Rebound: A 2nd Chance

As the van pulled up to the front of the hotel Jason saw a familiar face step out. It was the same driver that had picked them up from the airport.

Jason waved hello to the driver "Morning Mr. Holland. It's real cold out first thing in the morning huh?"

He smiled as he walked over to Jason. The two of them shook hands "Good morning Jason. I told you last night that you didn't need to be so formal with me.

You can just call me Rob. Hahaha I forgot that you and your friends are from California. This might be cold for you but this is perfectly normal for New York."

Rob then proceeded to put all of the boys' sports bags into the trunk of the van before instructing them to board.

As the boys got on the van it was as though there was a unspoken agreement between them as Jason and his group occupied the seats on the right while Monty and the other boys from Texas took the seats on the left side.

Mojo and Mike seemed to be the only ones that didn't have a problem with sitting next to the boys from Jason's group.

The drive to the training facility was filled with thirty minutes of awkward silence. Rob occasionally took a peak at the back with the rear-view mirror.

Monty and his guys all had serious expressions on their face. While Kyle, Danilo, Alex, and 3D both seemed a little tense.

Rudy was on his phone watching some anime using his earbuds and Jason was actually sleeping. He had his arms pulled into the inside of his hoodie so the sleeves were empty as his head leaned to the side.

'..... I guess my parents were right. The new generation of kids are always different than the last. Well at least some of them seem nice. That Jason kid was pretty polite.'

After a rather awkward and silent thirty minutes of driving Rob smiled "Here we are guys. I introduce to you the Nike Sport's Science and Training Center."

Kyle shook Jason awake "Bro we're here!" Jason woke up and rubbed his eyes for a bit before looking out the window.

"Wow" Jason looked on in amazement. The building had a very modern architecture that almost made it look like a piece of art.

The top had a soft inward curve with both sides connecting to tall towers that looked to be at least twenty floors high.

The buildings themselves were a dark matted gunmetal like color with the iconic orange logo hanging in front of the center building. 

Rob drove the van to the front of the building before parking. He turned around to the boys and smiled "Good luck on your first day of training boys."

The boys got out of the van and got their sports bags out of the trunk. As they were doing that someone came out from the building and walked toward them.

Jason was still in the middle of pulling his sports bag out of the trunk of the van when he heard a familiar bright and bubbly voice.

"Good morning everybody! First things first thank you for accepting Nike's invite to our annual Summer training camp for middle school level athletes."

Jason paused 'It can't be.' The bright and bubbly voice continued "My name is Brianna Mason but you can all call me Brie just like the cheese hahaha.

I'll be one of the trainers in charge of your training during yours stay here! I'm also in charge of giving you guys a quick tour of the facility so feel free to ask if you have any questions."

Jason picked up his sports bag and tried to keep a low profile. 'I can't believe that it's actually her. What the hell is she doing here?

There's no way she would recognize me right? I didn't even spend a whole day training with her. I spent most of my time during Kawhi's camp training with the 16 and up group.'

Unfortunately for Jason she did recognize him. As he was trying to stay in the back of the group Brie looked in his direction.

She paused for a second as though she were combing through her memories to confirm something. A split second later her already bright smile got even brighter "Is that you Jason!?"

Jason froze for a moment before lifting his head up. He looked at Brie and gave her a nod "Hey Brie."

She ran over and pulled Jason into a tight hug "Look at you! Last time I saw you we were around the same height. You're so big now!"

Jason was now 5'7 (1.7m) so he was about two inches (5.08cm) taller than her now. She looked up at him with her usual bright smile.

"You probably don't know this but after your performance at Kawhi's training camp you turned a lot of the trainers and the other staff into your fans.

We even made a group chat so that we could keep up with each other and talk about everything you do. Here take a look."

She pulled out her phone and passed it to Jason. He took a look at the group chat. It was made right after the end of Kawhi's training camp.

There were over twenty people in the group chat. Jason recognized a few names like Brie, Patricia, and Ben.

They had conversations about the county tournament, about Jason's performance at the state tournament, as well as his unfortunate injury.

Jason passed the phone back to Brie "Wow thanks Brie. I didn't know you guys were following me so closely."

Brie smiled as she took her phone back from Jason "Of course we followed you. You showed us the highest work ethic that any of us had ever seen.

And that's saying a lot considering that we've worked with high level prospects and professional athletes. We couldn't help but want to cheer you on."

After hearing that Jason felt a tiny bit inclined to reciprocate some of the kindness and friendliness that Brie showed.

He patted her on the back as he lightly hugged her back "Uh- thanks Brie. It's nice to see you too but uh- do you think we could get back to the tour?"

She let go of Jason and turned back to the other boys "Sorry about that. I was just a little surprised at seeing a familiar face.

I don't have a non compete agreement with Nike so I took on a side job at Kawhi Leonard's training camp where I met Jason.

Anyways, that was a fun surprise but it's time to get back to the tour. Follow me gentlemen and I will give you a quick look around the facility."

Jason followed the rest of the group as Brie lead them into the Nike building. As soon as they stepped through the doors a faint sense of excitement began to spread amongst the boys.

A few men with cameras were there to greet them as they pointed their cameras at them. Danilo asked "Who are these guys?"

Brie smiled as she answered "If this is your first time here you might be surprised by a few things. Included in the package that was given to you along with your invitation was a pamphlet.

In the pamphlet it tells you that during the duration of the training camp you would be filmed. This has many uses for your personalized training but the film also serves another purpose.

We release a short documentary every year about the young athletes and their experiences at our training facility.

We will also use some of the material for advertisement purposes. So don't be surprised if you see yourself on TV."

Alex nudged Danilo in the side with his elbow before whispering "I thought you said that you read the pamphlet?"

Danilo scratched the back of his head before letting out a chuckle " I did read it.... I just forgot about that part."

The boys continued their tour around the facility with Brie as the cameramen followed them. They visited the cafeteria where they would be eating their lunch if they so chose to do so.

They then went to the courts that were designated specifically for their use. Next was the weight room with all of their advanced workout equipment.

And then they visited the recovery center. In this room were all sorts of different pieces of equipment ranging from tables for deep tissue massages to cryotherapy champers that were worth millions of dollars.

After seeing all these new and impressive things Danilo couldn't contain his excitement any longer "Excuse me Brie! How much longer will this tour be?"

Brie smiled "Actually that was the end of the tour. The Recovery Center was the list item on the list of things I had to show you."

Danilo pumped his fist in excitement "Yes! Does that mean we can start the training now? What are we going to start with?"

Brie responded "You're right on the money young man. We can officially start your training now." Danilo, Alex, and Kyle were all excited when they heard Brie say that.

However their excitement died down after they heard the rest of what she had to say "And the first step in your training will be to get your data taken by one of our lovely researchers."