Chapter 191: Teach You A Lesson First
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Before contests, the national team always held training camps to prepare.
In the beginning of these training camps, many athletes and coaches would be recruited. The training camp had several phases. As training moved on, after each phase was completed, a large number of people would be eliminated. Only a few people would remain on the team to represent the national team for the Asian Games. Each event had one to three participants.
Dai Li was not the only coach being called up from the Hanbei Provincial Athletics Team. Besides Dai Li, there was another coach. Meanwhile, two athletes from the team were also called up to attend the training camp.
In the office, Li Xue held a list of names. He told Dai Li, "The first phase of our training states that national team coaches are responsible for general training outlines, while coaches from provincial teams carry out everyday tasks. In principle, coaches will be paired up with athletes who they are familiar with. Of the two athletes from the Hanbei Provincial Athletic Team, one is a middle-distance runner, and the other is a discus player. Neither of them have anything to do with your speciality. But I have another two athletes for you. The first one is Yue Zhao. You recommended him, so you are in charge of his training. Do you have any problems with that?"
"No problems," Dai Li immediately replied.
"Moreover, Sijie Yang and Guohong Niu are both your trainees. I thought it over for a while, and here is my decision: Guohong Niu will belong to you. As for Sijie Yang, the son of Academician Lin Yang, he is talented. I will take care of him myself," said Li Xue.
Sijie Yang was a genius, and would surely be given special attention on the national team. Li Xue was worried about wasting Sijie Yang's talent, so he decided to train Yang himself.
Li Xue continued, "As for Guohong Niu, I don't have much to say. Let me set a goal for you: help him become an alternate for this Asian Games."
"I will try my best," Dai Li nodded. He knew it would be hard to accomplish.
Guohong Niu had good talent and fine grades, but he needed to work harder if he wanted to represent the national team in the Asian Games. Only three participants were allowed to take part in the 100m sprint, and the national team had a plethora of talent. Everyone was giving it their all to be admitted.
Guohong Niu had just come to the national team. Compared to the best athletes on the team, he had no advantages whatsoever. It would be almost impossible for him to be directly sent through to the contest, and would still be quite challenging for him to be an alternate.
"As for Yue Zhao..." Li Xue paused, then continued, "I won't give you any specific goal. Yue Zhao specializes in the 200m sprint. He is an experienced athlete, and has some knowledge in this event. Hopefully he can stick out from the crowd."
Dai Li could tell that Li Xue did not have much faith in Yue Zhao. In fact, none of the coaches on the national team thought highly of him. Many people believed that in such a fierce environment like the National Team Training Camp, Yue Zhao would for sure be kicked out as soon as the first phase ended.
...
The Asian Games Training Camp started. In the camp, Dai Li saw two old friends: Feixiang Lin and Haiquan Fang.
Feixiang Lin's ability had sustained itself pretty well. Even though he was no longer capable of breaking another world record, he still had world-champion ability. In the last Asian Games, Feixiang Lin had easily won the 110m hurdles championship. This time, he was preparing to win another gold medal.
As for Haiquan Fang, he had stayed in the Beikou Training Center for further training. The Haiquan Fang of today was stronger than he had been, and was more skillful. He had became the trump card of the national team.
To train in the National Team Training Camp was a rare opportunity for an athlete. Even though the majority could not stay until the end, their ability could still increase by a large margin.
...
Why is Dai Li my coach! Yue Zhao stared at the coach-athlete pairing list, sighing with disappointment.
As an athlete, he definitely wanted to be taught by a high-level coach. Moreover, because he had already been on the national team once before, he already knew who was good at coaching.
Dai Li was a young coach, which disappointed Yue Zhao. In Zhao's eyes, Dai Li was almost the same age as him, which meant that at most, Dai Li had the same amount of experience he had. Perhaps Dai Li was even worse than Yue Xhao. Under Dai Li's guidance, he did not expect much help.
However, Yue Zhao had gotten into this camp because of Dai Li's recommendation. Because of this, he showed respect to Dai Li.
On the first day of training, however, Yue Zhao no longer felt that he knew more than Dai Li.
"Yue Zhao, your last run exposed a lot of weak points. Here are some of the major ones." Dai Li listed Yue Zhao's technical flaws with confidence and composure.
Yue Zhao was listening casually, but his face gradually became serious.
Coach Li is right! I do have the flaws he mentioned, Yue Zhao gasped.
My last sprint took no more than 21 seconds, yet Dai Li can see so many weak points. He is such an acute observer! Even the coaches I know may not be able to find as many of my flaws as he did. He is indeed Coach Li Xue's student; he is impressive!
Yue Zhao immediately stopped underestimating Dai Li. Dai Li had hit the nail on the head, and had even pointed out some weak points Yue Zhao had missed. Yue Zhao suddenly felt that Dai Li knew him better than he knew himself.
Dai Li continued, "I just made a tentative training plan; you can take a look. Unless you have a problem with it, we will follow this plan going forward." Dai Li then took out a piece of paper and handed it to Yue Zhao.
He even made a plan! Yue Zhao took the paper and looked at it. The handwriting was very clear. It had obviously been written just now.
This plan is very fitting. It is tailored to my situation! Yue Zhao was astonished.
How could this be possible! I only ran for a short period of time, yet he still picked out my deficiencies in detail, which was amazing in itself. Now he has even made an appropriate plan. How did he make it within such a short time frame?
Had the handwriting had not been fresh, Yue Zhao would have doubted that Dai Li had prepared the plan in advance.
Because of his experience on the national team, he knew a good amount about the coaches on the team. Even the best coaches on the team could not observe his weaknesses and make a detailed training plan so quickly.
Awesome! Yue Zhao said to himself. He used to have only been grateful for Dai Li; now, he was sincerely convinced.
This plan had been premeditated by Dai Li. When Yue Zhao had registered for the National Team Training Camp, Dai Li had detected Zhao, after which he wrote down his flaws. Later, Dai Li studied Zhao's disadvantages, and made a detailed plan based off of them.
Today, Dai Li had only rewritten his original plan, but it had taught Yue Zhao a big lesson.