Almighty Coach

All the trainees went to take the fitness test, while all the coaches gathered in the meeting room waiting for the results.

"I feel so nervous. I have never felt so nervous before, even when I led my team for big contests," somebody said.

"Only thirty people can stay. I will probably be kicked out! My trainee didn’t work hard once he reached the passing standard," another person complained.

"Ah, same. My trainee, Officer Wang, was really casual the last five days. Whenever I wasn’t paying attention, he got lazy."

"These police officers are not athletes, we can neither blame nor punish them. They didn’t treat it seriously enough. We can’t do anything to correct them."

This voice had hardly faded away, yet a few people immediately showed sympathy.

There were several coaches who smiled with confidence. Apparently they had figured out how to stimulate their trainees after they had reached the passing standard. Their trainees’ performances must have been above the passing line.

"Coach Deng, I say you are definitely going to win! With 400 points in total, your trainee must be able to get 320 points at least, right?"

"You must be joking, Coach Qiao. I would be satisfied if my trainee got 300 points. But your student will have 320 points for sure, won’t he?" Coach Deng asked in response.

"320 points, when divided by four, is an average of eighty points per event. I hope he can do it, but it’s too difficult. We only had ten days, after all."

The two had known each other for a long time ago, and had been opponents in many big contests. Therefore, their exchange was not very friendly, but it was still respectful.

Hearing the conversation, Xuexi Zhuang was filled with anxiety. He had not been capable of helping his trainee acquire 300 points in ten days. He felt that the two coaches were showing off.

You showoffs! Xuexi Zhuang said to himself.

He couldn’t keep himself from turning to Dai Li. But he was surprised to find that Dai Li looked so calm. He couldn’t sense any nervousness from him.

Xuexi Zhuang immediately felt shocked. He was not as good as Dai Li in training. Now that Dai Li showed such a peaceful look, he felt that he was also not as mentally strong as him, either.

Xuexi Zhuang decided to give Dai Li some trouble. He turned to Dai Li and deliberately asked out loud, "Hey Coach Li, I heard that your trainee twisted his ankle on the first day?"

Dai Li sensed the nastiness in Xuexi Zhuang’s words, so he nodded with a smile, "It’s unavoidable to get hurt during training. Luckily, Officer Chong Lin was not badly injured. He recovered after one night of sleep."

"But you still wasted a whole day! Your trainee must be in bad shape. We only had ten days to train, and you wasted a tenth of it." Xuexi Zhuang took pleasure in Dai Li’s misfortune.

Xuexi Zhuang’s words garnered the other coaches’ attention. Everyone shifted their focus to them, many coaches began to comment about Dai Li in a low tone.

"So he is the one who hurt his trainee on the first day. He looks younger than us!"

"Right, he is around twenty-four or twenty-five. He must be younger than us. You know, young people don’t know how to control themselves; they only rush forward. It should have been expected that he would hurt his trainee."

"Physical training is a science. As a coach, he shouldn’t be so careless. He should consider the trainee’s ability. Let’s say the day he missed was his lesson."

"What a costly lesson! He lost a day of training. How can he be in the top thirty? He will be kicked out. I hope he can learn something from this."

"I would imagine he has a strong backing, otherwise he wouldn’t be in this program at such a young age. How much ability do those people have? Even if he had one more day to make it up, he would still be kicked out."

In everyone’s eyes, Dai Li was a bad example.

In coaching, age was not strong proof for ability. But if a coach was too young, like Dai Li, and was younger than many athletes, sometimes the coach lacked authority in front of older athletes, let alone a team!

Therefore, quite a few coaches who did not know Dai Li thought that he had gotten here through some connection. Now that people with relationships would soon be eliminated, those who had true ability despised Dai Li, while coaches with connections pitied him.

Dai Li didn’t argue back, nor did he care about their gazes. In athletics, people spoke with their actions; a victory on the field was more convincing than thousands of disputes. When they received the final results, it would be time to repair Dai Li’s reputation.

It didn’t take long. After a minute, Instructor Zhao came inside with a form in his hand.

"The final results for fitness test are in my hand. Now, I’d like to announce the grades." Instructor Zhao raised his head and looked around, then said, "The top thirty of you can stay on the national team, while the rest will be eliminated. So I will directly read the scores of the top thirty. If your trainee’s name is not announced, it means that you have been eliminated."

In the meeting room, all the coaches became serious. They pricked up their ears and stared at Instructor Zhao with expectation, hoping that the next second their trainees’ names would be announced.

"Number thirty: Feng Li, 270 points!" Instuctor Zhao read the first name. A coach waved his fist excitedly, he was ready to jump up to celebrate. Feng Li was his trainee, which meant he had just met the qualifying standard.

But many coaches’ faces were stern. Their trainees had only wanted to pass the exam. Because the passing score for the four events was 240 points, according to the level division rule, every five points was a level. This meant that 240 points was six levels behind 270 points.

"270 points over four events. That means Feng Li averaged seventy points for two events, and sixty-five for the other two."

"If 30th place has 270 points, then the other twenty-nine people must have higher grades! Oh my, I will be kicked out..."

Xuexi Zhuang’ heart began beating faster. He sensed that he would probably be eliminated too.