Almighty Coach

The news of the second stage of selection immediately made the meeting room tense. Everyone was sitting solemnly and listening carefully in an effort to avoid any missing content.

Li Xue was very satisfied with the coaches’ reaction. He really wanted to be encouraging, but because of his grisly look and his bald head, the coaches did not dare look at him directly.

Li Xue continued, "The track and field training of the national team is divided into the following groups: sprinting, middle-distance running, long-distance running, hurdles, steeplechase, race walking, long jump, high jump, throwing, and all-around. The relay training will be organized before the race by establishing a temporary training group."

"The sprinting group will be divided into two teams: the 100m and 200m race are on team 1, and the 400m race is on team 2. The middle-distance running group will not be re-distributed. The long-distance group will be divided into two teams: the 5000m and 10000m race are on team 1, and the marathon is team 2. The hurdle, steeplechase, race walking, and the all-around groups will not be re-distributed. The long jump group will be divided into two teams as well: the running broad jump team and the triple jump team. The high jump group will also be divided into two teams, the high jump team and the pole-vault team. Finally, the throwing group will be divided into four teams: the shot put team, the discus team, the hammer throw team, and the javelin team."

Once he finished, Li Xue glanced at the coaches, then continued, "Along with my introduction, I want to tell you that in the next two months you will be allocated to different teams to assist in training with the coaches of the national team by participating in the workouts. You may treat the next two months as a period of observation and learning. I hope you listen, watch, and learn earnestly, and think carefully during this period. If you do not understand something, think it over and ask questions! After the two months, the national team will hold a selection examination."

Dai Li realized immediately that the selection examination that would be held must have a strong correlation with the learning and observation that would take place in these next two months.

This reminded Dai Li of his high school years. Before his examination, the teachers would always mark the contents of the textbook that would definitely be on the examination for the students, so that the students could know to review those contents carefully. This training observation, learning, and participation over the next two months would be equivalent to the marking of important knowledge to be tested on the examination.

All the coaches in the meeting room were elites from across the country. None of them were stupid, and everyone there knew that. Although nobody knew the detailed content of the selection examination, everyone had realized that the answers to whatever would be on the examination would be found in whatever they observed and learned in the next two months.

...

The sport event training had always been one of Dai Li’s shortcomings. Even though Dai Li was a college graduate who had majored in athletic training, his knowledge was basically only from textbooks. For the training for different sports, Dai Li only knew the training methods for the most simple events like sprinting, shot put, and the long jump.

However, even for these elementary sports, Dai Li’s professional knowledge was still inadequate compared to that of the national team. The training content and concepts of the national team had been far beyond Dai Li’s understanding. For instance, Dai Li’s knowledge of 100m sprint training that he had learned in university was archaic compared to the training methods of the national team.

The coaches who had once been professional athletes were definitely better than Dai Li in certain sports. For example, the coaches who had been sprinters may have had limited knowledge about training in other events, but they were certainly better than Dai Li when it came to sprint training.

"Better" did not mean better results; it meant better scheduling, better understanding, better pertinence, and better methods. As for results, Dai Li was definitely just as good as most coaches, if not better. This was the advantage the Coaching System gave him.

When Dai Li had been with the Youth Team of the Hanbei Province, he had mainly been engaged in the technique and physical training of the shot put and long-jump team. He had been responsible for basic training.

Young athletes were like unpolished jade. The most important thing in the beginning stages was to lay a solid foundation. The never-ending basic training that was repeated everyday was routine for young athletes.

All basic training was the same for all sports. Any coach with adequate professional knowledge could instruct athletes in basic training. Therefore, Dai Li was able to handle the training tasks easily and freely. Moreover, the assistance of the Coaching System helped Dai Li stand out among many coaches. Now, he was on the national team and was really participating in the training of various sports. Dai Li realized that he still had a lot to learn.

Dai Li’s first impression of the national team’s training was how meaningful it was. The coaches of the national team were really good at finding problems in athletes. Then, they would organize the training schedule of the athletes around their problems.

In addition, the national team’s training put more emphasis on details. To Dai Li, small details were totally harmless, and might not influence the result at all. These same small details that were negligible for ordinary coaches had to be corrected on the national team. It was true that a harmless detail could not influence the overall result; however, the accumulation of many small details could result in more significant effects. Sometimes the details could affect each other and cause a chain reaction. Similar to the butterfly effect, the smallest thing could ultimately change the outcome in a big way.

Two years ago, when Dai Li was still in the Beikou Training Center, he had only participated in the training of Feixiang Lin. Dai Li had not realized this fact at the time. Now, his understanding of training was even more profound, along with his participation in different training programs.

Dai Li was like a dry sponge that had suddenly been thrown into the sea. He began to absorb everything in his environment. He could feel himself learning new skills and practical knowledge, and had a novel experience during each day’s observation, learning, and training participation.

Practice and experience, which had to be accumulated over time in all industries, were Dai Li’s biggest deficits. For sports coaches, practice and experience were even more important. Unlike some industries that could have the sudden emergence of blockbusters, the growth of an excellent coach required long-term development.

The observation and learning on the national team gave Dai Li a higher starting point. Training on the national team was like a diamond that had already been transformed from coal. The training methods and concepts were state-of-the-art, at least in the country, and could be used right away. Dai Li’s first experience on the national team had saved him many twists and turns.

Meanwhile, the national team also had the best athletes from across the country. Dai Li’s participation in their daily training helped him gain a lot of experience and familiarity with the training system. In addition, because of his widely-recognized skill of relaxation massaging, tasks could always be assigned to Dai Li, which took up most of his free time. His first-person experience was skyrocketing again.

When the two month observation and learning period was halfway done, Dai Li’s system was upgraded again. He had finally managed to get past the threshold of a second-rate coach and make himself a top-level coach.