Chapter 290: The Test
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
There were 78 players on the National Table Tennis Team. Team One had 16 men and 16 women, which totaled 32. And the remaining 46 were in Team Two.
The 32 positions in Team One were fixed and would not change. Players in Team Two fought through promotion games to get into Team One, while unqualified players of Team One were gradually weeded out.
The number of players in Team Two was not fixed. New players joined Team Two while players in the team might be sent back to the provincial team. But generally, players in Team Two outnumbered those in Team One.
It was impossible to draw up training plans for national team players through applying exactly the same plan to every player. The different technical features, physical conditions, and ages of different players required unique training plans. Everyone needed a targeted plan.
That was a complicated task. The coach had to know the athlete well, and he had to know the athlete's advantages and disadvantages. The coach also needed to know the athlete's play style, and more importantly, the athlete's injuries. A training plan had to be based on the overall condition of the athlete.
Zhizhong Gu set Dai Li to designing physical training plans as a test of Dai Li's ability, a fact which had not escaped Dai Li's notice.
Outstanding performance on his part would lead him to a core position. He would even have the chance to take part in the training of major players. But if his performance was not so good, he might be sent to Team Two to be a coach of those ordinary young players.
And Zhizhong Gu gave Dai Li only one month, 22 working days. Normally, that would have been far from enough for a coach to make 78 physical training plans.
It was easy for a fitness coach to make a physical training plan for one player in a day. 22 days meant 22 plans. But 22 physical training plans from Dai Li would hardly impress Zhizhong Gu. An ordinary fitness coach could do that, too. What Zhizhong Gu needed was obviously not an ordinary coach.
Dai Li didn't know how many plans Zhizhong Gu expected from him. It might be 30 or 40. That would be difficult for ordinary coaches.
In addition to quantity, quality was another important concern. Physical training plans without specific aims would lower Dai Li's score. Quality was even more important than quantity.
Improper training would cause a decline in strength rather than an improvement for high-level athletes. A coach was meaningless if he could not help an athlete improve their strength.
So, the quality of the training plans was more important than the quantity. What Dai Li needed to do was make as many training plans as possible while ensuring their quality.
…
Dai Li left the training field, and then Zhizhong Gu started to talk with the Chief Coach of Team Two, Feihong Liu.
"Feihong, what do you think of this young man?" asked Zhizhong Gu.
Feihong Liu shook his head, "I don't know. He accepted your assignment to make training plans so quickly. I think he is very confident. And he should be. A Champion Coach of the Asian Games at such a young age should definitely be confident. When I was his age, I was just an intern coach!"
When Feihong Liu was young, he was the third major player in the National Men's Table Tennis Team, next to Zhizhong Gu and Bin Wang. He was younger than Gu and Wang, but he had chosen to retire earlier because of injuries. And taking his injuries into consideration, the National Table Tennis Team let him stay as a coach. Feihong Liu started as an intern coach, and after years of hard work, he finally became the Chief Coach of the National Team Two.
Zhizhong Gu sighed. "As a coach, Dai Li started from a higher place than us. And he is so young. He might not be used to this job temporarily, but he deserves that we spend our time on him. If he cannot satisfy me in one month, I will leave him to you. Let him work in Team Two to gain experience."
"Ok! Team Two will never get enough players. Please give us those whom you don't need in your Team One!" Feihong Liu laughed. "One month is not enough for one to make 78 physical training plans. How many do you expect from him?"
"30 physical training plans," Zhizhong Gu replied immediately. "I will keep him in Team One if he can complete 30 plans with good quality. Less than 30? Then he will be yours."
"That's not a hard task. It should be easy for a fitness coach in Team One," Feihong Liu said with a smile.
"If he can't complete 30 physical training plans, he is not qualified to stay in Team One," Zhizhong Gu said with a smile. "If he can make 40 plans, I will give major players like Anshan Wang and Shuang Pang to him."
"40 plans?" Feihong Liu shook his head at once. "That can't be done in one month. He is a newcomer and not familiar with these players. He needs time to observe every player's condition. He must be a very gifted coach if he completes 40 physical training plans with good quality."
…
Dai Li was constantly taking notes on his small notebook by the side of the training field.
Dai Lai only needed to run a detection of the athletes to determine their shortcomings and advantages. Thus, all Dai Li had to do was take notes. He didn't need time to observe their play.
Dai Li recorded all the detection results of the 32 players on Team One, and then he went to the training field of Team Two.
The greater number of players in Team Two resulted in more time spent taking notes.
It cost Dai Li a whole day to record the detection results of all 78 players in the National Table Tennis Team on his notebook. And then he started to make a targeted physical training plan for each player respectively.
…
A week later.
The regular meeting of the National Table Tennis Team brought all the coaches to the meeting room.
"Anything else?" Zhizhong Gu looked around the crowd and didn't see anyone still wanting to speak. Then he concluded, "Ok. We will stop here today. Dismissed!"
Everyone got up and left the meeting room in twos and threes.
Dai Li ran to Gu and gave him a file box.
"Coach, I have worked out all the physical training plans."