Rebound: A 2nd Chance

Jason made small talk with Justice as they both ate their meals. After about fifteen minutes Jason was all done with his tray while Justice had barely made a dent in his.

Jason asked "What's wrong? Not hungry?" Justice shook his head "I actually ate breakfast before coming here. I didn't know they would serve us breakfast."

Jason was about to look for somewhere to put his tray away when the doors were swung open by one of the trainers who had just walked in.

"Alright Everybody! You have ten minutes to finish eating. Whatever you can't finish gets tossed.

We will start camp with a quick warm up in ten minutes. When I get back just leave the mess here. We'll take care of cleanup."

After his quick announcement the trainer left. Justice turned to Jason "I think I'm done man. I'm ready for the actual training to start."

The ten minutes passed and the trainer came back "Alright everybody please step outside for me. We are going to head over the the gym and then group you guys up by age."

Jason followed the rest of the students as they made their way out of the canteen and started walking toward the gym.

Once they were inside the gym they could see that there were trainers holding up signs for different age groups.

The students were separated into the following groups: 13 and under, 14 and 15, 16 and up. Although the sign said 13 and under 13 was the standard age. Jason was actually the youngest one attending the camp.

Jason looked around the group. It looked like there were about 40 kids in his group. The training camp was made up of primarily high school students. 

The trainer that was going to be responsible for their group introduced herself "Hi guys! My name is Brianna Mason.

But you guys can just call me Brie like the cheese haha. I'm going to be in charge of you guys for the next two days so I hope we all get along!"

Her overwhelmingly positive and cheerful energy was almost painful for Jason 'It's almost like eating a bowl of cereal that's half filled with sugar.'

Brie looked to be very fit. She stood at a short 5'5 (1.65m) the same height as Jason. But she had muscular lean arms and well developed muscle tone that was visible all around her body.

She had a head of long bright blonde hair that was tied into a pony tail as she was dressed up in bright pink breathable workout clothes.

Brie had Jason and the rest of the group warm up with some stretches and a quick run around the gym.

After they were done she set up some orange cones as she then blew her whistle to get everyone's attention.

"You guys should all know by now that Kawhi Leonard, the NBA legend that is hosting this training camp, was a historically great defender during his playing days.

So today the first thing we are going to work on is your lateral movement and your defensive footwork."

The drill was a very basic one. Jason had done it countless times in his past life when he was first starting out.

You had to get into a defensive stance and move side to side as you maneuvered yourself between the cones.

Jason had even ran the more advanced version where the trainer wears a padded chest piece and you have to avoid running into his screen all while moving through the cones.

This drill was mostly for building up the physical components of defense such as lateral movement and footwork.

It didn't do much in terms of skills development so it wasn't very appealing to Jason who wanted to develop and nurture his skills more.

But he decided to go along with it for now 'I just got here. It probably wouldn't be the best idea to rock the boat just yet.'

Jason didn't have much interest in the drill so he let everyone else go before him. Jason wanted to yawn as he watched all the kids perform the drill.

'What the hell? These guys were invited to be here? Nick is probably the worst defender on the team right now but he'd do a way better job doing this drill.'

Some of the kids were slow in shuffling their feet. Some of them knocked over the cones. And one of them even tripped over his own foot.

Jason checked their skills and a majority of them had a D to D- for perimeter defense. Some of the better ones had a C.

Justice was the one who did the best so far with the drill as he was able to smoothly make his way through the cones.

Jason checked and was impressed when he saw that Justice had a B for his perimeter defense.

Brie clapped her hands and smiled as she patted the kid on his back "Great job out there! You were great! Just next time try and not to hit your face on the ground.

Alright, next is Jason Yang. Please step to the front and start whenever you're ready." Jason casually walked to the front.

He checked his shoes to make sure that they were tied properly before checking the bottom of his shoes to make sure that their traction was still good.

After making sure that everything was in proper working condition he got into a low defensive stance and started.

Jason blazed through the cones as he moved nonstop. His feet moved smoothly across the floor as he shuffled his way to the end.

It barely took him twenty seconds to go through a course that took everyone else a minute or longer.

Brie's had a shocked expression on her face as her mouth was shaped like an O for a few seconds.

She soon came back to her senses as she clapped madly "Bravo Jason! Very well done! You were the fastest to finish the drill. Congratulations!"

Jason smiled at Brie as he took her compliment. But as soon as he turned around the corner of his mouth was twitching slightly as he smiled.

Brie continued to have them run more basic drills. And the more Jason watched the more he became disappointed.

During one of the drills Jason and Justice were standing in the back. Jason leaned over and whispered.

"Yo Justice. You said that you need an invite to attend this camp right? Not to be mean or anything. But why are these guys so.... not good?"

Justice scratched the back of his head in embarrassment as he awkwardly smiled at Jason "Yeah you're right. These guys aren't exactly the best.

This training camp is invite only. But for the 13 and under they only send invites to players in Moreno Valley.

For the 14 and up they expand to Moreno Valley and Riverside. But only Riverside the city not the County. 

And to be honest, even though this is a training camp hosted by an NBA legend like Kawhi Leonard not that many people opt to join.

All the elite talent would rather pay for a shooting coach or pay to go to a training camp to work on their offense instead of going to a camp where the main focus in defense."

Jason shook his head 'I guess it makes sense. If they limit their talent pool it would make it harder to find high level players.

I just wish young kids would realize that defense is just as important as offense. Sure it's not as sexy and you don't get as many highlights but you need defense to win games.'

As they were finishing up yet another basic drill Jason turned his head and saw the 16 and up group doing their drill.

There were four buttons laid out on the floor three feet apart from each other. They were about the size of Jason's palms and they would light up at random.

Jason watched as the kid moved side to side in a defensive stance as he pressed the buttons as soon as they lit up.

The trainer would then mix things up by throwing a tennis ball randomly at the sides of the player or through his legs as the player then had to try and catch the tennis balls.

Jason tried to resist the urge to walk over and try the drill for himself 'This drill looks like it works on your dynamic vision, lateral quickness, situational recognition, and hand speed all at once!'

Jason was captivated by the drill as he continued to watch. Brie set up their side of the court for another drill "Alright guys here's another fun drill for you! 

Who wants to go first? Why don't we try someone that hasn't gone first yet?" She then looked at the kids before her gaze locked on to Jason "Jason! Why don't you go first?"

Jason looked at Brie's peppy smile and then at the boring looking drill set up. He hesitated for a moment before awkwardly smiling.

"Actually Brie, is it okay if I go over to the 16 and up group? I kind of want to try out the drill that they're doing right now."