Almighty Coach

"Coach Li, the group lists for the 100m sprint have been released." Doctor Mao walked quickly and handed Dai Li a sheet, then said, "The game is pretty tense. Two competitions in the morning and two more in the afternoon. All 100m sprint competitions need to be held on the same day."

Dai Li took the sheet and said, "There is a big disparity among our participants. For the advanced athletes, the two competitions in the morning are just warm-ups. They only have to reach the minimum time. The two competitions in the afternoon are much more important for them."

"It works the same way for other programs. If you can finish one game in one day, you will never delay it to the next day. The sponsor wants to save on the budget," Doctor Mao complained, "The sponsor wants to spend as little money as possible. They hope the athletes can leave immediately after the game is over."

According to the rules, regardless of whether it was a candidate, coach, or a member of the staff, you had to pay ninety yuan every day for the food and accommodations. If the total cost was less than per person, you wouldn’t get the rest back. On the flip side, if it wasn’t enough to cover everything, the sponsor would pay the rest for you.

The National University Games were held in Wanzhou, a city full of tourist attractions. Usually the level of consumption in a tourist city was higher than other cities, so it was quite expensive to live in Wanzhou.

Ninety yuan could cover one day’s meals in a small city, but in Wanzhou it was not even close. The sponsor had to pay the remaining expenses, so in order to save on the budget, they hoped the games could finish as soon as possible.

Dai Li smiled, not commenting on Doctor Mao’s complaint. Instead, he lowered his head and checked the group list.

First round, Guohong Niu is in Group C, Sijie Yang is in Group F, and Xiaotian Xin is in Group H. Not bad. None of them are in the first group, and they are not in the same group. They can win the first round, I say.

After checking for his own team members, Dai Li glanced over other groups. He scanned over the Jiangdong team carefully, as he was really curious about the athlete who was said to be as good as Guohong Niu.

Finally, he saw a name in Group K: Jiangdong Team, Yue Zhao (Nandu University).

What? Yue Zhao? Am I misreading something or is it just the same name? It must be a stranger who just happens to have the same name. Yue Zhao can’t be here. Dai Li felt nervous as soon as he saw the name.

I hope this is not the Yue Zhao I know. Otherwise, Guohong Niu won’t have much of a chance at winning! Dai Li prayed.

...

After a while, the first round of the 100m sprint officially began. Guohong Niu, who was in the Group C, was the first athlete from Tsinghua University to participate.

Guohong Niu was kind of famous among all these undergraduates. It was no longer a secret that he was wanted by the national team. Some people even thought he would surely be the champion of the games.

Guohong Niu didn’t let Dai Li down. He had already been above average before he began training. After experiencing Dai Li’s coaching, he improved a lot. He easily won the first round, and was the fastest athlete in Group C without putting too much energy.

Sijie Yang was in Group F. He was only 19 years old, which was very young, even for a university game. He wasn’t recognized by many people, but everyone knew the Tsinghua team was excellent. Because of this, they could tell Sijie Yang was excellent just because he was from Tsinghua University.

After spending some time training, Sijie Yang had become as good as Guohong Niu. Sometimes, Dai Li even thought that Sijie Yang was better than Guohong Niu.

Sijie Yang was quite nervous, as this was his first time being in a big event. He did not perform his best in the first round, but he was still much better than the other candidates in his group. He made it to the second round easily. This victory helped Sijie Yang relax.

Xiaotian Xin was in Group H. He was not as good as Guohong Niu, but he was still considered one of the top athletes in the game. He was now qualified to go to the national team with Dai Li’s help, so this game would be a piece of cake for him. Without leaving any doubt, he made it to the second round as number one in his group.

Dai Li wasn’t excited about his students’ success because it was normal to get into the second round. They were good enough to pass the first round; it would have been strange if they hadn’t.

Before the game, Dai Li had set a goal of getting to the final round and winning the gold medal. Passing the first round was only their first step.

Sports tested your real ability, and in track and field events in particular, you couldn’t win because of luck. Sports like basketball and soccer ball could have circumstances where a player on a weaker team got lucky and scored in the final second and beat the other team, but track and field events were not like that.

Dai Li focused on the racetrack. He was waiting for Group K. He wanted to find out whether the candidate named "Yue Zhao" was the Yue Zhao he knew.

...

The candidates in Group J were already on the racetrack and getting ready. Members of Group K had also showed up to the waiting zone and were warming up, getting ready for their call.

Dai Li looked at the waiting zone and stared at the candidates carefully one by one. Finally, he saw Yue Zhao.

Yue Zhao! It’s him! That is Yue Zhao! How come he’s on the humble National University Games stage? He shouldn’t be qualified for the games!

Dai Li looked serious. He had seen this athlete when he was in the Beikou Training Center. Back then, Dai Li had been helping Feixiang Lin recover. Yue Zhao was a sprinter who specialized in the 100m sprint.

Anyone who could practice in the Beikou Training Center was top notch. Because Yue Zhao had been one of those people, he had to have been really special. He was qualified to join the national team, and should have had plenty of opportunities to attend national competitions.

According to the rules of the National University Games, if the athlete had joined any national sport related event, he was not allowed to sign up for this competition. Therefore, Dai Li doubted Yue Zhao was qualified to be here.

Why is Yue Zhao here? He surely can’t be allowed to attend this game! Is this rigged?

But, on second thought, Dai Li assumed it was impossible for Yue Zhao to cheat. Yue Zhao was known by many people in our field. He will definitely be recognized by others now that he is here. I know him. And I know he is in the national team. How could other people don’t know?

The fact that he is here must mean that he has qualified for the games, otherwise people would have reported this. Dai Li frowned. I have to ask someone and find out the truth.

Thinking of this, Dai Li walked straight to the judging stand. He wanted to figure out why Yue Zhao was allowed to compete in the University Games.