team? Aren't they going to step in and mediate?
Coach Fujimine's expression clearly contorted for a moment: "I've already mediated it; now they just feel like the other side is polluting the atmosphere."
Kurosu had even more question marks over his head.
He recalled the situation with Kaifang over the past few days; it seemed that the situation where they wouldn't even play matches, like during the last training camp, really hadn't occurred. At most, they were just very eager to shift the blame onto each other.
Compared to that.. it's an incredible improvement.
"Good job." Kurosu sincerely admired Fujimine.
The last time he heard them arguing to this extent, he thought Kaifang's generation was doomed.
Fujimine shook his head repeatedly. "It's no trouble, you're actually the more impressive one."
He only had two things that gave him headaches, Inarizaki was truly the center for gathering problematic children; over the past few years, he felt that Kurosu's hairline had significantly receded.
"Come on, one last drink." With a wry smile, Fujimine gestured to Coach Kurosu to clink glasses.
Coach Kusubashi, standing behind them, didn't know what to say for a moment: "Why do these two look like they're drinking alcohol when they're just having cola?"
The Inubushi Higashi coach laughed, "Shall the two of us have a match as well?"
Kusubashi rejected this childish proposal and turned to complain to Coach Kurosu, "By the way, Kurosu, you're being unfair. You didn't send anyone to play a couple of sets against our Aba."
Kurosu waved his hand dismissively. "Next time for sure, next time for sure.."
He was definitely not afraid that the other party would poach his players, definitely.
At the same time, in Kaifang's teaching building, Inarizaki also welcomed visitors.
Kondo Chiaki, the captain of Seito High School, asked Kita Shinsuke, "There aren't many gyms over in Niigata, right? What does Inarizaki plan to do?"
It was the coach who sent him to quietly scout the situation.
Seito High School didn't make it to the nationals last year, so they have become somewhat distant from the schools they used to have a fairly good relationship with.
They had originally planned to share the rental with Shirabu, but Shirabu said they had promised to share the gymnasium with the representative team from Hiroshima.
Kita Shinsuke replied, "Nekota, the coach from Nekoma, helped introduce us to other schools, so we've already decided to rent a court at the Municipal Gymnasium over there."
Although Nekoma lost to Itachiyama this time and failed to make it to the nationals, they still helped them by providing connections.
Kondo sighed, "Damn it, why does everyone have a partner?"
Forget it, let the coach deal with the headache. Anyway, we only need it for one day.
Renting a gymnasium before a match is generally for warming up, especially since the matches on the first day are so densely scheduled that players have no time to warm up properly.