Rebound: A 2nd Chance

Chapter 224 - The First Day Of Actual Training

Kyle was comfortably sleeping in bed when he felt a tap on his shoulder "Hmmm give me five more minutes."

A second later and his entire body was shaking and rocking "Okay! Okay! I'll get up!" After he said that the shaking came to a stop.

Kyle opened his eyes and saw Jason standing over him with his toothbrush in his mouth "Hurry up man. Get ready so we can eat breakfast."

Kyle stretched out his lanky body in his bed as he let out a yawn. He then got up and scratched his head "What time is it?"

Jason poked his head out of the bathroom as he answered "It's about to be 5:30." Kyle almost fell down back into his bed when he heard Jason say that.

"Jaya! Why are we waking up so early? The van won't be here till 8 bro." Jason rinsed his mouth and spat the water out before walking out of the bathroom.

He wiped his face with his towel before looking at Kyle "I wanted to get a quick workout in before breakfast."

Kyle looked down and sighed "I don't know why I even bothered asking. I should have known. The only thing you ever have on your mind is basketball."

After washing up the both of them changed into their workout clothes that they would be wearing to the training camp.

Kyle put on a pair of white sweats that had a dark blue mech holding a laser sword on the right leg while Jason put on a pair of black compression pants underneath his red shorts.

Kyle shook his head "You're gonna go out like that? Bro it's like forty something degrees outside. The summers over here are way colder than our winters."

Jason chuckled "I'll be alright. The cold doesn't really bother me that much. In fact I kinda like it. It's like going into an ice bath after a tough workout.

Besides, we're in the building for the most part. It's not like we spend that much time outside for me to worry about getting sick. I'm even wearing a hoodie."

Kyle thought about it for a second before nodding his head "I guess." Just then the two of them heard a knocking from outside their door.

"Hello? Jason Yang? Kyle Robinson?" Jason and Kyle both looked at each other for a couple of seconds before they both shook their heads.

Seeing as how Kyle had no idea who was at the door Jason decided to walk over and answer it himself.

Just as Jason was about to reach out to turn the doorknob he remembered the warning that Marcus had given him.

'You gon be by yourself up there Jaya. Make sure you keep your guard up. Amare won't be there to help if you get caught lackin.'

Jason pulled his hand back before asking "Who is it?" The voice answered "My name is Thomas Baker. I'm a cameraman from Nike."

Jason then took a peek out of the peep hole of the hotel door. Sure enough on the other side was a pudgy middle aged man with a camera in his hands.

Jason decided that it was probably safe so he opened the door "Come in I guess." The man thanked Jason as he walked into their hotel room.

Jason gestured to an empty chair and the cameraman gave him a nod before taking a seat. Jason looked at him.

"So what can I help you with so early in the morning? No one from Nike told me that you would be here."

Thomas scratched his head before letting out an awkward chuckle "Hehe yeah sorry about that. If it helps any no one told me anything about this beforehand either.

I literally got a call at four o'clock in the morning telling me that I would be assigned to filming you as your exclusive camera guy."

Jason raised his brow "Oh really? And why is Nike giving me my own cameraman?" Thomas answered "Well they do this every year.

The most exciting players, the most talented players, or the most interesting players usually get assigned an exclusive camera guy to get a wide range of footage from them.

Nike likes to show more than just the athlete's training when they do their mini docu-series every year.

They like to show what their morning routines are like, what they eat for breakfast, what kind of music they listen to, etc."

Jason nodded his head as he listened "I guess that makes sense." Thomas then asked "So you're okay with me filming you right? If you are then I'll start right now."

Jason shrugged his shoulders "Go ahead. I don't really mind. But I feel like you'll just be wasting your time.

I don't know what kind of exciting or interesting footage you're hoping to get but you probably won't be able to get it from me. I'm a pretty boring guy."

Kyle laughed as he walked out of the bathroom with some floss in his hands "If you think you're boring then I don't want to see what you consider exciting."

Jason turned to Kyle as he realized something "You okay with him following us around and filming us? I almost forgot to ask about what you thought about this."

Kyle stopped flossing to answer "I don't really care. It's not like it would be the first time we had cameras following us around everywhere recording everything we did."

Jason then turned back to Thomas "Well there you go. I guess you can start filming us. We were just about to head to the courts and get a early morning sweat in."

Thomas followed Jason and Kyle as they walked to the basketball courts of the hotel with a basketball in hand.

Once they got to the courts Thomas looked around for the best place to position himself in order to get the best shot possible.

He decided to move to the sidelines and record from there. He thought that they would put up some shots and maybe play a leisurely game.

But to his surprise Jason and Kyle were going a hundred percent at each other from the get go. Jason was dipping his shoulder and going right at Kyle.

And Kyle didn't pull any of his punches as he attacked Jason with everything that he had on the defensive end while also playing him physically whenever he posted up.

'I thought he said that they were just going to get a quick workout in? This looks like full on practice to me.'

The idea of taking it easy didn't seem to exist in either of the two's minds as their bodies fell to the floor and as they made full contact with each other on almost every play.

Jason's tight and creative ball handling combined with his multiple ways to score made for great footage.

While Kyle's ability to move his feet and stay in front of his man out on the perimeter was dazzling when combined with the amazing scenes of him soaring high as he blocked Jason's shots.

After their morning workout Thomas was once again surprised as he filmed Jason as he showed off his amazing appetite.

Thomas looked at Jason worriedly "You don't need to put on a show just because I'm here. Just do what you naturally do."

Jason lifted his head up as he was shoveling a whole pancake into his mouth and looked over at Thomas with a confused expression on his face.

"Hmmm? What are you talking about? I am being natural. This is how much I eat for breakfast everyday."

Soon after the rest of the boys made their way down as they joined Jason and Kyle for breakfast. After they all finished eating they then waited in the lobby before getting picked up by the van.

Jason was excited as he walked into the Nike Training facility 'We're finally done with all the assessments! We can actually start the training now.

I wonder what they'll start us off with? Strength training? Conditioning? Coordination? Or maybe they'll have us work on our basketball skills.'

As he was off in his own world thinking about all the different and amazing things that the sports doctors and researchers would have them do they reached the training room where they had been yesterday.

He looked at the door enthusiastically as he watched Dr. Patricia walk in along with a slew of other researchers and sports doctors.

Dr. Patricia clapped her hands together after making her way to the front "Good morning everyone. I hope you were all able to get an adequate amount of rest last night because today we'll start your actual training."

Everyone clapped their hands and cheered when they heard her say that. Even Monty and his group joined in.

She waited for things to quiet down before continuing "Go ahead and follow the staff member that calls out your name.

They will work with you exclusively during these two weeks as they have you work on a personalized training regiment."

Jason stood motionlessly as he waited for his name to be called out. The first one that was called was 3D followed by Monty.

Soon Jason watched as everyone else had their name called. Even Kyle got called before him. After a few more minutes it was just Jason and Dr. Patricia in the room. 

Jason stood there silently for a few seconds before finally speaking up "Uh excuse me Doc. Not trying to be rude or anything but I'm still waiting to start my training."

Dr. Patricia let out a chuckle before looking at Jason with a mischievous smile on her face "Oh don't worry about it young man.

You are very lucky. I will be directly in charge of your training." Jason slowly nodded his head "Okay? So when can we start?" 

She smiled as she answered "Oh, we already started. We're just waiting to hear back from the kitchen."

Jason looked at her questioningly "Waiting to hear back from the kitchen?" Dr. Patricia then touched the earpiece that was in her right ear.

"Is everything ready? Alright then. Go ahead and bring it to weight room number four." A few minutes after she said that a cart was wheeled into the room by a member of the kitchen staff.

Dr. Patricia motioned for Jason to approach to the cart. Jason hesitantly made his way to the cart 'I have a bad feeling about this.'

He then lifted the lead to one of the trays that was on the cart. The tray was full of grilled chicken that looked to be under seasoned.

Jason nervously removed the lid from some more of the plates. They were filled with nothing but different kinds of meat.

Jason gulped as he raised his head and looked at Dr. Patricia "Uh what are these for Doc?" She smiled as she answered "That is for your training.

For the two weeks that you are here you will be on a rigorous diet designed for optimal muscle and body development.

You will start off all your training sessions with a hearty meal, then you will rest for an hour as you watch film of old games, practice hard for two hours, and then eat and repeat."

Jason's jaw dropped to the floor after hearing her say that. It took him a moment to recover from the surprise.

"Not that I'm questioning your knowledge or expertise Doc but that sounds like a ton of eating. Even for someone like me."

Dr. Patricia shook her head as she looked at Jason with a serious expression on her face "Did you know that after the draft the Lakers put Brandon Ingram on a diet that had him eating 5,000 calories a day?

They did that because the biggest question about him leading up to the draft was whether or not he would be able to handle the physicality of the NBA because of his thin and scrawny frame.

He had the exact same problem as you Jason. So starting from today you will be on a 6,000 calorie a day diet."