For today's training session, Norman wanted to see how his team could handle their ball control under intense situations.
A professional footballer wouldn't really have much trouble going through everything he set up, but the point of the exercise wasn't just getting through the set-up without messing up. His goal was to nitpick certain things, namely; how well the players handled the ball before and after going through the monkey bars.
The second thing he was looking for was to see how fast the players would get through the whole thing.
The training session immediately kicked off as soon as the players were done warming up, and as expected, they were going to start with the advanced dribbling drill as the coach described it.
"All right, listen up," Norman called to everyone's attention as he took a step toward Ferran who was standing right in front of him.
The murmuring among the players suddenly came to a halt as the coach slowly scanned the area with his eyes as if to make sure no one was missing. His gaze ended up returning to gaze, this time with a subtle smile on his lips.
"The fastest person to make it across without any blunder can take an early break today." He remarked.
"Is that it?" Minino retorted from the back before quickly making his way up front.
Now staring at the midfielder, a sigh escaped from Norman's lips as he shook his head, the sight of Minino sometimes was enough to cause him headaches.
"What? What do you want, Minino?"
"Well, if you intend to turn this into a competition then I don't think an early break alone is a good enough reward." He stated, his hungry eyes smiling with mischief.
"And what do you want as a reward?" The coach sighed.
"Well, I don't know for the others but I want a day off after our match against Real Sociedad when I win this." Minino shrugged, a cheeky smile now plastered on his face.
"You say when like it's certain you're going to win." Ferran chimed in.
"It couldn't be more certain."
"And why do you want a day off?" Norman asked.
That question wasn't necessary but he was curious to hear his answer.
"Umm...I don't think the answer to that question will do you any good, coach. Besides, I knew you wouldn't approve it if I asked either way which is why I'm going to earn it this way." He articulated.
Hearing his answer, Norman couldn't help but let out a sigh.
"Fine, a day off it is for whoever can make it across the fastest." The coach said before quickly turning his gaze to Minino. "Just make sure you stay away from clubs."
"You wouldn't know even if I go..." The midfielder muttered with a muffled chuckle.
The coach seemed to have caught wind of his words, but the only thing he could do was roll his eyes before he turned around and began to make his way to the other end of the drill set-up, a stopwatch in his right hand.
"I guess I might be able to put a day off to good use," Dave uttered with his hand on his chin. "But Minino looks like he desperately needs it."
"Desperately needs it, my foot," Mateo interjected. "It's obvious he just wants to run off somewhere and squander his time while we train our butts off."
"Mmm, I'm aware of that." The goalkeeper nodded in agreement.
"I, on the other hand, might need it for something important in the future, so I'm going to make sure he doesn't get it; you might also need it." The winger remarked before quickly making his way up front.
With a smug look on his face, he turned to Mateo who was on the other end getting ready to run the course.
"It's best to just give up because nobody's beating that!" He proclaimed, quite arrogantly.
Well, it didn't take long for that smug look to drop off his face just to be replaced by shock.
"That's a minute and one second for Mateo." The coach declared.
The players were all smiles now as they turned to Minino who let out a sigh of defeat before crashing to the floor.
Mateo couldn't hide the cheeky smile on his face as he made his way to the midfielder and sat beside him.
"Looks like you won't be getting that day off; I want to say I'm sorry, but I'm not." He shrugged.
"You didn't have to try that hard, bro." Minino sighed.
"Well, you were the one who said your record was unbeatable, I had to pull out a chunk of reserved strength to prove a point."
Minino's response to that was another sigh before he slowly brought his head down.
"Anyway, congrats on your day off award."
"Umm...don't be so sure about that." Mateo retorted.
"Huh?"
Minino quickly raised his head and looked ahead toward the drill set up to see that Dave was currently the one running the course and was currently on the bars.
The goalkeeper swiftly made his way past the bars in no time before proceeding to quickly get through the cone setups.
Just after getting past the last cone, he sent the ball flying straight toward the goalpost up ahead.
The ball ended up hitting the crossbar before flying over.
He quickly turned to Norman to find him gaping at his watch for a split second before quickly turning to him.
"The surprise today has been endless; that's fifty-nine seconds for Dave."
"Fifty nine...wha...."
Trying to find his words, Minino quickly flipped around to face Dave who currently had a proud smile on his face.
Minino wasn't the only one who was in awe, his teammates were just as stunned.
However, while they were impressed by that incredible feat from the goalkeeper, someone or something thought differently.
[ Quest failed ]
[ Completed drill in less than a minute ]
'Huh? Is this a joke or something?'