After verifying his enrollment letter, the guard finally opened the gate and permitted him to enter the hostel.
“Do you know where do I need to go to inquire about my room?” Hiro turned his head back towards the guard and questioned him just as he was about to enter the hostel.
“You can head to either of the coach’s office to inquire about your room. Their offices are just opposite to each other at the right end of the first floor.” The guard replied.
“Thank you for the information.” He thanked the guard and entered the hostel.
Accompanied by his father, he was finally inside the compound of the Kawasaki Frontale’s youth team.
The huge three storeyed hostel building which was painted in black and blue was just right infront of his eyes. To his right was two normal sized football pitches separated by a tall mesh fence at the either side of the two pitches with a path in between which led towards the stands.
And both of the pitches were surrounded by a metal mesh fence to prevent the ball from going astray.
Each of the two football pitches had floodlights installed in each and every corner of the pitch.
While both the grounds even consisted a stand which could host at least about a hundred people at the far right side of the pitch, the thing that mesmerised him the most was the training equipments used by the players on the field.
While the goalkeepers in the pitch were being bombarded with powerful shots from an advanced ball shooting machine, other players aside from the goalkeepers were forced to sprint while being tied with a tire behind their backs.
Just from the glance at the players faces, one could easily tell that they were struggling fom the intensity of the training.
The pitch near to the gate belonged to the U-15 team and the pitch closer to hostel building belonged to the U-18 team.
To his left was a huge warehouse where the training equipments were stored. Moving along the left side at the same line, closer to the hostel building was a huge gym. .
“Damn!! The youth training facility of Kawasaki Frontale is much bigger than what I had expected. It’s just like those training facility at European clubs.” Takashi mumbled in awe upon witnessing the majestic infrastructures of the youth training facility of Kawasaki Frontale club.
“Indeed!! It’s much bigger than my imagination as well.” Hiro replied while making his way towards the hostel building.
Just then while walking towards the hostel building, he heard a familiar voice calling his name.
The voice was coming from the pitch of U-15 team. Turning back to address to the call, he paused his movement and turned his head towards the U-15 pitch.
The one who was calling him was manager Nozomi.
“Oh great! It’s manager Nozomi. Now I don’t need to go to his office to inquire about my room.” He mumbled upon witnessing the sight of manager Nozomi who was waving his hands, gesturing him to head towards him.
“Dad he’s manager Nozomi. The guy I talked to you about before. He’s the U-15 manager of Kawasaki Frontale club.” Hiro reintroduced manager Nozomi to his father.
“Oh!! So he’s the infamous 60 crosses guy you mentioned about. How was he even able to kick the ball nonstop for 60 times with that fragile body and at that age.” Takashi mumbled while narrowing his gaze towards manager Nozomi who was waving his hands from the sidelines of the U-15 pitch.
“Dad let’s head there and ask him about my room number.”
Saying such, Hiro began to walk towards the U-15 pitch.
“Hiro!! My star boy. You’re finally here.” Manager Nozomi intoned with a wide grin on his face while looking at Hiro. “And this here must be your father right?”
Hiro nodded his head. “He’s my father Takashi Takahashi.”
“Hello Mr Takahashi. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Manager Nozomi turned his attention towards his father and greeted him while extending his hands forward for a handshake.
Takashi took his hand and shook hands with him. “The pleasure is all mine manager Nozomi. I’ll be entrusting my son to you. So please look after him.”
“You don’t need to worry about that Mr Takahashi. It’s my job to look after him afterall. And not only him, it’s my job to look after all these players who are aspiring to become a pro.” Manager Nozomi exclaimed while swinging his arms around the field, pointing his finger to all the players in the field.
“Hahaha… That’s right. Then thank you in advance for taking care of my son.” Takashi chuckled upon witnessing his behaviour.
‘Did he swallow a hallucinating mushroom? Or did he smoke the grass?? He wasn’t like this when we met for the first time.’ With his brows arched and eyes narrowed, he began to stare at manager Nozomi, looking somewhat perplexed.
Manager Nozomi who didn’t talk much during his first meeting was unusually blabbering a lot at that time around while chatting with his father.
Noticing such a drastic change in his personality, he couldn’t stop himself from thinking if he was on somekind of drugs.
“Are you ready to get into action Hiro?” Manager Nozomi shifted his gaze towards him and asked him all of a sudden.
“Right now??” He replied, feeling all confused.
“Yes right now. Or are you not feeling well?” Nozomi questioned with a poker face.
‘Huh!! He wants me to step into the field right away? Is he testing my mentality? Is he testing my determination?’ Several thoughts started to emerge in his mind after hearing manager Nozomi’s sentence.
“No sir. I’ll get changed right away.” His eyes glowed with a sense of determination.
Smack!!
“Good!! That’s what I wanted to hear from you.” Nozomi smacked his back gently with his left hand and raised his right hand towards him, giving him a thumbs up.
“But wait! First we need to find your room and do something about your luggage.” His father interrupted.
“Ah yes!! That’s right. I totally forgot about that. Hahaha…” Nozomi burst into laughter all of a sudden. “Climb up the stairs and walk straight towards the right hallway. You’ll see a number 19 room there, that’s your room number. Just place your luggage there and come to the field with your cleats.”
“Just who is he? A new player? But wasn’t the trial cancelled for this year?” Hirato mumbled while looking at the sidelines where manager Nozomi, Hiro and his father were conversing with each other.
“By the looks of it, he does seem like a new player.” Takekazu who was just beside him, mumbled.
“Hmph!! May be he got in through somekind of personal connection.” Hirato intoned while preparing himself to launch forward.
Since all the players in the field were in the middle of the training, they were not permitted to stop until the coaches command.
“I bet he’s just a mediocre player. Hup!!” Hirato mumbled before making his run.
The opposite end of the restraint band which was tied in their waist was tied with a huge tire.
With the opposite end of the restraint band tied in a tire, they were made to sprint with the tire behind their back.