John and Lu Ke were both members of the practice squad, and Lu Ke's skill level was even worse. For the first two years, he couldn't even get into the practice squad, and in his third year, it was only through Anthony's pity and sympathy that he was allowed to join. Therefore, John naturally believed that beating Lu Ke would be an easy and obvious task.
But once the shuttle run began, John found that Lu Ke was keeping pace with him, which ignited John's competitive spirit. He had already fallen from the main team to the practice squad, a descent from heaven to hell. Was he going to sink even further? John gritted his teeth and gave it his all, holding nothing back.
He sprinted, stopped short, turned, accelerated, sprinted, stopped short again, and turned.
When the shuttle run ended, John finished just a body length ahead of Lu Ke. Because he sprinted so hard, he couldn't stop in time and slid forward, tumbling onto the grass. But John didn't cry out in pain; he burst into laughter, releasing all his pent-up emotions in a cathartic rush.
Lu Ke slowed down, his hands on his knees, and couldn't help but laugh along with him. "Well, how does that feel?"
"It... it does," John said, out of breath. But as soon as he said it, a ridiculous smile reappeared on his face. "In fact, I shouldn't feel good. I almost lost. This isn't the standard for a decent wide receiver." A wide receiver losing to a quarterback in a 40-yard shuttle run? It was truly embarrassing. Moreover, Lu Ke wasn't even a quarterback; he was just a practice squad member with no position on the field.
"Look at it from another perspective," Lu Ke said. "After a year of training, I've reached this level. Isn't that a positive thing? And when you push yourself to the limit, you can also display a different level of skill. So, if you keep training, doesn't that mean you could get back into the main lineup, even if it's just as a third-string substitute?"
Lu Ke's words made John fall silent. His smile remained on his face, but his chest was still heaving. How did he end up in this position? Was it because his talent had disappeared? Or because he had stopped trying? Or perhaps the intense competition and the pressure of his father's name had led him to give up in self-defeat? What exactly was he holding on to now?
"I have two more sets of shuttle runs to do. How about it, want to join me?" Lu Ke extended his right hand. "I bet your stamina isn't as good as mine, so I can beat you this time."
"Bullshit." John didn't hesitate, snapping back and grabbing Lu Ke's right hand to pull himself up. "That was just a warm-up for me. Now that I'm warmed up, I can easily leave you in the dust. If you're not afraid of making a fool of yourself, I'll let you lose again."
From that day on, John became Lu Ke's regular training partner. In addition to ball-handling and partner drills, they also completed fundamental exercises like pull-ups, weighted squats, and sit-ups, as well as a 10,000-meter long-distance run. Three days passed in the blink of an eye, and Lu Ke completed his second daily training mission, earning another basic skill point.
Lu Ke hadn't used the skill point from his first mission, so he now had two.
Initially, Lu Ke hoped to address some of his other weaknesses, but he soon realized that as a quarterback, he had far too many shortcomings, all of them failing grades. Two basic skill points were just a drop in the ocean, and he couldn't get strong overnight. So, he decided to put both points into long pass accuracy, raising that stat to 81 points.
Finally, one of Lu Ke's quarterback skills had broken the 80-point mark, moving from mediocre to good. While it was still a long way from the excellent 90-point level, it was a good start.
After completing the second daily training mission, the third one appeared immediately. This time, not only did the training items increase significantly to fifteen, but the number of consecutive training days also changed from three to seven. This left Lu Ke feeling a bit helpless. "This is only the third mission, and it's already seven consecutive days. Will I have to train for a whole year to get one point later on?"
At first, Lu Ke thought that earning basic skill points wasn't difficult and that he just needed to train every day. But now it seemed that this was unrealistic. The true purpose of daily training was to hone fundamental skills, and it required years of consistent effort. It was obviously impossible to become a football superstar just by doing these fundamental drills that lacked technicality and real-world practice.
Daily training missions were not a shortcut but a foundation, which meant that for rapid growth, he would have to rely on competition missions and special missions.
However, since he got the system, there had been no sign of other types of missions, and he hadn't found a way to activate them. Every time he asked Little Seven, the answer was the same: "No permission at this time."
So, Lu Ke temporarily set aside the other missions and diligently focused on the daily training tasks. Each day was tough but also fulfilling. More than the basic skill points, he could feel his tangible progress with every training session. The entire training framework—its methods, pace, and measurements—became clearer. His distant dream began to feel a little more concrete, and the feeling was so wonderful that he found himself becoming addicted. Training gradually became a pleasure, and he couldn't wait to dive into it every day.
"Ding," a sound rang in his mind again. Lu Ke knew that the seven-day daily training mission was complete, and he had earned another basic skill point. Then, a new mission appeared.
He didn't rush to use the point but opened the mission: twenty basic training items, to be completed for seven consecutive days. The difficulty didn't double to ten or fourteen days as Lu Ke had expected; it was still a seven-day cycle. He was pleasantly surprised. "Is it because my foundation is really too terrible to look at, so the system can't bear to see me keep being a loser? Is that it, Little Seven?"
He didn't hear Little Seven's reply, but he heard John's half-joking voice. "Smiling so brightly, did you get hit in the head with a football just now? Did your sanity walk away?"
Lu Ke gave John a speechless look. "I was just fantasizing about your sister." This retort, which only men would understand, was overheard by others nearby. They all started to cheer and jeer. John opened his mouth but found that the noise was so loud he had no chance to speak. In the end, he could only shake his head helplessly and laugh.
"Hurry up, everyone, pick up the pace!" Anthony's voice boomed through the loudspeaker. "We're not here on vacation; this is a training camp, a training camp! There are only five days left until the NCAA league. Everyone, gather up!" Amidst the shouts, everyone temporarily stopped their chatter and began to speed up.
The NCAA, or National Collegiate Athletic Association, is an organization of more than a thousand four-year American and Canadian universities. Its primary purpose is to host various sports leagues. Before entering a professional league, NCAA games are the best platform for college students to showcase their skills. Scouts are scattered everywhere, watching NCAA league games and selecting the professional players their teams need.
The NCAA is one of the most important events for American college students outside of academics, and its influence is even greater than professional soccer leagues, which are not as popular in the United States. Major television networks also broadcast NCAA games. The NCAA is divided into three levels and dozens of leagues, featuring football, baseball, hockey, basketball, track and field, gymnastics, wrestling, and many other sports.
In the NCAA football league, there are six top-tier conference leagues, and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a member of the Pacific-12 Conference.
As the name suggests, this conference has twelve teams that will play twelve games over four months to determine the league rankings and compete for the ultimate championship, the Rose Bowl.
This year's Pac-12 season officially kicked off last week. The opening game was between the University of Southern California and the University of Hawaii, with the former taking the win. This week, games are set to begin in earnest, and UCLA will face Stanford University in its first game.
The first game of the season is always the most important, especially when the opponent is a rival. Just as in soccer, where derbies are the most passionate games—city derbies and national derbies—the same is true in the NCAA. UCLA's national derby opponent is Stanford, and its city derby opponent is USC. They are arch-enemies who would love to tear each other apart, and every game is explosive.
This year was no exception.
To focus and give their all for the game, the team, led by their coach, left the noisy campus environment and went to a training camp in the suburbs. They tried to eliminate all potential distractions and fully dedicate themselves to the final preparations. After three days of training, the new season would officially begin.
John and Lu Ke tossed their footballs back into the cart. John asked in a low voice, "Do you think we have a chance to make the roster?" The roster included the third-string substitutes. But as long as you made the roster, you had a chance.
"The roster? Ha, you should know when to daydream." Kevin Price walked over and threw a football like he was shooting a basketball, but he missed, and it fell to the side. He didn't even look at it and just turned and walked away.
John didn't care and shot back, "Some people don't even have dreams, and that's the truly pathetic thing."
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