NOVEL NEXT Chapter 24
Three days had passed since Choi Gi-hyun, who had been abandoned at Dortmund Airport, found his way to the Dortmund Stadium all by himself.
As the fatigue accumulated from the long flight started to wear off, I made my way to the designated hospital for a medical test as instructed by Dortmund.
You might wonder why there was even a medical test if I wasn’t transferring clubs, but just to prevent any unforeseen accidents, youth players undergo medical tests every two years.
By the way, I also had a medical test when I entered Geumsun High School’s soccer team. Geumsun High typically arranges for medical tests through a hospital that the chairman is familiar with. I wonder how other schools manage that.
“Jinho! Hurry up!”
Anyway, when I arrived at the Dortmund Medical Center, the scout Jörg Frey, who had insisted on bringing me to Dortmund after watching my game, greeted me with a smile and offered his hand.
“Guten Tag.”
I shook Jörg Frey’s hand, greeting him in German as I had learned from my German tutor.
“Guten Tag.”
After my awkward pronunciation, a smooth pronunciation followed from a native speaker.
‘…Hmm. Almost similar.’
Well, it didn’t matter if it wasn’t similar.
As long as he understood what I said, that was enough. After all, language is just a means of communication and a kind of agreement, right?
If a German understood my German, there was no problem.
“Come this way; the first thing we need to do is a blood test.”
Following scout Jörg Frey, the real medical test began. Blood tests, ECG tests, height and weight checks, X-ray and pressure tests, hearing, vision, nerve tests, countless medical tests were conducted.
“Height 176.3 cm, weight 72 kg. That’s 0.8 cm taller than the record sent by the football association.”
“If you grow too tall, your agility and endurance will decrease; how much more do you think you’ll grow?”
“Looking at the growth plates, it seems you could grow up to 182 cm.”
“Hmm…. With that height, the load on your legs shouldn’t be too much.”
“Oh, you don’t need to worry about injuries. The muscles are excellently protecting the knee ligaments, and their condition is good. The muscles are very flexible, so the risk of injury is significantly low.”
“What about your aerobic endurance?”
“It’s excellent. You’re fit enough to play in a match right now.”
As each result from the medical test was announced, the Dortmund officials began to chatter excitedly.
‘Hehe…’
I smiled at the sight.
I felt a sense of reward for all the training I had done.
Perhaps it was because I created a training system based on the advanced sports science developed in the future right after my regression. Even though my growth wasn’t finished yet, I felt that my body was already at a level comparable to my prime.
‘By the way, they say they have no money, but their facilities are nice.’
As I turned my head, looking around, Jörg Frey approached me.
“Jinho! The Bundesliga opening match is tomorrow. Are you thinking of coming to watch the game?”
It felt a bit excessive for a mere youth player.
But it wasn’t a burden. They were treating me well because I was capable; if I had no talent, I would have been ignored. Knowing that society is cold, I boldly made a request.
“Could you give me three tickets? I have some people I want to watch it with.”
If I’m going to receive them, I may as well get them for my mother-in-law and Gyeouri too.
Gi-hyun Choi?
That guy has been swamped with writing reports lately.
“Of course. I’ll bring you the tickets; just wait a moment.”
A short while later, I received the tickets from Jörg Frey and hummed my way home.
***
August 23, 2010.
The opening match between Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen took place at Signal Iduna Park.
I came to watch the game with Gyeouri.
My mother-in-law was busy arranging furniture at home, so we decided to watch together next time.
“Heja BVB, Heja BVB, Heja, Heja, Heja BVB.”
Before the game started, the stadium resonated with Dortmund’s cheers.
We stared blankly at the fans enthusiastically singing the cheers.
Although I knew the ticket prices for Dortmund were cheap, I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by the 80,000 fans packed into the stadium.
“Heja BVB, Heja BVB, Heja, Heja, Heja BVB.”
To be honest, seeing the supporters, it was hard to believe that this team was in a financial crisis.
‘So that’s why they say the city of Dortmund is BVB itself.’
As the players entered the stadium.
In the south stand, known in German as the Südtribüne, Dortmund fans displayed a stunning card section.
The Südkurve is entirely standing room and can hold 25,000 spectators, and the passion pouring from the fans here makes Signal Iduna Park known as the hellish away ground.
“Wow….”
Gyeouri gasped at the synchronized card section of 25,000 fans.
…Thump.
Well, my reaction wasn’t all that different from Gyeouri’s. The moment I saw the Südtribüne, I wanted to jump onto the field and play right then and there.
Anyway, perhaps it was the fiery passion of the crowd.
The stadium felt heated.
And….
“Booooooo─!!”
After losing to Leverkusen 2:0 in our home game.
“Jinho! Is there a fire over there? What should we do?”
“Calm down; it’s not fire, it’s just the flames of anger.”
Signal Iduna Park had truly heated up.
***
“I’m off.”
“Be careful!”
“Bring back something nice!”
The day after Dortmund lost in the opening match, I left home, waved off by Gyeouri and my mother-in-law.
From today, my soccer study abroad officially began. Originally, I was supposed to join after passing the medical test yesterday, but the Dortmund U19 team had a youth match the other day, so my joining was postponed.
“Guten Morgen.”
I greeted the German man managing the training ground as I entered.
“Guten Morgen.”
The training ground manager replied with a smile on his face. Perhaps it made him proud to see a young Asian trying hard to speak German.
I looked around the Dortmund Brakel Training Center.
This place has training fields for the first team as well as for U-9 kids.
The reason for gathering all the training fields in one place seems to be to motivate the promising players.
‘Maybe it’s also for easier management.’
By the way, unlike Korea, the kids training here had bright expressions. The kids were truly enjoying soccer.
While it could also be due to the diverse games that kept the training from getting boring.
The training methods themselves were different between Korea and Germany. Korea typically trains 2 to 3 times more than Germany.
In Dortmund, or rather in Germany, youth teams train 2-3 times a week for U12 and 3-4 times for U15.
In contrast, in Korea, they usually train 5 to 6 days a week from a young age, and if there are no matches, training can go up to 7 days.
While Dortmund focuses on nurturing youth, the South Korean football teams need to produce results, leading to such differences.
Because of that, many promising youth players in Korean football end up on the operating table by the time they debut as professionals due to overtraining.
It’s a bit of a bittersweet reality.
Well… Anyway.
“A new friend has arrived from faraway South Korea. Let’s all welcome him.”
I was now part of the Borussia Dortmund Youth U-19 team. Although by age, many were part of the U-17 team, it was just a natural promotion as always.
“Nice to meet you.”
After a simple introduction, the real training began.
We all did the warm-up together.
“Jinho! You’re over here!”
Afterward, we split into three groups to focus on individual player training.
Hmm…. Well, the training itself wasn’t bad.
It was similar to the training I had done before.
“Jinho!”
As soon as I received the ball handed to me by the coach, I passed it to the other side.
Seeing the German players’ astonished expressions at the perfectly placed ball made me chuckle.
***
‘That guy shouldn’t be on this level, no matter how I think about it.’
Hannes Wolf, the coach of Dortmund’s U19 team, keenly observed Son Jinho, who was participating in the training.
He had expected some awkwardness on the first training day, but Son Jinho seamlessly blended in with the other players, laughing and chatting as he adapted to the field.
Even with the language barrier, he was communicating through gestures.
‘Hmm. I thought he would need a bit of an adjustment period, but at this rate, he could definitely play in this Sunday’s match.’
Watching Son Jinho effortlessly lead conversations with gestures and movements, Hannes Wolf nodded in approval.