Almighty Coach

Kun Shen looked at Yueyang Zhu, who stood next to him in the door of the track and field building, feeling nauseous.

"Yueyang Zhu, you are so mean. I heard that the Discipline Inspection Dispute Group has arrived. You persuaded Tingshan Chen to speak out, but you are standing here watching the fun," Kun Shen said with despise.

"The nail that sticks up always gets hammered down!"Yueyan Zhu said. "But this time, we need someone to speak out. You don’t need to pretend to be a nice guy in front of me. When I was encouraging Tingshan Chen, you didn’t say anything. You just wanted to get something out of it. if you really feel sorry for Tingshan Chen, why don’t you switch with him and be the nail that sticks out?"

Kun Shen frowned. Yueyang Zhu’s words were not pleasant to hear, but it revealed the truth that Kun Shen wanted to hear. He knew that Tingshan Chen was the guy that had stepped up, but he didn’t say anything because he also wanted to get something out of it. Without Tingshan Chen, Kun Shen would get nothing.

Kun Shen felt sorry for Tingshan Chen. He sighed. "I feel sorry for Tingshan Chen. He was the one who reported the thing to the Discipline Inspection Dispute Group. Even if it works out in the end, he would be blamed by Weidong Chu. Once the Discipline Inspection Dispute Group leaves, Weidong Chu will surely be hard on him. Maybe Coach Guodong Li will be punished as well."

"This is the cost of growing up!" Yueyang Zhu said. "Tingshan Chen is a proud guy. He never showed respect to our older team members, as he thought he was excellent in his field. It is time to teach him a lesson and let him know that he can’t do whatever he likes on our track and field team. If Tingshan Chen does get punished, it is not a bad thing for us, as we have such a competitive team environment."

Kun Shen didn’t argue. Tingshan Chen was a proud person. He was only 19 years old, but his sports performance was as good as Kun Shen and Yueyang Zhu. One could predict that after three or four years, when Tingshan Chen would be 23, he would surely surpass Kun Shen and Yueyang Zhu.

Maybe because of this, Tingshan Chen had become "the nail that stuck up." When you are 18 and 19, you do things irrationally. Young men don’t have their own opinions towards things, and tend to be more impulsive when they hear something. As they get older, they learn to think critically and have their own values and beliefs, and aren’t shaped as easily by a place or person.

...

Weidong Chu looked at Tingshan Chen with resent inside the reception room. Xiaochun Gao was about to leave, as he had ran out of ideas. They didn’t expect there would be another obstacle for them to overcome.

It is so inappropriate for Tingshan Chen showed up right now. We thought he would be the key person to develop; who knew he was such a troublemaker!

Weidong Chu thought about the two reports that had already happened before and realized Tingshan Chen had been a part of them. He couldn’t help thinking less of Tingshan Chen.

Xiaochun Gao, on the other hand, seemed really excited. He thought he had found a new drive. He happily invited Tingshan Chen to sit down.

"My name is Tingshan Chen. I am an athlete on the sprint team..." Tingshan Chen introduced himself first.

"Tingshan Chen, you mentioned that you wanted to join relay team, but Coach Dai Li didn’t accept you. Can you tell me more about this?" Xiaochun Gao asked patiently with a kind face.

"I wanted to join the relay team, so I went to Coach Li. But Coach Li said no," Tingshan Chen said. "My 100m record is surely the best on our team, but Coach Li would rather take other athletes who are slower than choose me. This is not fair!" Tingshan Chen said.

"Coach Li, is this true?" Xiaochun Gao looked at Dai Li, looking thrilled. "You just said that the athletes you picked are either fast runners or potential fast runners. Tingshan Chen is a young and promising athlete. How come you didn’t choose him?"

"Tingshan Chen wasn’t one of the seven athletes who signed up in the beginning. When he came to me, it was past the application period—it was three month later. Tingshan Chen thought this was unfair, but we have our rules. If you can still apply for it after three months, it is unfair for the other people," Dai Li answered without hesitation.

"Coach Li, you are right. If everyone delays things and hopes it will be fine, we can’t manage our track and field team," Weidong Chu said.

"But I run faster than anyone else! If I join the relay team, the team will perform better in competitions!" Tingshan Chen agued. "Not only me, but Kun Shen and Yueyang Zhu as well. They were all left out even though they run faster than the current members on the relay team. If we change the members on the relay team to us, the sports performance will definitely improve!"

Xiaochun Gao nodded. He was excited, as he felt he had finally found a key point to fight back. He then asked, "Coach Li, why was a better sprinter ruled out when he wished to join the relay team? I am an outsider, but I know that the faster the team members run, the better chance they have of winning the race."

"Director Gao, a 4x100m race is not about getting the four fastest athletes and winning first place for sure; it’s about teamwork." Dai Li continued, "Also, our relay team has made it to the official match in the National Games, and I am pretty satisfied with their performance. There is chemistry among our team members and I don’t think it is necessary to change the team. If we change the members on purpose, it may hurt their chemistry."

"Coach Li, I don’t agree with you on this. I’m not an athlete myself, but I know every athlete wants to be first place. They are not satisfied with what they have now." Xiaochun Gao paused, then continued, "I have to say something about this. As a coach, how could you be satisfied with how things are now? How can you be over the moon just because you made it to the National Games? You should aim for first place!"

"First place? We are first place!" Dai Li blinked. "Our relay team got first place in the qualification match for the National Games. As for the official games, although they hasn’t started yet, I am aiming for first place again. Director Gao, since we can get first place now, the most important thing is to maintain the stability of the team. It is not necessary to take the risk of breaking up the team and finding new people."

Xiaochun Gao was speechless hearing Dai Li’s words again. He was really upset. Xiaochun Gao wasn’t a professional when it came to sports terms. When he had finally found a topic of ’team structure’ to talk about, he had judged Dai Li for not being ambitious enough. He didn’t expect Dai Li to have already won first place.

Seeing the awkward look of Xiaochun Gao, Weidong Chu couldn’t help giggling silently. He knew that Xiaochun Gao had to leave with nothing if he didn’t have any real evidence.

However, Dai Li didn’t want to just let it go.

Dai Li continued, "Tingshan Chen said he was one of the best on our team, and that the other athletes are not as good as him. That is his own illusion, and it doesn’t represent the truth. Anyone can say he is the best, but is it true? I don’t even want to talk about the real case on the entire team, but on our relay team, there are at least two candidates who are better than Tingshan Chen. I don’t think Tingshan Chen is fast enough, and that’s one of the reasons I said no to him."

"You said I am not fast enough! That is bullsh*t!" Tingshan Chen stood up out of anger.

Dai Li smiled. "Tingshan Chen, I know you are happy with the results. What about this; we have a match in front of Coach Chu and Director Gao. I will call two of my buddies, and you can call Kun Shen and Yueyang Zhu. Scores are louder than words. We will see!"

"Then race it is! Competing with those weak chicks on your relay team, I am definitely gonna win!"

...

Weidong Chu walked with Dai Li side by side to the training base.

Frowning, Weidong Chu said in a low voice, "Dai Li, what the hell are you doing? Xiaochun Gao was already in the wrong and was about to leave. Why did you do that?"

"Coach Chu, today we had to deal with the Discipline Inspection Dispute Group. You think it has anything to do with Tingshan Chen?" Dai Li asked.

"I am sure they are involved. I assume they may be the ones that reported it! Dai Li, don’t worry; this is not over. I will find an opportunity to make Tingshan Chen pay for this!" Weidong Chu said.

"Actually the athletes did this just because they thought they were better than the others. They felt it was unfair seeing those who weren’t as good as them attend the games. So even though we handled Xiaochun Gao this time, the others will probably play other tricks."

Dai Li paused, then continued, "We are getting pretty close to the National Games in August, and the relay team are in the final stages of their training. I don’t want to be distracted again, so I need a plan that can make things right once and for all. I need this race to let these people know that our relay team is strong and can’t be mocked! We are much stronger than them, and they need to know that! They didn’t get picked because they are not good enough."

"Are you sure? Tingshan Chen is indeed one of the best on our team when it comes to the 100m sprint," Weidong Chu said.

"One of the best? That was three months ago." Dai Li smiled confidently.