Rebound: A 2nd Chance

Everyone turned their heads as soon as they heard the voice. All of their jaws dropped as they were surprised to see Kawhi Leonard along with the trainers and doctors.

Kawhi took his sunglasses off as he looked at Jason and then at Patricia "You were right. He is pretty interesting."

Kawhi then turned to Brie and Ben " Would any of you two care to explain what kind of situation is happening here? What's all this noise about switching groups?"

Brie and Ben gulped before looking at each other. After an extended moment of silence between the two Brie nudged Ben with her elbow.

Ben rubbed his hands together before putting on an awkward smile "Well you see.... the situation is a little complicated Mr. Kawhi."

Ben told the story from the very beginning. About how Jason was cruising through all of the basic drills designed for his age group.

To Jason asking for permission to join the 16 and up group as they ran their drill. All the way to the three on three game.

After hearing what Ben had to say Kawhi became silent as he seemingly fell into his thoughts.

The gym was dead silent as everyone awaited Kawhi's response. After a few moments of contemplation Kawhi looked at Jason.

" Your notes say that you're only twelve. Do you really think that you're ready to skip all the way to the highest age group?"

Jason nodded his head without any hesitation as he looked Kawhi straight in the eyes "I think that I'm more than ready.

If I stick with my current age group I think that not only will the training not be effective. I feel like I might even regress doing nothing but those basic drills."

Kawhi was slightly taken aback by Jason's response, although his facial expression wouldn't suggest that.

'This kid has some real backbone. Some of the newer trainers can't even look me in the eyes and yet he's out here speaking his mind like it's nothing. 

I gotta hand it to Patricia. She really does have a nose for sniffing out interesting people. I can't speak on his talent seeing as I only got to see a bit of it from that three on three.

But when it comes to heart and spirit this kid definitely looks legit. I like the hunger in his eyes.'

Kawhi clapped his hands together "Well, if you think that you're ready then why don't we test you out and see if you really are?"

Kawhi turned to Brie and Ben who still had a worried look on their faces "You guys don't need to be so worried.

You guys handled the situation well. Go ahead and continue the training for your groups. Me and the doctors are going to give our little friend here a private test."

Brie and Ben hurriedly nodded their heads before heading back toward their respective groups.

Kawi looked at Jason "Come with us. We'll test you in private." Jason followed Kawi and the doctors to the back of the gym.

They walked through some doors into a room that looked like the weight room of the high school.

Kawhi had some of the trainers clear out the equipment in a section of the room before having them set up their own things.

After a few minutes the trainers had everything set up. Kawhi looked to Jason "Go over there and do whatever the trainers tell you.

We are going to have you run some drills so that we can measure your baseline and see where you are physically."

Jason went over to the cleared off section and began to follow the trainers' instructions. First they had him do some shuttle runs.

After six sets of 10m shuttle runs the trainers gave him a minute to rest before having him go on to the next drill.

They had Jason practicing close outs while being tied to one of the walls with a long resistance band.

After doing the close outs for a few minutes they brought out a machine meant to test and work out hand speed, reflexes, and dynamic vision.

The machine was a metal frame in the shape of a square. They adjusted it so that it was just a bit taller than Jason and a bit wider than his wingspan.

Jason already knew what the machine was but he still pretended to pay attention while the trainer was explaining it.

"This machine is meant to test your reflexes and hand speed. All around the frame of the machine are buttons that will light up.

What you need to do is press them and turn them off as soon as you see them light up. It starts off slow but it progressively gets faster so don't get comfortable just because it seems easy in the beginning."

Jason nodded his head as he got down low into a defensive stance. Jason looked out in front of him as he focused on his peripheral vision.

The first light turned on as Jason quickly turned it off. As the drill went on the lights began to turn on faster and faster as Jason's hands began to move nonstop. 

After two minutes of throwing out his hands constantly the lights finally got past the rate at which Jason could turn them off.

The whole machine blinked red three times before turning off. Jason got up from his defensive stance and wiped his dripping wet face with the bottom section of his shirt.

The entire time he was doing the drill and after he was done the doctors and trainers were writing down notes.

After that they had him get into a defensive stance before asking him to move side to side with a resistance band around his ankles and his knees.

For the next drill they had Jason stand on one leg while being on top of a balancing board. They then handed him a medicine ball.

Jason's hands sank a bit when he took the medicine ball from the trainer 'Shit! This thing must be at least 15 pounds (6.8kg).'

The trainer explained the next exercise "This next workout is going to focus on your balance, core strength, lower body, and upper body strength.

With the medicine ball in your hands I want you to extend your arms out fully and then bring it back to your chest before lifting it up over your your head.

After you bring it back down that will be one rep. I want you to give me 6 8 rep sets okay? after three sets switch legs."

Jason nodded as he began to move the medicine ball. For the first three reps he felt alright. As he got to the last rep for the first set his arms were beginning to feel warm.

By the time he got to the fourth rep for the second set he was unconsciously moving faster. The trainer had to remind him to slow down in order to get the full affect of the workout.

The minute of rest between sets wasn't enough as Jason's arms were already trembling from the intensity of the workout.

Jason switched legs as he began on his fourth set 'Shit, I don't know if I can finish these last three sets. My arms are dead tired and this medicine ball feels like it got thirty pounds (13.6kg) heavier.'

After his second rep of the set Jason took a deep breathe as he closed his eyes 'Just forgot everything Jason.

You don't exist. You're just a machine designed for moving this ball. You don't feel anything. All you're here for is to move the ball.'

Jason let go of his sense of self as all thoughts disappeared from his mind. His body continued to move as though it were a machine programmed for one sole function.

As Jason powered through his fatigue and muscle pains he even forgot to take the breaks in between sets. 

- - -

Kawhi was standing a distance away from Jason as he was watched him do the medicine ball exercise along with the doctors and trainers.

Some of the trainers looked like they wanted to say something but were unable to. Patricia was the first one to break the silence.

"He's switching legs now but I don't think it's a good idea to let him continue this exercise. He has clearly hit his physical limit.

Doing anymore than this could prove to be not only ineffective but could result in some serious damage if not at least pose a risk for injury.

We should stop the test. We have gathered a substantial amount of information already. We can come up with an effective training plan with the data that we have."

Kawhi turned his eyes away from Jason as he looked to his right where Patricia was standing "You said that you were an expert when it came to people right?

Looking at the kid it's easy to tell that his body is tired and that he shouldn't be able to last for much longer. But why don't you take a look at his eyes and tell me what they say?"

Patricia turned her head at Jason's trembling body standing on the balancing board. As she looked into his eyes she sighed.

"His eyes are burning with spirit. They're practically screaming out that he's not ready to give up yet."

Kawhi nodded his head as he went back to watching Jason do the workout. Patricia bit her lip as she decided to continue watching Jason as well.

To her surprise Jason was not only able to finish the remaining sets of the workout. He did the last two sets without taking a break in between.

It seemed as though Jason had gone on autopilot mode as he didn't even stop when he had completed the sets. The trainer had to stop him and tell him that he was done.

Patricia thought that they were done with the drills and the testing so she was surprised when she saw the trainer setting up for another workout.

She stepped in front of Kawhi "What the hell is going on? I thought that was the last workout?"

Kawhi had his usual blank face as he shrugged his shoulders "I think what they're doing is called battle ropes.

And I don't know why you thought the medicine ball was going to be the last exercise. I never told you that."

Patricia stomped her feet "You never said it but I thought it was implied considering that the kid barely managed to finish that last exercise.

He is seriously not in the condition to be doing anymore of this. He should at least take an hour to recover from some of the fatigue."

Kawhi pointed to behind Patricia "You want to tell him that?" Patricia turned around and was shocked to see Jason working the ropes.

As Jason began to violently move the ropes up and down the corner of Kawhi's mouth raised up "I gotta hand it to you Patricia. You got one hell of a nose for finding interesting people."