January 6, 2021.

Hyogo Prefecture, Nishinomiya City, Naroo Town.

In front of the Hanshin Tigers freshman dormitory [Torafuso].

Arriving at the destination, Zhang Zhe walked into the dormitory courtyard door with a travel bag in his left hand and a suitcase in his right hand.

The dormitory building is located on a high ground, and there are dozens of steps in front of the entrance.

When we got to the turntable, team staff were waiting.

Zhang Zhe said hello with honorifics, then followed the team staff up to the second floor and entered the room assigned to him.

The player dormitory is a standard single room. The overall space is not too big and has an independent bathroom and balcony.

To be honest, I was used to living in a spacious single-family house in the countryside, and suddenly I moved into a building in the city. The first thing I encountered was a sense of cramped space.

However, the room is clean and bright, and it's actually quite good once you get used to it.

After settling his luggage, Zhang Zhe accepted an interview with the team reporter and made a small report on moving into the dormitory.

After the chat started, the team reporter asked privately: "Zhang Zhejun, do you have a girlfriend now?"

"ah?"

If the team reporter hadn't been male and used a formal tone, Zhang Zhe would have been almost taken aback by this abrupt question.

The team reporter is a team employee, so naturally he is concerned about this issue because of official business.

Players' personal relationships are also part of professional team management. Even if there are no restrictions on this, the right to know must always be there. Only when scandals occur can it be easier for the team to handle public relations.

"Not yet." Zhang Zhe replied.

The team reporter was quite satisfied with this answer, and the young people should concentrate on playing football.

"If you date a girl in the future, please tell the team as much as possible."

This is not because the team is too strict with young players, but it is about the direction of players' personal business opening.

The purchasing power of girlfriend fans and mother fans in the Japanese soccer world is quite strong, so the team’s personal promotion direction for Zhang Zhe, who is good-looking and young, is “The Most Ideal Boyfriend.”

During the epidemic, the ticket revenue of various Japanese professional baseball teams dropped significantly, and they urgently need to expand their financial resources in peripheral sales.

There are so many teams vying for Zhang Zhe in the draft, of course, not only because of his baseball potential, but also because of his commercial value.

This year's personal support items for professional baseball newcomers have begun pre-sale on the official website.

The growth in pre-sales for the Hanshin Tigers' rookie department has been encouraging.

For these various reasons, the team still hopes to be more strict with Zhang Zhe and plans to watch him carefully and let him focus entirely on training and competition.

"By the way, Zhang Zhejun, when you are free in the dormitory, record some short videos and send them to the publicity department. The content can be about your daily life or your thoughts after training and competitions, etc."

"It sounds like I'm an idol." Zhang Zhe joked.

The team reporter laughed and said, "That's right. The fandom is also a fandom. Cultivating fans' stickiness is very important."

"learn."

In the future, he may often be under the spotlight, and Zhang Zhe has gained the consciousness of being a professional player.

After a few days of registration, the newcomers were free to move around and spend time getting familiar with the environment.

…

In the cafeteria downstairs, Zhang Zhe is having a meal.

The canteen of the Second Army Base of the Corps provides meals cooked with high-quality meat, eggs, and milk.

Zhang Zhe roughly estimates that the team can save about 2 million yen a year by taking care of food, accommodation and travel.

"It would be nice if I could always live in the dormitory."

Unfortunately, the team stipulates a maximum number of years for newcomers to stay, which is 5 years for players who have graduated from high school and 3 years for players who have graduated from college.

This period is almost the time for the team to give up a player. After joining the team for a few years, if he cannot perform well, he will be terminated due to his lack of ability. If he performs well, his annual salary will increase, and he will no longer want to live in the dormitory.

Although he received a large signing bonus, Zhang Zhe actually has no expenses and still lives a prudent life.

He has already made up his mind to live there for five years as a newcomer first.

At this time, other rookie players also came down to the cafeteria to eat.

A tall and well-built player sat in the seat near Zhang Zhe.

After Zhang Zhe finished his meal, he left his seat and greeted him politely.

"Senior Sato, I'm leaving first."

"Okay, Xiaozhe, will you go to the gym later?" Sato Teruaki asked.

"should be."

After chatting for a while, Zhang Zhe and Teruaki Sato made an appointment to go to the gym to do weight training together.

Teruaki Sato is the second pick in this year's Hanshin Tigers draft. He graduated from Kinki University and serves as an infielder. He was introduced as a frontline player.

The signing of Zhang Zhe and Teruaki Sato is the biggest gain of the Hanshin Tigers in this year's draft. Fans even think that the team's luck accumulated in previous years was only used this year.

Zhang Zhe and Teruaki Sato once met each other once when they were students. Their relationship was closer than that of other newcomers, and they gradually started talking to each other.

Teruaki Sato was introduced as a frontline and immediate combat force. The spring training will start with the first army. In his eyes, Zhang Zhe, who has great potential, is likely to be a future teammate of the first army.

The three weeks before spring training are for rookies to practice independently.

During the past three weeks, the newcomers organized their own training, running on the court, passing and catching the ball, and practicing in and outfield fielding. During this period, the team management and coaching staff came over several times for guidance.

We prepared the court and cleaned the rest area together, and the newcomers quickly became familiar with each other, and even went to a barbecue restaurant together on their days off.

As usual, the Hanshin Tigers held a new member induction ceremony.

At the new member joining ceremony, everyone took turns speaking on stage to discuss their goals after becoming a professional player.

As the new members of the regiment become more and more familiar with life at the Second Army Base, the days of spring training are approaching day by day.

Before spring training, the team organizes physical examinations for new players.

The place for physical examination is the nearby Medical University Hospital.

The various instruments for measuring body data opened Zhang Zhe's eyes, and he was very tired during the physical examination.

"Ah...! Ah...!"

"No way...!"

For the first time in his life, Zhang Zhe experienced the feeling of extreme exhaustion.

My heart was beating wildly, my lungs felt like they were being cut by knives, and my thighs hurt as if they were burning.

The doctors and team staff on the side were still shouting "keep going", "work harder" and "there is still energy left".

Zhang Zhe, who was wearing an oxygen supply, had his lips turned white.

How can it be more powerful?

Gone!

"Really... I can't do it!!" Zhang Zhe shouted word by word while panting heavily.

"OK!! Done!!"

The doctor's voice was simply heavenly.

Finally saved!

Under the guidance of the nurse, Zhang Zhe slowly slowed down.

Team staff and doctors were studying the extreme test data of Zhang Zhe's lower body muscle strength.

The surprised expressions on their faces made Zhang Zhe feel very sad.

Is there something wrong with me?

This is not Zhang Zhe’s own fright. Cases of professional players forced to retire due to physical illnesses detected during physical examinations happen all over the world, and they must be taken seriously.

The doctor said in surprise: "This data ranks first among all new players in the team. Even among the current first-team players, it ranks very high. This is the first time I have seen him in so many years."

The team staff looked at Zhang Zhe's data, which was ten percent higher than the average number of players in the first team, and thought about it.

Is it possible that the training plan formulated by the team for Zhang Zhe was conservative?
Chapter completed!