Chapter 177: University Games
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Sijie Yang was back. This news had not only surprised Dai Li, but had also made him super excited!
Sijie Yang was, after all, an athlete with A-level talent, who had the potential to become a world champion. It would be such a shame if he gave up his athletic career. As a coach, Dai Li wanted to train a world champion, as it would not only bring him money and fame, but would also make him feel satisfied spiritually.
Sijie Yang returned to his daily training routine, but he did not practice like he had used to. Instead of hanging around and thinking about other things, he put all his attention towards training diligently.
Once Sijie Yang began training, his A-level talent was made apparent. He made amazing progress, and performed better and better each day.
It took about ten seconds for a sprinter to run 100 meters. World-level athletes could run 100 meters around or under ten seconds, so for sprinters, being one second faster was a big deal, and meant a lot.
Sijie Yang did have a lot of drawbacks, just as Dai Li had predicted. However, more drawbacks meant more room for improvement, and more opportunities to progress. Every time Sijie Yang corrected his shortcomings, he improved a bit. And the more mistakes he corrected, the more improvements he made.
Sijie Yang was the special one in the athlete group. He had gotten to where he was purely because of his talent. If he had been a less gifted athlete, he surely would have been replaced if he didn't work harder. However, Sijie Yang could beat his opponents easily just by using his natural ability. This was probably why he had never been motivated to improve his sprinting skills.
Now, however, Sijie Yang had began to improve, which made him even better. It was like a great warrior who could beat armed opponents with his bare hands, but when armed could beat them faster and easier.
Dai Li had also played a big part in helping him be successful. There was always a great coach behind every great athlete. For Sijie Yang, Dai Li was the best coach he could have had for this period of time. The fancy detector Dai Li had could also find Sijie Yang's weaknesses, which allowed Dai Li to attack them as soon as possible.
Within two short months, Sijie Yang made huge progress. He had been the worst one on the sprinting team, but after two months he was now third behind Guohong Niu and Xiaotian Xin. It was only a matter of time before he surpassed them.
Sijie Yang's improvement had put pressure on Guohong Niu and Xiaotian Xin. Tsinghua students were all ambitious, and no one wanted to be left behind, so Guohong Niu and Xiaotian Xin worked even harder.
Seeing Guohong Niu and Xiaotian Xin working harder than ever, other athletes on the team got inspired and began working harder as well.
…
Just as Dai Li assigned the training plan for the afternoon, he saw Doctor Mao walking towards him from far away.
Dai Li didn't really know this Doctor Mao, and the experience he had had two months ago had given Dai Li a bad first impression. Therefore, they were only on nodding terms, and never bothered to smile or say "hi" when they saw each other.
There was no way that Doctor Mao had come here today to share good news.
Doctor Mao walked over to Dai Li and nodded. Then he opened his mouth and said, "Coach Li, it has been over two months since you got to Tsinghua University, right? Are you getting used to everything here?"
"Of course. The environment here is much more relaxed than what I'm used to. I even gained weight." Dai Li was trying to be nice. Then he asked, "Doctor Mao, did you come here for anything about work?"
"Well, you know the University Games will be held in Wanzhou in the middle of next month. Our school will surely attend. I heard that you had experience in big sporting events when you were with the national team, so I would like you to go on a business trip to Wanzhou as the leader, as well as the coach, of the sprinting team next month," Doctor Mao answered.
"Sure, no problem," Dai Li nodded without hesitation. As a coach, it was completely normal to travel with his team for competitions. The better the coach was, the more competitions he would be involved in. Top coaches like Jihai Ding had to travel around the world at least two or three times.
Dai Li continued, "We are not just going to send sprinters to the game, are we? I'll just go with the group and won't have to worry about meals and accommodations, right?"
"Yes, there will be someone in charge of meals and accommodations; you don't have to worry about it. Coach Li, you just focus on the games and training." Doctor Mao continued, "We paid for the living space and the meals, so the host will make sure everything goes as planned. As for transportation, the athletes will be divided into three groups and go to Wanzhou by bullet train. You will have to give me your ID card later so I can buy and get the tickets together."
"I have my ID card with me. You can come meet me whenever you want it," Dai Li said.
For average people, it was a troublesome thing to order train tickets. Now that Tsinghua University had promised to help them do that, it would be dumb to say no.
Dai Li continued asking, "The number is restricted, right? I have eight athletes altogether, but not everyone is going to Wanzhou for the University Games. How many athletes can I take to the game this time?"
"Three!" Doctor Mao said as he raised three fingers. "Although it is called the University Games, we will join this game under the provincial name. They gave us three positions because we are Tsinghua."
"Then we must send the best three athletes!" Dai Li said, turning around to look at the athletes who were practicing.
Doctor Mao smiled weirdly. "Actually, we have decided to send Guohong Niu, Xiaotian Xin, and Sijie Yang. I wanted to tell you the news first so you could prepare for their specialized training."
Dai Li was surprised. He didn't know that Doctor Mao knew so much about his team.
Doctor Mao really knows everything. He even knows that Sijie Yang has made a lot of progress in the last two months. Sijie Yang is behind Guohong Niu and Xiaotian Xin at the moment, but he may surpass them in the next month! How could Doctor Mao know about this? Dai Li began wondering about Doctor Mao.
His look sent Doctor Mao the wrong message. Doctor Mao lowered his voice and said, "I know Sijie Yang isn't the best on your team, but his father is Academician Yang. You know that. We have to impress Academician Yang. Therefore, although Sijie Yang is only an ordinary athlete, we have to send him to the game! I hope you understand."
Dai Li was speechless He wasn't sure if he should laugh or cry.
So it is all because of Lin Yang! I almost thought highly of you. Never mind. You will be surprised when Sijie Yang wins the game!