The physical training primarily started at 7 AM sharp with running, but not ordinary long-distance or slow running. Instead, it involved slow running, then sprinting, then slow running again, then sprinting again… repeating this cycle for half an hour.
After the physical training, there was a half-hour break, followed by basic ball-handling drills, including single-leg crossovers, double crossovers, behind-the-back dribbles, and in-front-of-the-body crossovers… half an hour was enough for these too.
Finally, there was shooting practice. Mitsui Hisashi, considering that he would soon join Shohoku, a very weak basketball team, focused his shooting practice on off-the-dribble shots.
The core goal was to improve the release speed of his off-the-dribble shots, making 300 off-the-dribble mid-range shots and 300 off-the-dribble three-pointers daily. Of course, these were shots taken after improving his release speed.
After improving his release speed, Mitsui Hisashi's shooting percentage would definitely decrease, but Mitsui Hisashi trusted the shooting touch talent of this body.
In the original work, Coach Anzai described Mitsui Hisashi's shooting form as perfect, like a textbook. However, shooting isn't just about perfect form.
In the original work, aside from when the great Inoue gave Mitsui Hisashi a power-up, the normal Mitsui Hisashi was very reliant on open shots for his three-pointers.
This is also why Mitsui Hisashi couldn't step up when he faced Hainan and Ryonan in the original work.
Of course, these shortcomings are common among most three-point shooters, but this makes them very reliant on their off-ball movement and teammates' passing skills.
Mitsui Hisashi was confident he could develop his off-ball movement, but he couldn't do anything about his teammates' passing skills.
Therefore, to be able to unleash three-point barrages at will and step up when the team needed to score, he had to become someone who could shoot off-the-dribble three-pointers.
He also needed to improve his release speed so that he could immediately shoot after creating a little space, without missing due to the defender's timely recovery.
This training plan didn't need to be completed every day. Instead, he would complete it for three consecutive days initially, then rest for one day, allowing his body to adapt to this rhythm.
Once his body adapted, he would increase the continuous training time by one day, meaning four days of training followed by one day of rest, and then continue to let his body adapt to the new training volume.
Once adapted, he would add another day to the continuous training days, but the maximum would be six days. Any more and his body or mind might not be able to handle it.
However, Mitsui Hisashi didn't need to worry about this for now, because once school officially started, he wouldn't have time to continue with this training plan.
By his estimation, in the remaining month of summer vacation, he could at most reach five consecutive days of training followed by one day of rest. That would be his limit… Sometimes, one truly has to lament how fast time flies, especially when you're diligently focused on something. You'll find that time passes ten thousand times faster than when you're bored and idling away.
And as Mitsui Hisashi immersed himself in this daily, all-out training, a month passed in the blink of an eye.
During this time, Mitsui Hisashi discovered that perhaps his golden finger from his transmigration was the basketball talent of this body. Although the visible talents of his body were rather average.
He didn't have enviable static talent, nor drool-worthy dynamic talent, but the invisible talents of this body were truly top-tier: excellent ball feel and an incredible shooting touch.
These soft talents, combined with his previous life's skills, experience, and training methods, made Mitsui Hisashi feel that he had made significant progress in just one month.
Both his physical fitness and ball-handling skills had improved, and what surprised Mitsui most was the improvement in his shooting level.
When Mitsui Hisashi decided to increase his shooting release speed, he was actually prepared for a period of growing pains. However, Mitsui was confident in this body's shooting touch. He just needed to restore his shooting percentage to 80-90% of its original level before the high school league started.
The remaining 10-20% would be improved through game-based training, which would be more effective.
But he didn't expect that even though he had estimated the shooting touch talent of this body as high as possible, he still underestimated it.
In just one month, his shooting percentage today had reached about 80%, already recovering to 90% of its original level.
He glanced at the time, around 3:30 PM. Since his shooting percentage went up, the training content remained the same, but the time spent was much less than when he started.
Initially, Mitsui Hisashi needed at least four hours to complete the training content. But now, he could finish everything in just over three hours. This was a true reflection of his improved shooting level.
Thinking about this, Mitsui Hisashi felt his mood become even more cheerful. Although it was still early, Mitsui Hisashi didn't plan to continue training.
He would reward himself today: first, get a haircut, then go home early to rest. Tomorrow was the first day of school.
Then he would be able to see that Gorilla, and if the plot from the original work held true, there would be a practice game tomorrow, and that Gorilla would come to challenge him.
In the original work, Mitsui Hisashi wanted to shoot three-pointers, but he needed some space to release the shot. When Akagi Takenori played one-on-one against him, Akagi used his massive body to cover him, making it impossible for him to shoot three-pointers.
Frustrated, he tried to use his speed and agility to break through Akagi. However, he had already suffered an injury in the Middle School League and hadn't taken it seriously during the summer vacation, leading to his foot injury still being present after entering high school.
Thus, after a series of continuous changes of direction, his foot injury flared up, and he was directly carried off.
But the current him wouldn't. Not only was his foot injury mistakenly thought by the doctor to be from him performing an 'Invincible Fire Wheel' and was now cured.
Moreover, with his targeted practice during the summer vacation, Akagi trying to defend him with his height and wingspan advantage now would be nothing short of wishful thinking.
Thinking about this, a slight smile involuntarily appeared on Mitsui Hisashi's face. "Akagi, I'm really looking forward to meeting you tomorrow!"
… Around 5 PM, Mitsui Hisashi, after getting his haircut, leisurely rode his bike to his home in this life.
Mitsui Hisashi's family background in this life was still very good. His father was the boss of a listed company, his mother was a housewife, and he was the only child in the family.
This was also why Mitsui, despite being terrible at fighting, still had a group of subordinates.
However, due to his busy work, his father often had to travel for business or came home very late at night, so he rarely had time to discipline Mitsui Hisashi.
As a result, Mitsui Hisashi's education fell to his mother. However, Mitsui Hisashi's mother doted on Mitsui immensely, letting him do whatever he wanted.
This is also why, in the original work, even when Mitsui Hisashi had fallen into being a delinquent, no one forcibly pulled him back.