Sports Medicine Master System

Chapter 349 - 290: This Kid is Incredible

Little Worm Boggs, as the shortest player in the league’s history, definitely left a significant mark on the NBA.

He rose to fame with the Wasp and was a teammate of Old Curry for many years, so it was perfectly normal for Little Curry to see him as an idol.

Perhaps it was a case of misery loving company?

So then, what about Jason Williams? What did the little guy see in him?

Chen Yu tried to recall Jason Williams’s playing style. He vaguely remembered how the media described him: "When one man passes, nine men panic." This referred to how his passes were so wildly imaginative that even his own teammates were afraid.

Hardaway was known for his slick, unconventional passes, but compared to Jason Williams, he was child’s play.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Chen Yu saw Little Curry was still staring at him. "So, you see your future self as a point guard who excels at playmaking and passing?" he asked.

Little Curry thought about it seriously, then nodded.

Chen Yu considered this for a moment, then suddenly grabbed Little Curry’s right hand and placed the boy’s index finger on his own nose.

Then, he raised his own right index finger. "When I say ’one,’ tap your finger to mine, then quickly put it back on your nose."

Chen Yu planned to put Little Curry through a series of professional tests.

Only by first understanding his physical condition, identifying his strengths and weaknesses, could he develop a targeted training plan for improvement.

Since he wanted to develop as a point guard, agility and hand-eye coordination were fundamental.

This finger-to-nose test was a very basic evaluation method.

"Did you understand?" Chen Yu asked.

Little Curry nodded, his finger on the tip of his nose, his eyes fixed on Chen Yu.

Chen Yu held out his finger and called out, "One." The boy hesitated for a second before reaching out and tapping Chen Yu’s finger.

Chen Yu raised an eyebrow slightly. The accuracy was decent, but his reaction was a bit slow, probably because he was just starting and wasn’t familiar with it.

"One."

Chen Yu continued to call out the command.

His own finger wasn’t in a fixed position, so the boy had to hear the command, visually locate the target, and then precisely tap it.

After just a few rounds, Chen Yu discovered that Little Curry’s reactions were very quick.

Chen Yu increased the speed.

Surprisingly, the little guy could still keep up.

"Stop," Chen Yu said, halting Little Curry. He looked at the boy with some surprise.

The test just now wasn’t difficult, but to complete every step with precision at a high speed wasn’t easy either.

As the saying goes, haste makes waste. Many ordinary people lack sufficient coordination; once the speed picks up, they get flustered and make mistakes.

But the little guy was different. He had a robotic quality to him, as if he’d been programmed and was just repeatedly executing the commands.

This indicated that his reaction time and hand-eye coordination were both excellent.

Chen Yu turned to get a basketball and had Little Curry start dribbling. Then he explained that when he gave a command, like "left," the boy had to do the opposite and dribble to the right.

This kind of test was an excellent way to evaluate neural response, judgment, and processing ability.

"Left."

Little Curry instinctively moved right, paused, then pulled back. Because he was so focused on the command, he forgot to dribble and almost lost control of the ball.

"Sorry," Little Curry said, hugging the ball.

Chen Yu waved his hand, signaling him to continue.

But after several more tries, he still couldn’t do it.

Just then, Chen Yu’s pager went off. There was an issue with a patient.

"How about this: go home and practice on your own. Have your little brother practice with you," Chen Yu said casually. He knew the boy had a younger brother and sister, and that his brother, two years younger, often trained and played ball with him.

With that, he walked away quickly.

An hour had passed by the time he finished with the patient. Chen Yu returned to the rehabilitation center.

He found that Little Curry hadn’t left yet.

"Dr. Chen, I can do it now!" Little Curry shouted excitedly upon seeing Chen Yu. He then pulled Nelson over and asked him to give the commands.

Nelson said, "Left."

Curry instantly dribbled to the right.

"Behind."

Curry immediately moved forward, his movements almost completely fluid.

A little surprised, Chen Yu walked over.

’He mastered it in just an hour?’

Walking over, Chen Yu gave a few commands himself and found that Little Curry could indeed execute them perfectly.

Most importantly, the ball in his hand was being dribbled steadily, without much fluctuation.

"I’m going to increase the difficulty. I’ll add the four diagonal directions," Chen Yu said after a moment of thought.

Little Curry nodded excitedly.

"Front left."

As soon as the command was given, Little Curry reacted just as quickly, moving to the back right.

After a few tries, he could complete them all perfectly.

Chen Yu’s eyebrow twitched. ’This kid is something else.’

"Chen, this kid’s reactions are really fast. And more importantly, his coordination is excellent," Nelson stepped forward and said softly.

Chen Yu nodded, thought for a moment, and turned to find a baseball.

"Dribble with your right hand, and catch the baseball with your left," Chen Yu said.

Little Curry nodded, his eyes glued to Chen Yu’s hand.

Chen Yu tossed the baseball.

For a brief moment, Little Curry was in a fluster and failed to catch the baseball.

"Again," he said, a hint of defiance in his voice.

Chen Yu tossed the baseball again. Without stopping his right-hand dribble, the boy snatched the ball out of the air with his left, catching it perfectly.

"I did it!" Little Curry exclaimed, jumping high into the air with excitement.

Chen Yu and Nelson exchanged a glance, seeing the shock in each other’s eyes.

’This kid is incredible!’

A test like that is a huge trial of a person’s hand-eye coordination, a critical ability for any skill-based sport.

Some people have fast reactions, but their limbs aren’t coordinated. Their mind keeps up, but their body can’t.

Of course, this ability can be improved with long-term training. But for Little Curry to accomplish it so quickly without any prior training could only be described as natural talent.

"Again." Chen Yu picked up the baseball and continued the test.

This time, he didn’t just toss the baseball near him but expanded the range, forcing the boy to dribble and move his body to make the catch.

After two tries, he could still complete it perfectly.

"Dr. Chen, did you see that? I can do it! Is there anything harder?" Little Curry asked excitedly.

Chen Yu smiled. ’Don’t get cocky, kid. This is just basic training.’

"Alright. Next, you have to do a between-the-legs dribble and then catch the baseball with your freed-up right hand," Chen Yu said, leveling up the difficulty again.

Unexpectedly, Little Curry was completely in the zone. He executed a skillful between-the-legs dribble and precisely snatched the baseball out of the air with his right hand.

Beside them, Nelson sucked in a sharp breath, unable to hide the astonishment in his eyes.

These tests, or rather, training drills, were actually the same agility and coordination exercises used in the sports lab for top-tier point guards like J Kidd and Hardaway.

Although these were just the initial, more basic versions, even a top point guard with a great feel for the ball like J Kidd would need some time to adapt to complete them. Yet Little Curry could do it with almost no practice. It could only be called true talent.

"Switch to catching with your left hand," Chen Yu immediately said, increasing the difficulty.

It only took Little Curry two tries to catch the baseball.

This showed that the coordination between his left and right hands was about the same.

"I’m increasing the difficulty again," Chen Yu said.

Little Curry nodded with a serious expression.

Chen Yu said, "Next, I’m going to add verbal commands—still the opposite commands—and after you move, you’ll also need to catch the ball."

With that, he gave the command and tossed the baseball.

This time, Little Curry started to get flustered.

Chen Yu said "Forward," and he instinctively moved forward, then failed to get a clean catch with his left hand.

"Again," Little Curry said, still defiant.

He tried again, and failed again.

He moved in the right direction, but his left hand was too slow, and he missed the baseball.

He tried two more times and still failed.

It seemed this had finally stumped him.

If the previous drills were about multitasking between two things, this one required him to focus on three. It incorporated auditory processing and mental judgment, demanding multiple faculties at once and increasing the difficulty severalfold.

"Dr. Chen, I think I can do it," Little Curry said, wanting to continue.

Chen Yu ruffled his hair and smiled. "That’s enough for today. If you want to practice, have your little brother help you at home."

Little Curry nodded. "Then I’ll find you again tomorrow and show you the results of my training."

Tomorrow was Sunday.

"Okay," Chen Yu agreed with a nod.

Only then did Little Curry put on his backpack and say goodbye to Nelson and the others, showing he was very polite.

Just then, Mookie Blaylock, who was working out in the equipment area nearby, suddenly called out, "Chen, that kid is amazing."

He had watched the whole thing and had seen Little Curry’s adaptability firsthand.

Known as "The Thief" for his skill in steals and his lightning-fast reactions, even he wouldn’t dare claim he could complete Chen Yu’s training tests with 100% consistency.

Chen Yu nodded in agreement and said to Nelson, "Later, you guys should discuss this and come up with a testing protocol to properly evaluate his abilities."

Old Curry had paid a lot of money, so they definitely had to take this seriously.

Nelson nodded and made a note, but couldn’t help adding, "His talent for coordination, reaction time, and so on is excellent. If he really doesn’t grow much taller in the future, he could actually practice other skill-based sports."

Basketball is a skill-based sport, of course, but height is a barrier that holds many people back.

Therefore, more suitable skill-based sports would be things like tennis, golf, or baseball.

"We’ll see. Once all the tests are done, I’ll talk to Dale," Chen Yu said, not jumping to any conclusions.

The next day, Chen Yu arrived at the clinic early. Just as he parked the car, a head popped up next to the window, startling both him and Lexi.

"Stephen, what are you doing here so early?" Chen Yu asked in confusion as he got out of the car.

Not far away, Little Curry’s mother, Sonia, rolled down her car window, waved at Chen Yu and Lexi, and then drove off.

She must have been the one who dropped Little Curry off.

With him was his younger brother, Seth Curry, who had a rounder face and a buzz cut.

"Dr. Chen, I can do yesterday’s drill now," Little Curry said excitedly, pulling his brother over to demonstrate.

Chen Yu didn’t stop them and stood to the side to watch.

Little Curry started dribbling while his brother, Seth, gave the commands.

Left.

Little Curry immediately moved to the right, then steadily reached out and caught the baseball his brother threw.

"See? I can do it," Little Curry shouted excitedly.

Chen Yu began to applaud.

Beside him, Lexi whispered, "Chen, are you really putting a kid through something so difficult?"

In her eyes, it seemed like an impossible task.

"What do you mean ’difficult’? This is training," Chen Yu shot her a glance.

But he had to admit, the kid was truly amazing. ’He figured it out in just one day?’

Chen Yu walked up, first giving the two brothers a celebratory high-five, then said, "In a little while, go find Uncle Nelson. He’ll tell you today’s training plan. If I have time this afternoon, I’ll come check on your progress."

He watched the two of them run off, playfully chasing each other, and stood there thinking for a moment before looking away.

’If this kid doesn’t end up growing tall, taking up table tennis or golf would be a great choice for him.’