Almighty Coach

The car stopped slowly, and Zhizhong Gu got out.

Everyone was familiar with Zhizhong Gu. He was once the world’s foremost table tennis player, and had been so for a decade. In addition, he was the first "grand slam" winner on the national table tennis team, as well as a champion of the Olympic Games, a World Table Tennis champion, and a World Cup Table Tennis Tournament champion. He could be said to be the idol of first-generation table tennis fans.

Basically, Dai Li grew up watching the matches of Zhizhong Gu. Coaches ten years older than Dai Li, on the other hand, had regarded Zhizhong Gu as their idol when they were athletes.

Zhizhong Gu was now much fatter than before, but his world-champion’s temperament couldn’t be clouded by a few extra pounds.

When Zhizhong Gu appeared, many coaches formed a welcoming line, hoping that their athletes might be selected by Zhizhong Gu.

The process for national team coaches examining athletes was the same everywhere. First, they listened to the report in the meeting room and the introduction of the coaches. Then, they visited the training ground, and if necessary, they offered to watch a specific training.

However, table tennis had a strict requirement for technology, so the national team coaches would watch a match with the athletes to examine their abilities.

But it all seemed to have nothing to do with Dai Li. He was a fitness coach, whose job was to be responsible for the fitness of all the table tennis players, rather than a specific player. Dai Li, therefore, returned to his work after the welcome ceremony.

In the training room, Dai Li was leading several young players who had just joined the provincial team through strength training.

"Coach Li! Please come here!" said Ping Wang.

Dai Li turned around surprised, only to find Ping Wang coming toward him with a smile.

Why has Ping Wang come here? Shouldn’t he be with Zhizhong Gu by now? Has Zhizhong Gu left? It couldn’t be so fast, right? Dai Li was quite confused.

In normal times, it would be common for Ping Wang to appear anywhere. But today, Zhizhong Gu had come to visit, and as the head coach of table tennis team, Ping Wang was supposed to be with Zhizhong Gu all the time. How could he have spare time to come visit Dai Li?

"Mr. Wang, what can I do for you?" asked Dai Li.

"Coach Li, please follow me to the meeting room. Coach Gu wants to see you," Ping Wang said with a smile.

"Coach Gu? Zhizhong Gu? He wants to see me?" Dai Li couldn’t believe what he had heard.

"Right!" Ping Wang nodded seriously.

"Coach Wang, why does Zhizhong Gu want to see me?" Dai Li whispered.

"He didn’t tell me the reason, but I thought it must be something positive!" he said with a smile. "Do not ask me, you will know when you see him. Please follow me!"

Dai Li followed Ping Wang doubtfully to the meeting room, and then saw the world-renowned Zhizhong Gu.

Zhizhong Gu looked at Dai Li curiously as if Dai Li was something new, which made Dai Li feel uncomfortable and unnatural.

Dai Li sat down and Zhizhong Gu asked directly, "Coach Li, I asked to you to come here because I wanted to know whether you are interested in joining the national table tennis team."

Dai Li was surprised by Gu’s words, and he couldn’t believe Zhizhong Gu wanted him to join the national team after the first contact.

After a moment, Dai Li came to himself and then instinctively said, "I’m a track coach; I know nothing about the training of table tennis!"

"We have enough professional table tennis coaches on the national table tennis team, but we lack a great fitness coach. So, I hope you can be a fitness coach for us," said Zhizhong Gu.

"So why did you choose me?" asked Dai Li.

Zhizhong Gu smiled and said, "I have seen your resume, so I know you have trained several Asian Games champions. In addition, I just had a chat with Coach Wang, and I think you are qualified to be the fitness coach on the national table tennis team. Therefore, on behalf of the national table tennis team, I formally invite you to join us."

Dai Li was still at a loss; it was so sudden that he almost lost the ability to think.

Zhizhong Gu continued. "Table tennis is our national game, so compared to other sports events, the General Administration of Sports gives us great support. What’s more, table tennis has a good foundation and high public participation in China, so there is no doubt that table tennis has a promising future."

"In terms of sponsorship, table tennis also has advantages. Let’s take our national table tennis team as an example; several of our major sponsors are well-known brands in China. Just at this point, other sports events are far behind our national team."

"Compared to other sports, a coach in our national table tennis team enjoys better benefits."

Zhizhong Gu’s introduction of the national table tennis team was rather exaggerated.

Actually, it was just like a business’s hiring strategies; if a business wanted to recruit talent, it was necessary to present the advantages as attractively as possible. If an enterprise had neither scale nor development potential, then it would be impossible to attract talent.

So, Zhizhong Gu introduced the national table tennis team like a Fortune 500 company.

Obviously, it would be impossible to attract talents by only discussing the company’s strength; more importantly, the benefits package must be clearly laid out. It would be quite difficult for even Microsoft or Apple to recruit talents if they couldn’t provide good salaries. All talents deserved high salary and good treatment.

Zhizhong Gu continued by saying, "Coach Li, if you join us, we will hire you as a formal coach of the national table tennis team. In addition, you will be treated as a national civil servant just like other coaches, and your previous administrative duties will remain unchanged."

Dai Li was moved when he heard those words. The formal establishment of national table tennis team was great! Compared with the establishment of it current provincial sports team, it was obviously much better.

When he worked on the national track team, Dai Li was only an officer on secondment, rather than a formal national team coach, which imposed many limitations on him. So Dai Li wanted to be a formal coach on a national team. Now, he had the opportunity to achieve his hope.

Zhizhong Gu continued. "Our national table tennis team ranks first in the world, both in comprehensive strength and the personal abilities of the players. We have the world’s best table tennis players, and our table tennis team holds a dominating position in the world. I believe that there will never be so many world champions and top table tennis players in other teams. So, it is a challenge for coaches to train so many perfect table tennis players on the national table tennis team."

"Dai Li, another reason why I think highly of you is that you are young. Young people should be brave, and try to face all kinds of challenges. I believe you are not content with your current status! I value your potential and recognize your ability; you need a bigger stage to perform your talent, and national table tennis is that stage."

After introducing "company scale," Zhizhong Gu began to introduce working treatment.

Although Zhizhong Gu was not good at indoctrination, Dai Li was deeply impacted by his words.

What Zhizhong Gu has said is right. There are top table tennis players in the national table tennis teams, and they are the world’s best both in personal ability and talent. Being a coach on a national table tennis team means I can get more experience.

Dai Li needed experience, so he began to calculate silently.

In terms of the comprehensive ability of players, the national track team was definitely lower than the national table tennis team. On the national track team, Haiquan Fang and Sijie Yang had A-grade talents, and they were the best athletes on the team. In terms of table tennis, Feng Zhu, who had B plus-grade talent, hadn’t been selected by the national table tennis team!"

Dai Li could predict that there would be several S-grade players and many A-grade players on the national table tennis team. Meanwhile, the players there had much better ability. All of this meant more experience for Dai Li.

What’s more, the players on the national table tennis team had more opportunities to participate in international matches, and as long as they completed, they were basically champions.

Compared with the national table tennis team, there were only a few players in the national track team who could take part in an international match. Even if they had the chance to participate in a match, it would be very difficult for them to get good scores. So Dai Li had difficulty gaining extra experience.

Obviously, according to the system’s settings, the higher his grade, the more experience he needed to upgrade. And if he wanted to upgrade as soon as possible, he had to train the players who had better abilities and talents.

Among all the table tennis training teams in China, the national table tennis team can provide me with the highest experience!

Dai Li understood that he relied heavily on the coaching system, and improvement in his coaching grade meant improvement in his ability.

I am only a top coach now, and I will doubtlessly need more experience as the ranks go up. If I continue as I have been, it will take me more than a decade to get upgraded. Thinking of this, Dai Li took a deep breath. I can’t wait any longer!

Zhizhong Gu took out a business card, handed it to Dai Li, and said, "Coach Li, I know it is very difficult for you to make a decision in such a short time. So, please take your time and consider it. This is my business card. If you make a decision, please call me."

Dai Li took the business card in his hands, a solemn expression on his face.

"Coach Gu, I don’t have to think about it. I would like to join the national table team," said Dai Li.

Zhizhong Gu was a little surprised, and then smiled.

"Surely everyone wants to go upwards!" Ping Wang couldn’t help sighing.