Almighty Coach

Early in the morning, Feng Zhu woke up and got up from his bed.

Suddenly, when he recalled what he did last night, he realized he had been foolish. Yoga? I am a professional player. How can yoga be effective? What’s wrong with me? Maybe Coach Li went mad, but why I was so stupid then?

Besides, Coach Li was unfamiliar with those yoga postures, and his actions were uncoordinated, just like a beginner. How could he teach others when he is not so skillful?

The more he thought, the more Feng Zhu felt yoga was not reliable. After stabilizing his emotions, he thought that it was time to tell Dai Li that they should not waste time on yoga.

After breakfast, Feng Zhu went to the training ground and prepared for the day’s training.

"Feng Zhu, come over for stretching!" The coach who was responsible for Feng Zhu motioned.

Stretching was the first thing for a ping pong player’s daily training. It could be viewed as a warm-up before exercise, which could effectively prevent muscle strain. In terms of the characteristics of ping pong, stretching was a must before training.

Professional athletes tended to stretch more, so the pain would be more intense. Although professional athletes stretched before training every day, the stretches always seemed to be very painful, causing the athletes to grind their teeth and even scream. Athletes were so miserable when they stretched that people called ping pong coaches "leg tearers" on the internet.

As Feng Zhu lay on the ground, Coach Kong, the leg tearer, was doing his work faithfully.

"Feng Zhu, are you okay?" Coach Kong asked, while tearing Feng Zhu’s legs.

"Sure, why not?" Feng Zhu was a little confused.

"Isn’t it painful?" Coach Kong continued.

"A little sore," Feng Zhu answered.

"If it hurts, just call it out. You don’t need put up with it," Coach Kong went on. "Normally, you would certainly call out in pain at this degree of stretch. However, you have said nothing today..."

Looking up at the degree of stretching, Feng Zhu was also surprised slightly.

What’s wrong with me today? Stretching to such a degree was just a bit sore. Could it be the yoga last night was really effective?

The next second, Feng Zhu shook his head. No way! I am a professional player. How could yoga be effective!

...

"Nice! Nice catching!" Coach Zheng couldn’t help but start clapping for Feng Zhu.

"Feng Zhu, you seem to be in great condition today. You couldn’t catch such a ball before," his opponent also said.

"Did I?" Feng Zhu thought back carefully and realized that he was more coordinated than before. As for some difficult skills, he usually completed them but with skill distortion. However, distortions were occurring much less today.

Is it really because of yoga? This idea came into Feng Zhu’s mind again.

The whole day, Feng Zhu’s training had been extremely smooth. Especially in one-on-one confrontation practice, where he even frequently used hard skills.

Feng Zhu himself could clearly feel the changes in his body.

Until now, Feng Zhu still didn’t believe that this was because of yoga. However, except for yoga, nothing else had changed.

After a whole day’s training, Feng Zhu rested for a while and appeared outside the training room with his head full of doubts, preparing to do yoga.

This morning when he got up, he thought that doing yoga was stupid, and he even wanted to stop doing it. However, what happened during the day changed his mind.

Still I don’t think doing yoga is reliable. But now, better to believe something than nothing! Thinking this, Feng Zhu entered the training room.

...

The next morning.

Stretching for Feng Zhu, Coach Kong said, "Feng Zhu, I think your muscles are much looser today than two days ago."

"Looser? I didn’t relax my training recently. I’m a little fatter, right?" Feng Zhu answered casually.

"Not that kind of loose. It’s relaxation. Your muscles were very rigid before. I could feel it when I helped you stretch. It was so rigid that I was afraid of hurting you when I exerted more strength." Tearing the leg to a larger degree, Coach Kong went on, "But since yesterday, it has been different. Your muscles are not so rigid. Today is better than yesterday."

Feng Zhu nodded thoughtfully. The first thing that came to his mind was the yoga that he did last night.

Coach Li’s yoga is really effective! It’s amazing that something like yoga works for professional athletes!

In this way, as a week passed, Feng Zhu progressed at an almost visible speed.

Feng Zhu himself could clearly feel that his flexibility was improving every day. Every time before training, the degree of his stretching was becoming larger and larger. And in daily confrontation training, he performed hard skills more and more smoothly.

...

Other players started to discuss Feng Zhu’s recent performance.

"Feng Zhu is in perfect condition lately. I was completely defeated every time I practiced with him!"

"Exactly. I have no confidence to practice with him now. Last time, he gave me five points ahead, but I was still defeated."

"Feng Zhu practiced overtime even after daily training. So it’s normal to be so excellent."

"He practiced overtime before, but why is he so good now? I think he was enlightened all at once."

"The National Table Tennis Championship is about to begin, and I can’t be slothful anymore. I’ll go with him and practice more tonight!"

"I’ll go with you!"

...

In the training room.

"Coach Li, I would not believe yoga could be so effective if I didn’t experience it myself. If I had known that, I would have attended a yoga class two years ago!" Feng Zhu said excitedly.

"My yoga is different from others. This is specially designed for athletes, not like the kind of yoga in the gym," Dai Li said, as it was true.

Unexpectedly, Feng Zhu believed him. For the first reason, he didn’t know other yoga coaches. For the second reason, Dai Li’s yoga helped him with his body flexibility. At this time, Feng Zhu viewed Dai Li’s words as truth.

"I must do well in this National Table Tennis Championship. It will be best if I can defeat one or two national champions!" Feng Zhu said with great morale. "I want to prove that I am qualified for the national team!"