Chapter 26 - Sports Game Players

Chapter 26 – Sports Game Players

In E-Sports, there were three divisions for all the sports games. They were the Under the 20s (U20s), Under 25s (U25s), and Under 30s (U30s) division. Just as the name suggested, the divisions were based on the age of the players. Also, the divisions were separated between males and females too.

Under 20s division was comprised of players from the age of 19 to 20. The Under 25s division was for players of age 21 to 25 and the Under 30s division was for players age between 26 to 30.

A company was allowed to have up to 3 teams maximum per division. In other words, there were three teams in Under 20s, 25s, and 30s.

However, only big companies such as Thunder Tiger and Golden Eagle would use all three slots. For smaller companies or private teams, they would usually have only one team.

There was one more team where it was not restricted to age and it was called the Major team. The Major team was not included in any of the three divisions. It was an open team where players of any age were allowed to form a team.

For big companies such as the Thunder Tiger Company, they would choose the players among the three divisions to join the Major team. The Major team was the most coveted position any players wanted to join because it was a team of the best of the best.

Moreover, any competition involving the Major Team would be one of the most exciting and thrilling competition because only the best players were usually on this team.

For Thunder Tiger's dodgeball team, there were ten teams where nine of them were from the three divisions while the last one was the Major Team. Everyone who was chosen to join these teams was called the Main Players while the leftover was the Reserve Players.

The teams would usually be named A, B, C, and thus, there was the U20s Team A, Team B, and Team C. The same with the U25s and U30s.

Main Players would usually be the ones representing the company in all the competitions while the Reserve Players would only get to join if any of the Main Players were sick or unavailable.

In dodgeball, a team consisted of five players and thus, there were about 45 Main Players in the Dodgeball Department. As for the Reserve Players, the company took about twenty players for each division, and thus, there were about 60 Reserve Players in the department.

The 30 Reserve Players stood in front of Daisy and the three coaches from Team 2, Team 3, and Team 4. As for the other staff including Berry, they stood at the back of the room spectating what was happening.

"Hello everyone. Welcome back to the old members and welcome to Thunder Tiger for new members," Daisy started her speech.

*CLAP* *CLAP*

Everyone started clapping and Daisy gestured for them to stop.

"Old members should know the rules and drill by now. As for new members, you should have read the document we sent by email," Daisy spoke.

Then Daisy continued talking about the rules. The most basic rules like no harassment, violence, and many other normal things. Other than that, she also explained to them how they would be able to become Main Players.

Similar to all other E-Sports companies, if they showed good results while playing the games and was doing better than the Main Players, they would be able to grab a spot in the Main Team. As for the original Players occupying that spot, he or she would get demoted to the Reserve Players.

After that, Daisy explained their schedule.

"You will start your day at 8 am and end at 8 pm. In the morning, you will be going through physical training as everyone should know that your physical condition affects your base stats in the game," Daisy spoke.

"After that, you will have a normal dodgeball practice. In the afternoon until 8 pm, you will be playing Dodgeball Master. After that, you can do whatever you want," Daisy spoke.

Since all of them had read the document emailed by the staff, they already knew about it and had no questions. Then, Daisy introduced the coaches from Team 2, Team 3, and Team 4.

After that, Daisy announced to them the team that would be helping and managing them. Team 2 would be managing the U30s Reserve Players, Team 3 with the U25s, and Team 4 which Berry was in was responsible for the U20s Reserve Players.

"Well then, I have explained everything. Coaches can take your team and start today's schedule," Daisy spoke to Kenny and the other two coaches. The coaches nodded and took their Reserve Players to a different location to start training.

Kenny, the Team 4 staff, and U20s Reserve Players went outside the Sports Centre building to the track and field court.

"Berry, follow us. We don't need to stay with them all the time. For now, the coaches are enough to oversee everything. We need to prepare drinks, towels, and training equipment for them," a Senior Assistant from Team 4 ordered Berry to follow him.

Berry and the other assistants in the team left to prepare the equipment, drinks, and other kinds of stuff for the Reserve Players. While walking around at the Sports Centre, Berry could see that everyone was busy.

For Players who played common fantasy games, they did some fitness training to keep themselves healthy but not at the same level as those who played sports games.

For Players who played sports games, all of them did physical training to assist them in the sports game they chose to play.

The training they did was the athlete style training because, in a way, they were real athletes. The only difference was that they did not play real sports but virtual ones.

Many real athletes failed to show results in the real sports that they became E-Sports players. Due to their love for the specific sports, they gave their enthusiasm virtually.

The athletes did not need to worry about losing their fitness because the sports games took the players' fitness seriously. So, the athletes would be able to keep their body fit although they were playing video games.

While Berry was staring at the Players who were training, his senior noticed his stare. He smiled and nudged Berry's arm.

"Jealous?" Berry's senior asked.

"Hmm? Where is that coming from?" Berry was confused.

"You can train with them if you accept Sister Daisy's offer," Berry's senior replied.

"I am not jealous at them training," Berry smiled and he continued, "They all look serious while training and this is only the first day."

"They are athletes and that is the mindset an athlete needs. They need to work hard if they want to show results," the senior replied.

"Although they are E-Sports athletes and all they need is lie inside the VR Capsule, they need to keep their body at the best possible condition so that their base stats in the game do not decrease," the senior explained.

"Against an opponent of the lower level is fine but against someone of the same level or higher level, the base stats play a role," the senior spoke, and Berry nodded.

Berry had been fighting in the battle facility three times. Two of his opponents were higher level and one was lower level. Thanks to his high base stats, Berry could win against the high-level opponent but he loses to another one because they had almost the same base stats.

"This scene is quite a fresh view. When people talk about gamers, the normal view is that they are unhealthy, lazy, dirty and all the bad things," Berry spoke while staring at the Players who was training hard.

"Many gamers have a bad attitude too. Shouting and cursing while playing games and they bring that attitude to the real world too," Berry added.

"However, what I see now is different than all the things that I have seen and witness. They are hardworking, keeping a healthy life, as for dirty… I cannot judge anything from this scene. Being dirty is more of a private matter but if they become dirty because of exercising, that is not dirty," Berry smiled.

"Hahaha," Berry's senior laughed. "Well, this scene is indeed refreshing but this only happens to Players who play a sports game. Those that play the usual fantasy RPG games are just like what you describe," the senior added.

"At the office, it is clean because the cleaners do their job but at their home, tch, tch, tch," the senior shook his head. "Even so, not all of them are like that but most are."

"As for bad attitude, Sister Daisy had said to you guys on the first day. No matter the sports game or fantasy games, there are many with bad attitudes. That depends on the person and not the game they play," the senior added.

"Still, you will find fewer Players with a bad attitude in sports games especially among the ex-athletes because they are discipline since they were an athlete. For those that are not an athlete before, the percentage is around the same as fantasy games' Players," the senior spoke.

Berry and the senior continued talking and walking while carrying stuff for the Reserve Players. While both of them were doing their jobs, a voice was heard from behind them.

"Berry?" A male voice was heard calling Berry's name. Berry and the senior looked behind them and saw two people were there. A girl and a boy.

Berry saw the boy and he was silent for a few seconds before he spoke, "Vincent."