
As we head into the Christmas season and the New Year, I find myself ruminating over a troublesome teammate. I'm very concerned that something might be wrong with him and I believe in helping people so some advice on what I could do would be greatly appreciated.
I thought it might just be that he wasn't feeling welcomed in the team, so I did some team building exercises like Kentarou suggested to me and they just got worse. Combined practices with NeNoDa has been helpful but I can't trouble Kentarou all the time, he has his own responsibilities.
He seems to really like lists though, so I will present the facts in one in the hopes that it makes things clear.
Some of the troublesome behaviour I've observed:
1. I noticed his thighs were burning one day, so I offered to put sunscreen on them. Before I could do it though, he yanked my pants and pulled them down in front of the whole team.
2. Sometimes when I'm telling the team what to do next, he stands and throws tennis balls at me.
3. During the training camp, I tried to get him awake extra early for team breakfast. He pretended that he was dead.
4. He regularly assigns himself 100 laps around the university when I suggest doing team building exercises.
5. When Kentarou gave him a mikan during one of our combined training sessions, he took it and did everything he asked. But when I gave him a mikan, he ate it and then went and stared at a wall.
6. One day I suggested we do a puzzle ring to build team spirit and he asked to go drown himself in the shower.
7. I tried to ring his mobile number to check that he was getting home safely one night after a late practice. But instead got connected to a late night adult talk line. So instead I tried following him and got kicked in the face by NeNoDa’s Hirakoba. Hirakoba apologised to me at our next shared practice but Zaizen just stood in the background and stared at me while eating mikans.
8. I tried to have a private conversation with him in the locker room storage closet to find out what was troubling him but he mimed strangling himself with a spare tennis net and refused to talk to me.
I'm extremely concerned, I feel like my teammate may be very troubled. And if there's anything that my old coach Banji taught me, it was to always support everyone and try to help. Does anyone have any advice?
Kentarou, I miss your steady presence and guidance in my life more than ever. And I appreciate your hard work as my captain every day.