Almighty Coach

Li Xue led the coaches to the training ground of different events. At every section, he would give the coaches a question on the spot. When they arrived at No. 2, the long-jump team, pole vault training was taking place.

Li Xue pointed at one of the pole-vaulters and said, "First, please make an observation on the movement of this athlete."

Everyone knew that the next question must be related to him, so they began watching the athlete carefully. After taking a closer look, Dai Li realized it was the same pole-vaulter he had detected with the advanced detector outside the bathroom.

A moment later, Li Xue asked his question. "For the next question, describe the deficiencies in this athlete’s techniques."

Dai Li gave a wee smile, then immediately wrote down his answer on the paper.

Insufficient grip strength, weak pole utilization, the grip strength of the left hand is significantly greater than that of the right hand....

However, Dai Li’s quick reaction was noticed by Li Xue.

Dai Li had gotten a full score of 400 points during the police training. That alone had put him on top of Li Xue’s priority list. Li Xue continued watching Dai Li’s behavior silently during the examination.

He writes down his answers so quickly. It seems that he is quite confident. Does he really know the answer? Maybe he is just writing down some nonsense! Li Xue frowned, suddenly feeling that the questions were too easy.

Maybe I should make the next few questions more difficult, Li Xue said to himself.

When they arrived at the No. 1 long-distance running team, Li Xue pointed at an athlete who was training and said, "Assume you are his head coach. Please formulate a training plan for this athlete for the next week. The basis of your training plan should be detailed concretely."

This question was more difficult than the previous ones. The formulation of a weekly training plan for an athlete was truly a test of a coach’s comprehensive capabilities.

Dai Li looked at the athlete. What a coincidence! This was the athlete whose breathing capacity would be chaotic when he reached his limit. His weakness had even been neglected by the coach of the national team.

Dai Li lowered his head and thought for a while. He decided to work out a draft first. He listed all the disadvantages of the athlete, then wrote down all his solutions, which were sorted according to the actual situation. Then he began formulating a training plan.

Generally speaking, this examination with random questions was really quite challenging for the coaches. Even the examiner, Li Xue, didn’t know what question he would give to the coaches, and just asked random questions based on what he saw in front of him.

This was quite similar to the English listening test. With very little time to think, the examinees had to make accurate judgments as quickly as possible. Even if the examinee failed to come up with an answer for the question, he or she had to make a mental adjustment immediately and prepare for the next question. The sense of urgency went far beyond the pressure of multiple choice, filling in the blanks, and reading comprehension.

All these young coaches had participated in the training of all the sports groups during the two-month observation and learning period on the national team. They should have had a preliminary understanding of the training status of all groups, as well as the status of each athlete. However, the degree to which they understood it depended on their inidividual abilities.

This had also been the purpose of the two-month learning and observation period. Li Xue had reminded the coaches to watch, think, and learn more actively. Everyone was on an even playing field. What the coaches were able to learn in the two months would be the deciding factor. The more they learned, the greater their chances of passing the selection examination would be.

...

The examination lasted all morning, and ended before lunch. After handing in their examination papers, the young coaches gathered in the canteen to have lunch. For many of them, this would be their last lunch with the national team; they could be knocked out as early as this afternoon.

The atmosphere in the canteen was a bit grim. Recalling the questions from the morning, everyone began to question their chances of staying. The questions had been given randomly. Some questions, such as the training plan formulation, did not have a standard answer. Similar to the composition of the university entrance exam, once someone received their composition topic, nobody could guarantee that it would resonate with the examination grader.

More importantly, the questions of the selection examination had covered almost all training groups and events of the national team. Li Xue had showed the examinees all around the training ground except for the all-round event, and had given questions for each of them. This included sprinting, middle-distance running, long-distance running, hurdles, the long jump, the high jump, and race walking.

The young coaches could not be good at the training of all the track and field events. They were too young to have the time and energy to have participated in the training of all track and field events. Even old coaches who had thirty years of coaching experience did not boast that they were proficient in the training of all 20+ events.

For example, a shot put coach had to be good at shot put training. When it came to the training of discus, javelin, and the hammer throw, he could probably still make do. However, if the same coach was asked to train sprinters or hurdlers, his specialized knowledge would be insufficient. Similarly, a middle-distance running coach might be able to handle the training of sprinting, long-distance running, and even hurdles; but race walking training might be beyond his capabilities.

Was the knowledge reserve of the young coaches still too low? Of course. Their limited knowledge was not good enough to coach at a high level on the national team, which was composed of high level athletes. These athletes had superb strength and great ability, and needed the best training, which could only be provided by the best coaches. PE teachers in middle school or elementary school, on the other hand, had to have know about all track and field events, and even had to provide training for basketball, soccer, and table tennis.

It was possible that one might have become a master in his own field. The coaches who had managed to get to the national team were experts, and could even be considered the elites in their respective events. However, because they had been given questions that covered all track and field events, everyone was uncertain about their examination scores.

But Dai Li was exceptional! He was sure about his results.

The advanced detector could display the strengths and weaknesses of an athlete for him, which helped him figure out the answers to the questions given by Li Xue immediately. He was able to work out the answers easily. More importantly, different events were no longer a barrier for Dai Li. With the advanced detector, Dai Li knew the weaknesses of the athletes, even if they practiced in events he had limited knowledge about. The improvement plan was also an easy job for him, as he could find the answers from the textbooks and sports training papers.

It was quite similar to a diagnosis given to patients by a doctor. Every doctor knew about the therapies and medication for diseases very well, as they could be found in the textbooks easily. The most difficult part was the diagnosis itself. A disease could have several symptoms, and a symptom could apply to several diseases. Therefore, diagnosing patients was the real test of a doctor’s ability.

At this moment, Dai Li suddenly felt that the advanced detector really was a cheating device that went against the laws of nature. It could virtually assist him in passing the examination effortlessly.

However, seeing a different look in everyone else’s face, Dai Li had to bury his self-confidence in his heart. Last time, the full score of 400 points had made him very well-known. He did not want to draw attention because of his good performance. Although results were the cornerstone of sports, where the strong were worshiped, a villain like Xuexi Zhuang who played dirty tricks could cause a lot of trouble for Dai Li.

I should lay low and keep a low profile! As he thought of it, Dai Li desperately pretended to be anxiety-ridden like the rest of the coaches.

"Alas!" Dai Li let out a long sigh and put down his chopsticks, then said, "I lost my appetite."

"Yes, indeed. Me too. How could I be in the mood to eat now?" somebody beside him added.

Dai Li looked at the fried pork with cucumber in the dish reluctantly. Before they had been cooked, the cucumbers had been cored and pickled with salt. It had to be tasty, which made Dai Li’s mouth water. But now he had to pretend that he had no appetite, and refrain from eating the cucumbers in the dish.

My poor fried cucumber! I cannot enjoy you. What a pity! Dai Li said to himself.