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part two hundred and twelve
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wc!au: team dage: stick check
(Anonymous) 2014-07-08 04:15 pm (UTC)(link)wordcount: 3684
Re: wc!au: team dage: stick check
(Anonymous) 2014-07-08 04:16 pm (UTC)(link)Re: wc!au: team dage: stick check 1
(Anonymous) 2014-07-08 04:16 pm (UTC)(link)“Hyung, can we get on the field now?”
Jongin eyes the few boys waiting by the gate leading to the hockey field. Jongin learns that the one with the most piercings is the manager’s brother-in-law.
A few days ago their coach had called them for an emergency meeting.
“The manager has just informed me that we’ll be getting new members for the team.”
There were shouts of surprise and protests from everyone.
As the captain, Luhan spoke up for everyone, “But Coach, you’ve already finalised our first eleven and with three new members that will put three people on the bench.”
Jongin watched as Doojoon sighed, running his hand through his hair. “About that, there has been a change of plans. One of the new boys is the manager’s brother-in-law and he wants to play for the team. I’ve been warned by the manager to make sure he gets plenty of game time” – more groans – “and no matter how you feel about this, I urge you to make them feel welcomed if you want to stay on the team.”
Jongin knows what Doojoon meant. Offend the new players and you offend the manager. There goes your dream of playing in the club divisions.
“So does this mean our line-up has changed?” Jongin asked the question playing on everyone’s mind. If the manager ordered to have the new players in the first eleven that means some players will only be substitutes. That means lesser play time, or no play time at all.
“I have not decided. There will be some changes but I’ll only make them after I’ve seen the new members in action. They’re joining us for this Friday’s practice so play nice. But take this positively, having substitute players are important as well.”
Jongin had thought that the new players must be good and that is why the manager lets them in without any try outs but he learns that he is wrong. The new members know nothing about hockey.
“The pitch needs to be watered before we start playing. It is an artificial turf unlike a soccer field with grass. The sprinklers will take about 15 minutes before we can start. And here, you guys should call me coach,” Doojoon says.
One of the tall boys, holding his hockey stick over his shoulder like a baseball bat laughs. Jongin feels like shoving the stick into his face to teach him the proper ways of carrying a stick.
“That one is Chanyeol,” Luhan whispers from behind.
“Seems like you’re getting acquainted with them real fast,” Jongin says, his eyes still trained on the new players.
“As captain, it’s only right I learn about all my players. As vice-captain, you should too.”
“Why do they need to water the field? It’ll only get our shoes wet,” Chanyeol shouts, exchanging hi-fives with the other two as they laugh as though he said something funny.
“Is he serious?” Jongin stares with his mouth hanging.
“Plays soccer in his school, not much of a hockey player. The one with the bitch face is Sehun, basketball player in his school. And the last one is –“
“Huang Zitao,” Jongin interrupts, looking at the boy leading the other two into the pitch, dragging his hockey stick behind him.
Luhan looks at Jongin with surprise, “Yes, Tao. You know him?”
“He just got transferred to my class this week. Well what about him? What’s his specialty?”
“Umm, photography? Don’t stare at me like that, I’m not making this up!”
“Great,” Jongin sighs, “We’ve got new members who know nothing about hockey when we need all the help we can get to even make it through the first round of the U-21.”
Jongin snickers when the sprinklers start and the new members who decided to ignore their coach’s instructions starts to run back out, throwing curses as they get drenched. Everyone else on the benches is trying to hide their laughter as they put on their shin guards and socks.
Behind Jongin, Luhan stands up. “Alright guys, as we wait for the sprinklers, let’s introduce ourselves to the new members. I’ll start. I’m Luhan, captain of this team. On the field and once training starts, Coach Yoon’s words are law and if he’s not around, mine’s next. I think our new members have just learned that what the coach says goes because it gets us out of the water.”
Tao, Chanyeol and Sehun stares daggers at everyone trying to keep their laughter in. Jongin quite enjoys the flush working its way up Tao’s neck and ears – his silver earrings catching the light and glinting – different from the Tao he’s had what little chance to know in class. Jongin only stands up after a little kick from Luhan.
“I’m Jongin, your vice-captain. Even if Luhan hyung is the captain, I’m actually the Peterpan to his Thinkerbell” – another kick and a few snickers – “I might be younger than some of the members here but I have the most hockey experience. You three will learn that any advice or help I offer is not in vain.”
The rest of the introduction goes on smoothly; some of the members like Minseok and Kyungsoo simply introducing their names and positions while others like Joonmyun and Jongdae choosing to share their whole life stories about why they chose hockey.
A whistle blows and it marks the end of their introductory session.
“Alright boys, get geared up and go for a warm-up jog, 3 rounds around the pitch. As per normal, with every whistle blow, the last pair will run up to the front and lead the team in the jog. The new members will start in the middle since they’re well…new. Captains, all yours.”
“Everyone on the pitch, in twos,” Luhan orders, “Joonmyun you pair up with Sehun, Minho with Chanyeol and Jongin with Tao. Coach, you’re with me since we have odd numbers.”
Jongin doesn’t miss the sly smile Luhan throws him but he doesn’t grumble as he gets in line beside Tao. As vice-captain, he has to show a good example and a blatant dislike of the new members won’t be good news.
“Sehun, what do you think you’re doing?” Luhan asks.
“Putting my stick down?” Sehun replies, puzzled.
The team snickers at his reply. Beside Jongin, Tao’s face starts to heat up again. Just like Sehun he was getting ready to put his hockey stick down on the floor. “We run with our hockey stick in our non-dominant hand,” Jongin explains. “It helps build our arm power since it’s the hand we seldom use.”
Sehun grudgingly gets back in line beside Joonmyun, discontent apparent on his face – or maybe that’s just his face, Jongin thinks.
Tao is surprisingly flexible as they follow the warm-up routine led by Luhan. Unlike half the team who have difficulties even trying to touch their ankles, Tao effortlessly bends down, his fingers getting a good grip on his toes instead of just brushing them. Tao is a distraction, Jongin thinks. His body almost bending into a perfect half and the way he arches his back as he gets up is definitely a distraction.
A whistle blows twice and all the members get up, rushing to Doojoon. Well, except for the new members who have no idea what it means, watching as everyone gets up on their feet and rushes to where Doojoon is waiting.
Two more whistle blows. “The three of you, get over here this instant.”
The new members scramble to their feet, running over to where the rest of the team are.
“10 push-ups each for not being alert. Hockey is a team sport, you don’t play by yourself. If you lose focus, the whole team loses its focus. I may be your hyung off the field, but on it, I’m your coach. Don’t take me for granted because I’m not going to give you the chance to do so. Understand?” Doojoon barks.
“Yes!” The whole team echoes with the exception of Tao, Sehun and Chanyeol who just stares dumbfounded, trying to regain the feeling in their arms after the push-ups.
“I asked you a question,” Doojoon says, directing it to them.
“Yes,” the new members repeat after Doojoon, a lot softer.
“Today we’re going back to basics and don’t take it out on the new members it’s not just because of them. A good number of you have forgotten about your basics, doing silly hat tricks and elaborate moves like flicking and scooping when a simple push or sweep would suffice. It is because of your complacency that usually results in the loss of ball possessions during games. Get in pairs; we’ll start with pushing, a stick’s distance from each other. Luhan and I will demonstrate for the new members.” Doojoon motions for Luhan to join him in front, standing at a stick’s length away from each other.
“Minseok, ball.” Minseok passes a ball to Doojoon.
“First, get a good grip on your stick with your non-dominant hand. Hold the top of your stick at the grip with your left hand like this. Your right hand should be holding the stick almost halfway down. And that’s where most people go wrong,” Doojoon says to Chanyeol.
“I know you play sports, but remember hockey is not like other sports. Hockey is not played by bending your waists. You bend at your knees, like this.” In an instant, Doojoon bends on his knees, gripping his hockey stick in his hands and Luhan follows suit. “Since the three of you are tall, it’ll take some time getting used to it but this is the position you should be at when playing. Bend at the knees at almost a ninety degrees angle. Sehun, you won’t be able to move your stick if you hold it upright like that. You should hold your stick at a forty-five degree angle from the ground, slanted away from your body.
Re: wc!au: team dage: stick check 2
(Anonymous) 2014-07-08 04:17 pm (UTC)(link)Doojoon demonstrates, pushing to Luhan and his ball is silent but the speed is incredible. Over the short distance, one would not have been able to stop it but Luhan manages to stop the ball with little effort, using only the head of the stick. There’s a reason why Luhan is the captain.
“Look at how Luhan stopped the ball. It’s a dead stop. The ball did not bounce or spin off, which is a mistake some of you will make later.” By some Doojoon means the new members and he doesn’t need to say it for the message to get across.
“For the new members, I don’t want you stopping the way Luhan did. You should get down on the floor and place your stick flat like this.” Doojoon gets on the floor with one knee, keeping a good grasp on the top grip of his stick, “The flat side facing your partner, and the rounded side facing you. Remember that at all times, you should never hit or stop the ball with the rounded side, that’ll be a foul in a game. Luhan pass me a slow ball.” Luhan pushes the ball slowly towards Doojoon’ waiting stick and Doojoon stops it.
“Look at this, your stick should be angled towards the direction where the ball is from. If your stick is angled the other way, like this” – Doojoon passes the ball back to Luhan and Luhan pushes again, this time the ball flies over Doojoon’ stick – “the ball will bounce off like that one did. I don’t want you making that mistake, unless it’s right in front of the opponent’s goal where you’re not trying to stop the ball but trying to deflect it to score. I’ll touch on that later but for now, let’s push.
“Alright, get into partners, the new members will pair up with the partners you had during the jog. Since you’re all experienced players, I expect you to be teaching your new partners the proper basics. Remember, we’re a team here,” Doojoon warns the rest of the team.
Jongin grabs a ball from the ball bag and motions for Tao to follow him, falling in line with the other members as they start the drill with their partners.
“Tao, switch places with me. You should stand with the fence to your back in case you miss my balls,” Jongin says.
“Thanks,” Tao says, following Jongin’s instructions. Funny how they’ve been classmates for five days and this is the first time they’ve exchanged words.
Jongin pushes the ball to Tao at a snail’s pace, giving Tao time to adjust to getting down on the floor to stop the ball with his stick down flat. But it’s Tao’s turn to pass the ball, he misses Jongin, his ball travelling to his left, hitting Joonmyun instead. Joonmyun winces in surprise when the ball comes flying to his feet but he stops it and passes it back to Tao, smiling kindly.
Jongin feels sorry for the apologetic look on Tao’s face. “Your body should end in the direction you want to send the ball to. When you pushed the ball earlier, you twisted your whole body to face Joonmyun hyung instead of me, that’s why the ball travelled to him. Try again, and do it slowly. Coach is not looking for fast hard balls, he’s looking for a smooth delivery.”
Chanyeol, Tao and Sehun deliver their pushes fairly well but it’s the stopping they have difficulties with especially after Doojoon widened the distance, now the partners are facing each other with a half pitch gap between them. They often have to run after the balls they’ve missed and it hinders their practise with their partners. Jongin sighs when Tao misses another ball, the ball flying far to the other side of the pitch and Tao has to run after it.
He hates having to babysit Tao because they could be doing things that are much more useful. It is time wasting just practising their pushing and sweeping when the time could be used for game plans and formation strategies to use in their upcoming matches.
After a whole evening going back to basics, they end their training with the usual friendly match, occupying half the pitch but it doesn’t go as smoothly as it normally does. The three newcomers are lost even before the game begins and Doojoon blows the whistle often to stop the game and explain certain rules or terms to them.
After 45 minutes, Doojoon blows the whistle and Jongin’s team wins more because Luhan’s team have both Sehun and Tao and they were both lost during the game.
“My team won!” Chanyeol gloats as he joins Sehun and Tao.
“No thanks to you,” Kyungsoo’s words rings loud and clear in the air and all the members still. The glee on Chanyeol’s face falls and Tao turns a deeper shade of red Jongin knows is not from the sun.
The tension is clear but before anyone can act, Luhan breaks it off. “That’s enough, form a circle as you remove your shin guards and cool down. Coach wants to talk to us.”
The new members just stare at them as they sit on the wet pitch and they finally joined when Luhan throws them a look. Sehun’s displeasure is obvious on his face when his shorts get wet but he doesn’t say anything, following Luhan’s lead in the cool down. Doojoon joins them a few minutes later with a clipboard and a small whiteboard that he uses for game strategies. Doojoon settles in between Luhan and Jongin, waiting for them to finish with the head rotations before addressing the team.
“First of all, I’d like to welcome and congratulate the new members for finishing a session with us,” Doojoon says and the team claps as a welcome even if the feeling is not mutual.
“I know that they have no hockey experience but I’m sure with the senior members’ guidance they’ll pick up the sport in no time. Today’s meeting is to talk about a few changes I have made to the lineup,” Doojoon pauses, taking in the nervous glances by everyone. “I have made some changes where I think fit but don’t worry I’ll make sure everyone gets to play.
“Since we don’t have a substitute goalie, from today we’ll be training Chanyeol as both a defender and a goalie. In case something happens, Chanyeol can sub in for Joonmyun and with Chanyeol’s height, it’ll be easy to intimidate the opponents if he’s a defender and break their concentration when they break beyond our 25-yard line. Joonmyun will be working closely with Chanyeol and Minho I want you to work with him too. I’m not taking you off the field but I’m considering having two centre backs instead of two centre halfbacks.”
“But both Jongin and I are centre halfbacks, if you’re intending to only have one, means one of us has to sit out during game?” Luhan asks. The team agreed earlier on that Luhan and Jongin are to be on the pitch at all times and Jongin is shocked that Doojoon would consider putting one of them on the bench.
“No, I’m moving Jongin to centre forward and Taemin will be our left wing. Jonghyun will be centre left with Jongdae and you’ll both rotate during the game so that you’ll not be fully exhausted. Most teams are bound to attack from their right so I need my centre lefts to sub each other out. And on a private conversation with Jinki, he requested to be on defence instead of attack so I’ll be rotating the defensive line except for Minho who will be in the pitch at all times.
“Since we’re a new team, it’s going to be normal for the ball to pass our midfielders and come to play near the 25-yard more than we’ll be able to attack. Minseok and Kyungsoo stays as left and right back respectively but be prepared to be subbed out with Jinki if I think you need a rest. Same goes for Chanyeol. We’ll try you out as the centre back first and see from here. Minho, Joonmyun, Minseok, Kyungsoo, Jinki and Chanyeol will be our new short corner team. You’ll teach Chanyeol what to do in case of a penalty shoot.”
“What about me and Tao?” Sehun asks interrupting Doojoon, He’s pretty sure he didn’t hear his name being mentioned.
“Are you always this impatient? I am getting there. Sehun and Tao will both be our right wing and you’ll substitute each other out. Jongin, I’m putting you in-charge of the two of them.” Doojoon turns the whiteboard over and shows the team the new lineup. “We have a friendly with Seoul High next Saturday –“
“What? We’re playing with a high school?” Chanyeol laughs. “I thought with members in the university we’d be a hockey club instead of some high school extra-curricular team.”
“Don’t underestimate Seoul High,” Jongin growls in frustration. “Their players have been playing since elementary school. Just one player has more experience than all of us combined. If this is a joke to you Park Chanyeol, I suggest you quit now.”
“Jongin,” Doojoon calls out in warning. “We’ll be trying the new positions on Saturday and we’ll adjust accordingly for the upcoming under 21. But I hope everyone plays their best, the friendly with Seoul High will be a sneak peek of what our competitors will be like.”
Doojoon raises his brow when Sehun raises his hand in question. “What is it? You don’t have to raise your hand to speak here,” Doojoon says in amusement.
“About Saturday, I don’t think I can make it. I already have plans. It’s a family thing, I have to watch my sister.”
“Then bring your sister with you, she can sit on the bench and watch,” Jongin says.
“No, it’s not that simple,” Sehun replies biting his lips but he caves when all the members stare at him. “Ok fine, there’s a Princess party thing coming to town and we already have tickets, I have to take her there since our parents are working. It lasts the whole day and I don’t think she’ll want to leave earlier.”
No one says a thing for a while, unsure whether to burst out in laughter in case it offends Sehun. But Doojoon can’t help the twitch of his lips, “Fine, everyone else is expected to be there. Princess Sehun is excused since her highness has a party to attend.”
Sehun’s mouth falls open in disbelief at their coach and he pouts when everyone starts laughing at the comment. Chanyeol laughs the loudest and Sehun tackles him to the ground, digging his elbows into Chanyeol’s ribs and Chanyeol tries to knock Sehun off him.
“Ok, playtime is over princesses. Go take a shower you all stink and I doubt prince charming would kiss you like this. See you on Monday,” Doojoon dismisses them.
“Is Doojoon always like this?” Tao asks.
Jongin stops laughing and looks around them; it’s only the two of them so he’s pretty sure Tao is talking to him. “Yeah,” Jongin says when he finds his voice. “He might seem like a serious coach, but you won’t believe the things that come out from his mouth. But he means no harm.”
Tao nods, “This is nice.”
Jongin looks at the members all trying to shove each other on the pitch and get each other wet. Yeah, Jongin thinks, this is nice. The members are all like family and despite their dissatisfaction with the new members’ hockey level, he knows that aside from that they’ll get along just fine.
Re: wc!au: team dage: stick check 2
(Anonymous) 2014-07-08 04:42 pm (UTC)(link)i liked this anon
Re: wc!au: team dage: stick check 2
(Anonymous) 2014-07-08 05:20 pm (UTC)(link)Re: wc!au: team dage: stick check 2
(Anonymous) 2014-07-08 04:46 pm (UTC)(link)Re: wc!au: team dage: stick check 2
(Anonymous) 2014-07-08 05:21 pm (UTC)(link)