Thankfully, the photographer gave up after a few more attempts, allowing Ken to roam free shortly after. He then followed the pack of his new teammates out onto the field for a bit of catch.
"You wanna team up?" Taylor asked, lobbing a baseball to him.
"Sure, let me grab my glove." Ken had no reason to refuse. Taylor was the only one who had introduced himself out of the team, so it made the choice rather convenient.
After grabbing his glove, he took a spot in the lineup and began to play some catch. Since it was a pretty standard warm up drill for most teams, everyone knew what they were doing.
Ken found out pretty quickly that Taylor had a good arm. He wasn't too surprised, especially since the guy was a catcher, they needed to have a good arm in order to throw the ball to the bases.
"Start throwing seriously." Taylor called out after sending a strong throw back to Ken.
Ken let out a chuckle. He remembered Taylor's earlier advice about taking even the warm ups seriously, so he didn't complain. With a quick step forward, he sent a throw with around 80% power right back at the guy.
PAH
"Nice~"
The drill continued for around 5 minutes before the coach stepped in.
"Alright listen up, we'll be starting with the 60-yard dash. I need everyone to follow me, we've got a tight schedule so no dilly-dallying." The middle-aged coach spoke up, adjusting his visor.
The team did as they were told silently. Out of the 12 teens, only Ken and Taylor seemed to be carefree enough to chat amongst themselves.
"Have you done these tests before?" Taylor asked Ken casually.
"I did a few when I tried out for the U18 Japanese National Team." Ken admitted, remembering his mediocre results back then.
"Oh, that's cool. Did you end up making it?" He asked curiously.
"Mmm, but that was almost 2 years ago now." Thinking about the Japanese National Team brought back fond memories, but it was also a source of disappointment since he missed out on the Asia Championships last year.
He could technically be selected this year in August for the U18 World Cup again, but since he was living in America, he wasn't sure if Coach Takashi would select him.
Taylor was thoughtful for a while, but his eyes soon lit up, "Wait, did you play for the Japanese team at the U18 World Cup?" He asked excitedly.
"Yeah, why?"
But before Taylor could respond, they had already arrived at the drill with the other teams nearby. With 4 teams total, each with 12 players, there was almost 50 teens all gathered.
"Okay, everybody please pay attention, I'll only be saying this once. When I call up your name, approach the start line and get into position. Since we have a lot of people, you'll only get 2 attempts." One of the staff member's wearing a black polo shirt spoke up, addressing everyone.
Thankfully, many of the attendees were serious about the showcase, so there were no disruptions.
Ken looked around, trying to find Steve amongst the players with the yellow shirts on, but even with his height he couldn't see the guy.
"First up, Stephen Adams." The guy from earlier spoke up, calling the first name on his list.
It was then that Steve appeared from the crowd, his body obviously filled with nerves. Ken couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy whose name would probably always get called out first in alphabetical order.
The surroundings were silent, so much so that Ken could feel the tension in the air.
"Let's go Steve, run like the wind." Ken called out, showing support for his friend.
At the sound of Ken's voice, Steve turned around, his nervous expression easing a little. He flashed him a grin and a thumbs up before turning his attention back to the starting line.
A lot of eyes turned to Ken, as if these people didn't appreciate Ken speaking up all of a sudden. However, he didn't care. He wanted to show support to Steve who obviously seemed nervous.
"On your marks."
"Get set…"
FWHEEE
The moment the whistle sounded, Steve broke into a sprint, his legs and arms pumping wildly as he accelerated as fast as he could.
Everybody watched on in silence, waiting for the guy to finish his run.
There eyes moved to a display which showed the time.
'6.52 seconds… Is that good?' Ken thought, not really knowing what he should be aiming for.
"Mmm, not bad. Is he your friend?" Taylor asked.
Hearing the satisfaction in Taylor's tone, Ken felt a little better. "Yeah, he also plays for the Gladiators as a catcher."
"I see. Well, he's not bad for a catcher."
Ken raised his eyebrow, not knowing what Taylor was insinuating. "What's the record for the 60-yard dash?"
"Just under 6 seconds I believe."
Ken nodded. Judging by this, Steve's score wasn't too bad overall. However, if this was before they'd completed the 3 month training plan from Mika, he probably would have been a lot worse.
After Steve finished, the staff began to call out another name without delay. With the almost 50 players here, they needed to be quick or risk putting everything behind schedule.
"Heh, how was that?" Steve tracked down Ken after returning to the mass of awaiting teens, wearing a smug grin.
"Mmm, pretty good man. I think you can do better though." Ken stated simply.
Instead of being offended, Steve nodded. He had been a little nervous to begin with, but he believed now that he'd already experienced it, he'd be able to improve the time even if only a little.
"What do you think you'll get?"
"I'd be happy around the 6 second mark." Ken stated, beginning to stretch his legs a little in anticipation.
"True, you were always faster than me, especially over long distances. I guess that's the perks of being a damn Antelope…" The last sentence was said under Steve's breath, but Ken still picked up the words.