"Morning Haiba!" Hinata shouted as he ran to be the first to open the gym.
"Morning Hinata!" Haiba replied.
"What do you want to work on today?"
"How about we do that serving and receiving thing again,"
"Yeah!" the two got the gym set up and did the same drill again. One would serve the ball and the other would try to receive it. If the receive was successful they would try to keep a rally going for as long as possible. Whatever side the ball landed on was the side of the server. This lead to Hinata getting serving streaks.
"I know!" Haiba exclaimed, "We should totally do penalty zones! We'd have an area of the court, probably near where the other is, where you can't aim your serve, if it looks like it's going there let it go. If it lands in the penalty zone the server has to do a lap of diving drills! That way we practise our diving saves too!"
"Yeah!" Hinata nodded, the two continued to play until a teacher came by and told them to pack up due to the school closing soon.
The next day came and the two were having a more brief practise than the previous day, "Hinata, did Kuroo ever teach you how to block?" Haiba asked.
"No, he made sure that I focused on my receiving first," Hinata answered.
"I can tell,"
"HEY!"
"Kuroo told me to have my arms in front of my face instead of to the side of it to start with,"
"Okay!" Hinata practised the movement, "Did he tell you anything else?"
"He said to also be aware of where your hands are because that's the part you block with,"
"Got it! I'll work on my blocking when I get the chance to!" the two packed up and Hinata headed to the gym for his additional class.
"Hinata, you're back," coach Nishimura greeted him, "Do you mind helping me set up?"
"No problem!" Hinata smiled as he ran to put the net up.
"So how has your school practise come along,"
"Well I've been working on my receiving and serving quite a lot, but someone gave me blocking tips,"
"That's good, once you nail the fundamentals your already halfway there to becoming a good player. What type of blocking do you do?"
"There are types of blocking!"
"Yes, commit blocking, read blocking and guess blocking,"
"Well I just block the person who's running for the toss,"
"So you're doing commit blocking, like the majority of people,"
"Are the other types worse or better?"
"It depends on the person. Commit blocking is the middle ground, average success rates unless your up against a decoy and average speed. Guess blocking, when done well, can be faster as you can run for the block earlier but it's hard to pull off and unless you know what you're doing your success rate will go down, when up against decoys it can either go really well or the same as commit blocking. Then on the other side of the spectrum is read blocking, especially when you get good at it, your accuracy improves drastically, but due to how it works you'll have less time to react,"
"Ah, so most people stick to commit blocking then because it's the easiest,"
"Exactly, just follow the spiker running. Guess blocking means having to think about how might get the ball, and read blocking involves seeing where the toss is going, which are skills that you have to develop,"
"Read blocking doesn't sound that hard when you put it like that,"
"But remember Hinata, you have less time to react. The spikers have already jumped before you know where the ball is going sometimes so you need to be able to get into the block quickly. The reading isn't the hard part, it's the getting there in time. Where guess blocking is the opposite, you'll have plenty of time to get there, but it's figuring out where to go,"
"I get it now, I'll stick to commit blocking. Read blocking sounds like height is a key part of it,"
"Yes, it generally is. The taller you are, the less distance you have to cover, but you can be tall and have slow reactions,"
"Thanks for the explanation coach Nishimura,"
"But what's the harm in try to learn how to read the ball Hinata," coach Nishimura gave him a sheet of paper, "I was planning on doing a practise game with the girls, they'll be in bibs and I'll give you one team to focus on. Try to read where the toss is going and write it down, then tick it or cross it depending on whether you got it right or not,"
"Okay! I can do that!" Hinata beamed. After the session Hinata reviewed his card, he had done okay, but it wasn't that good either.
"That's a good outcome for your first try," coach Nishimura congratulated him, "Maybe we do have a future read blocker on the horizons,"
"Really?" Hinata asked.
"Normally when I try this out on potential read blockers they do worse that this on their first try, just because they aren't used to it. But from today you can see that the reading part isn't the hard part. Once you get used to it and progress it to faster plays then it'll become like second nature. The hard part will be getting there to block in time. So don't feel obliged to ever use read blocking. I just wanted to show you that you can read the ball,"
"Okay, maybe I will try it out once,"
"Good luck if you do. I just wanted to show you that you can still be a good player even if you feel like you're behind everyone else on your team,"
"Thank you coach Nishimura! See you next Tuesday!" Hinata bowed before running off.
"Can't we have a day off Hinata!" Haiba complained as he dragged himself to the gym.
"No rest for the wicked!" Hinata grinned as he unlocked the gym.
"But I'm not wicked!"
"Yes you are!"
"No I'm not!
"Are so!"
"Am not!"
"Are so!"
"Am not!"
"Whatever, are you practising or not?"
"Well since I'm here I might as well,"
"How do you think Haiba and Hinata are getting on?" Kuroo asked Kozume.
"Hm? Fine I guess," Kozume replied as he locked up from his PSP, "Shouyou's probably living in the gym at the moment,"
"Really? I wish I could teach him more, but out of the two of them he's the one that needs the most help with his receiving,"
"I guess,"
"Well the best case is that they both have become the best players in the world,"
"In a week?"
"You get what I mean Pudding Head!"
"And the worst case?"
"They wrecked the gym,"
"What do you think actually happened?"
"They probably did practise a fair bit, I don't know whether saying everyday is a stretch or not, so they might be ready for our first tournament, that's the dream at least,"
"What about Karasuno? Do you think they're a good team?"
"I'm not sure," Kuroo let out a large sigh, "I really want the Battle at the Trash Heap to happen, but I don't know if they have it in them to beat a powerhouse school like Shiratorizawa, and unlike us back in Tokyo, they only have one representative spot. If they had one more promising player, I'd be more hopeful,"
"What're you two talking about?" Yamamoto asked them.
"The Battle at the Trash Heap," Kuroo explained, "Well all we can do is put all our effort into getting to nationals ourselves,"
The weekend had passed and another school week began, "Come on Haiba! We need to show everyone how much we've improved!" Hinata shouted as he ran to the early morning practise.
"I'm coming Hinata!" Haiba shouted back as he quickly shoved on some knee pads.
"Keys," coach Nekomata demanded. The two gave back their sets of keys, "Thank you,"
"Kenma! How was the training camp? Did you get to play Karasuno? Were they really really really good?" Hinata bombarded Kozume with questions.
"It was fine I guess," Kozume shrugged, "Karasuno have a good setter,"
"Not as good as you though!"
"He's accurate,"
"Oh well! Come on I want to work on the freak quick! I need to be able to do it with my eyes open so that I can obtain a steak knife and lose my butter knife!"
"Hinata! Don't bring any knives to practise, no matter how blunt they are," Kuroo warned him.
"It's an analogy!" Hinata explained, "I went to an additional class but got told to watch, and then I was helping out this really good player, he's in the V-League but I didn't ask him what team he played for-"
"-Are you three going to enter the gym or stand here?" coach Nekomata asked them.
"But it's story time!" Hinata protested, "Anyway he wasn't allowed to practise because he had been training all day and so together we were watching and helping out. Someone asked him to demonstrate a straight spike, and it was really powerful. It was LIKE he was cutting through the air with a steak knife, where I feel like I'm cutting the air with a butter knife. And so I asked him how to gain more power and he said something about a sweet spot, but then I told him that I don't open my eyes and he said I wouldn't be able to improve if I kept my eyes closed. Hence we need to practise Kenma! If I can't do it with my eyes open then I'll be permanently stuck with a butter knife!"
"Additional classes?" Kuroo questioned.
"So I can get even better! Haiba suggested that I become the teams' decoy, so I need better fundamental skills so that I can make the starting order and be the best decoy in the world! I'm watching classes every Tuesday and Thursday because apparently that can help too," Hinata explained.
"It can, but so can actually practising," coach Nekomata signalled for them to start practising.
"I wonder if I'll ever get to see Hisakawa play again on Tuesday?" Hinata said to himself.
"Hisakawa Masahiko?" coach Nekomata asked.
"I don't know, I only know his surname," Hinata answered, "Apparently he's twenty-two and on a division one team in the V-League, and he used to play on the under nineteens before he became too old,"
"That's Hisakawa Masahiko,"
"Cool!"
"He was a problem child,"
"You know him?" Kuroo asked.
"He used to play here," coach Nekomata explained.
"Really! That's so cool! Wait, did he get to play the Little Giant?" Hinata exclaimed.
"I think so, he was the year above him so I'd say yes," coach Nekoma answered.
"I need to ask him about him the next time I see him!" Hinata declared.
"Now is story time over? Can we start practising?"
"It's over!" Hinata smiled as he ran into the gym. In their practise that morning Hinata got to show of his slightly improved serve. Soon they had to pack up and go to lessons. Lunch arrived quickly and Hinata grabbed Haiba's notes before running off to meet Kozume. Hinata stuffed his face quickly before rapidly copying Haiba's notes in his scribbled on notebook. Afternoon lessons came and Hinata actually had to focus as part of his arrangement, Haiba would listen and work in the morning lessons and Hinata could copy his notes at lunch, whilst Hinata would listen and work in the afternoon lesson and Haiba could copy his notes just before practise. Hinata was reluctant at first because that meant focusing in the afternoon lessons, but only having to focus on half the lessons did allow him to focus better in the half he needed to focus in. After cleaning the classroom Hinata handed Haiba his notes before running to get some early practise.
"Afternoon coach!" Hinata greeted coach Nekomata as he waited for the gym to be unlocked.
"Someone's eager as usual," coach Nekomata replied as he opened the gym. Once practise began Yaku went over Hinata's receiving as usual.
"I can tell that you worked on it whilst we were gone. You're getting more comfortable with your positioning, but finding where the ball is going seems to still be a challenge,"
"Uhhhh! Don't remind me Yaku-senpai!"
"W-what?" Yaku blushed at the use of the senpai suffix.
"Nothing!" Hinata stuck his tongue out, "One more!"
"Actually Hinata, we were planning on going in for a practise match," Kuroo said, "A three v three. You, Kenma and myself versus Haiba, Yamamoto and Yaku. That way I can see how Haiba's got on with his blocking and Yaku-paisen can see how you've gotten on with your receiving,"
"Great!" Hinata cheered, "I'll beat your team Haiba!"
The six put on bibs and got set up for the match. Hinata's team won and soon after practise ended leaving Kuroo, Yaku and coach Nekomata to discuss an important issue, "We are going to be able to let the come to inter high, right?" Yaku asked what was all on their minds, "I mean they have made progress,"
"Whilst they're not quite on the same level as the other first years, I think we can have them as subs," coach Nekomata said, "And I think Hinata and Kenma have worked on their quick enough for it to be a trump card,"
"Which means that we could sub Hinata onto the front row, so we need to focus on his blocking," Kuroo said, "I was thinking that it was time for us to swap pupils anyway Yakkun,"
"We still have three weeks left and Hinata did say that he's taking additional classes, I'm hopeful that he'll be ready as a trump card by inter high," coach Nekomata said, "And I'm sure that either of them have the potential to make the starting order for the spring tournament,"