After bringing out that stack of applications, Miya Atsumu found a table and sat down with Shoyo Hinata.
Atsumu split them in half and gave some to Hinata: "Shoyo, help me pick out the ones that say they played volleyball in Junior High."
This was the first step: distinguishing between those with experience and those without.
Whether or not they had played volleyball before this determined their starting point.
Just like Shoyo last year, even though his natural talent was excellent, because he lacked sufficient volleyball experience beforehand, he had to spend a certain amount of time learning in the Second String or Third String before he could make it to the First String.
The same applied to Tokura; after all, when it comes to volleyball, fundamental skills are of utmost importance.
This step was simple, Shoyo completed it very quickly.
"Done!" He clapped his hands, very satisfied with how quickly he had completed the task.
In this half of the application forms, one third were from those who had played volleyball in Junior High, while the remaining two thirds had never had any contact with volleyball.
Miya Atsumu nodded. "Then, Shoyo, take those two parts and do a second classification based on whether their height exceeds 180 cm."
Hinata also quickly finished the sorting: "Done!"
There were a total of *** people selected, all of whom were over 1.8 meters tall, one was even 1.8***.
Unfortunately, they had never played volleyball before this.
Miya Atsumu nodded, merging the ones he had sorted for himself with the ones for Hinata.
Afterward, Miya Atsumu handed all the applications from those who had never played volleyball to Hinata.
He smiled at Hinata across from him. "Next, Shoyo can pick out some that you find interesting."
“Interesting?” Hinata blanked for a moment, not understanding what Miya Atsumu meant.
I mean literally. If there's anything in their profile that you find interesting, you can pick it out separately," Miya Atsumu gave an example. "For instance, something like Tokura being a dancer, or winning awards in other sports, or even having some kind of strange talent.
Hinata had an epiphany: "I get it!"
But he had only just flipped to the first chapter when his movements stopped. "Atsumu-senpai.. look at this!"
Miya Atsumu, who was just about to browse through the experienced players' resumes, froze for a moment, then leaned over to look at the application form Hinata had handed him.
There were only two sentences written on it.
[I want to try playing volleyball!]
[I want to try playing volleyball!]
Chapter 268: The Two Hundred and Sixty-Eighth Fox
Glancing up to scan the owner's name, height, weight on the application form, Miya Atsumu's lips curled into a smirk. "This is quite interesting."
He handed the application back to Hinata, looking at Hinata's foolishly happy expression, he felt a bit helpless.
However, it was understandable. After all, the feeling of seeing with one's own eyes that you have indeed changed something, that someone is following in your footsteps.. it truly makes a person very happy.
Miya Atsumu proactively suggested, "Then I'll mention it to Coach Kurosu later and have you be the referee for this group, Shoyo."
Hinata cheered, "Long live Atsumu-senpai!"
He still remembered that during his club tryouts, the referee was Atsumu-senpai.
However, his impression of the opponent at that time was still stuck on that demon-like senpai, to the point that he didn't dare to speak to him from beginning to end, whenever he had any questions, he would ask Kumagai instead.
Shoyo looked at the application in his hands with excitement, unable to focus on reading any further: "I think he must be incredibly amazing."
Maybe one day in the future, we'll be able to fight side by side on the court!
Miya Atsumu shook his head, however. "It still depends on the results of the club tryouts. If they truly possess talent worth nurturing, they can be promoted to the Second String to be trained by Ogata."
He wasn't interested in these unknown seedlings; if there were truly anyone with potential, they would eventually appear in his field of vision.
Hinata looked up from that pile of application forms and curled his lips in slight dissatisfaction. "Atsumu-senpai is always like this."
We have to have high expectations for the newcomers! What if one of them is a Kami-senpai 2.0 or an evolved version of Hikari-kun!
Miya Atsumu knew Hinata had a point; after all, listening to Hinata himself was like watching someone leap out from behind a rock.
But.. he also knew he couldn't do it.
He would not be attracted by mere seedlings; the only figures capable of catching his attention would always be those so powerful and dazzling that they could move him.
Before Miya Atsumu could say anything, Hinata from the opposite side spoke up on his own, "But it's fine if Atsumu-senpai can't see them; I'll keep an eye out for you, senpai."
Having said that, Hinata patted his chest, looking at Miya Atsumu with a face full of pride.
Even though Atsumu-senpai is the Captain, there are still things that he is not good at and cannot do.
So.. rounding up, he's at least one-tenth of a Captain!
Miya Atsumu froze for a moment, then raised his hand to support his chin. Looking at Hinata's proud expression, his mood unconsciously brightened quite a bit.
He followed Shoyo's lead and praised him, "Shoyo is truly so reliable."
Hinata's chin tilted even higher. "Hmph."
Miya Atsumu clapped his hands and signaled to Hinata, "Alright, once you're done handing out the applications, you can go play volleyball."
Hearing this, Hinata's speed in filling out the application forms increased even more.
Meanwhile, Miya Atsumu also quickly finished skimming through the application forms in his hands, sorting them by the graduation schools and academic records the people had filled in.
Having finished his work, he looked up at Hinata across from him and found that there was only a single stack in front of him.
A string of question marks flew silently over Miya Atsumu's head as he asked in confusion, "Did you run into some kind of problem?"
How is there no score at all? Is there nothing that interests Hinata?
At this thought, an even more terrifying idea drifted through Miya Atsumu's mind.
No, it might also be that..
The next second, Hinata replied with a serious expression, "I feel like every single one of them is interesting."
In this stack of his, there were not only people from the track and field team, but also former basketball players, even those who had exaggerated their achievements in Junior High.
Even if nothing was written, he instead felt that the other person's personality was quite interesting.
Hinata's bad premonition proved to be correct, Miya Atsumu felt the world go dark before his eyes.
I knew it! He was right!
After wrestling with the dilemma of "should I screen them one more time" versus "should I finish work now and go play volleyball" for a fraction of a second, Miya Atsumu made his decision.
He immediately used a clip to organize the different categories of applications, shoved them into a document bag, declared his work finished.
Alright, then we can go play volleyball now. I'll go deliver the things to Coach Kurosu after the gym closes later.
We can play volleyball now!" Hinata raised his hand immediately to place his order. "Today, I also want to practice a strong attack from Position 4! Can Yukihito, Suna, Ginjima-senpai block for me!
Miya Atsumu nodded and happily agreed, "Sure, while we're at it, let Unabara practice some counterattacks."
Upon hearing this, Hinata wouldn't let it slide: "Atsumu-senpai, have a little faith in me! I can definitely break through a three-man block today!"
Because Karasuno was their biggest anticipated rival, Suna and the others had also begun to take the lead in studying Karasuno's blocking patterns.
It must be said that kind of block, which can cover all aspects, is indeed very effective, but it truly relies heavily on the proficiency of the block itself.
Don't let Karasuno's ease of play fool you; it is the result of the effects accumulated through their systematic training.
Suna and the others have difficulty handling it, especially since the primary user of this playstyle is Ginjima, whose experience is somewhat less than Suna's, which directly leads to his judgment being inaccurate many times.
But even so, as long as they could accurately time the block to surround Hinata in a three-man block, there was a high probability they could shut him down completely.
Hinata crouched on the ground, his face written with protest: "I hate Suna-senpai's Block, it's too hateful!"
He felt that his positioning was incredibly good!
But Suna-senpai read his mind, knowing he wanted to execute a strong attack because of his excellent positioning, he shifted his blocking direction at the last moment to shut down his position.
Miya Atsumu crouched beside him and agreed, "Exactly, exactly! That's so disgusting!"
This guy is just taking advantage of being one of them; he completely predicted their movements just now. That's cheating!
Suna was not being polite at all, simply saying, "Thanks for the compliment."
Ginjima ultimately couldn't help but retort, "Is that a compliment?"
Rishia Heisuke said in a low voice to Ginjima, "Ginjima-senpai, that is the highest praise for a player with such deep schemes."
Masaru Haseda, who was practicing basic ball control with Arima Shuji nearby, never took his eyes off the court.
He hadn't actually watched many volleyball match recordings, because his school was in a remote area, he had few opportunities to watch matches in person.
The few times he watched matches in person, it was always during the Interhigh Junior High.
The best his school ever did was reaching the second round of the Interhigh Junior High, while most other times they were eliminated in the first round. This directly resulted in him leaving in the afternoon most of the time, leaving him with no chance to go and watch matches from other schools.
On top of that, since he hadn't had much interest in volleyball before, he had even less intention of taking the initiative to go watch matches.
But now, everything was different. He was determined to devote his entire three years of high school to volleyball, Inarizaki and Coach Kurosu had given him this opportunity.
Therefore, he will not disappoint anyone's expectations; he will learn everything that is useful for volleyball.
He wanted to turn himself into someone who could spike any ball and pass any ball.
Passing by with a water bottle, Kumagai spoke up and asked, "Cool, isn't it?"
Masaru Haseda looked back, realizing that the other person was asking him.
Even without the other person pointing it out, he knew who the subject of the question was.
Watching the figure standing up again on the court, rubbing his hands in anticipation, he nodded: "Yeah, very impressive."
"Actually, when he and I first worked together, I was also completely blown away by him," Kumagai said, taking a sip of water while glancing up at the time displayed on the digital clock on the wall.
He gazed at Hinata, who had jumped and raised his hands to call for the ball once again, an involuntary smile appearing at the corners of his mouth.
—At that time, he was practically a savior.
Masaru Haseda blinked blankly for a moment, ultimately only letting out a low hum of agreement.
He had already borrowed a tablet from Suna recently to watch Inarizaki's match footage.
But the official footage only had a few fixed angles, because they were filmed from a distance to capture the big picture, it was impossible to clearly see the silhouettes of the seniors.