464 The Joy of Being a Coach

The eight participants were on the track. And their coaches all stood within the rest area by the side.

"Long time no see, Li!" Dai Li turned around to find a white-haired older man standing behind him.

That man was called Duke, and he was 68 years old. He was a senior fitness coach living in Seattle.

"Hello, Coach Duke." Dai Li walked to him to say hello immediately.

After exchanging greetings, Duke asked, "I've heard that Shawn Ford is now being trained by you. That true?"

Dai Li nodded and said, "Yes, I've been training him for a few months."

"Is it hard to help him improve?" Duke smiled and then he added with a lower voice, "I was once his fitness coach. There is no problem with his strength. His problem is the defect of his body."

By "defect of his body," Duke was referring to Ford's leg length discrepancy.

Dai Li nodded again and said, "I found that, too. So, I set some targeted training for him. And that worked."

Dai Li wouldn't tell others about his training methods. Training methods weren't patented. High-level coaches would never leak out their training methods, and in this way, they could avoid having their training methods used by others.

In fact, the so-called training method was actually a coach's understanding of a specific sport. Different understandings or different depths of understanding led to different training methods. Such an understanding needed to be formed with a great deal of experience, thinking, and trials of a coach. It was the most valuable secret of a coach. And no coach would like to let someone else steal it.

But Duke didn't believe in Dai Li's "that worked." He thought Dai Li was bragging to save face. So, he asked, "Coach Li, which rank do you think Shawn Ford will get this time? Is it possible for him to pass?"

"He will be the champion, of course!" replied Dai Li confidently without any hesitation.

"The champion?" Coach Duke laughed suddenly. In his opinion, it was a surprise that "the worst champion of the World Championships ever" could enter the final of the tryout. It was impossible for him to be the champion.

Dai Li got the irony in Duke's smile. But he knew that the old man meant no harm. So, he explained, "Not long ago, Ford finished the Miami Open in 19.93 seconds."

"19.93 seconds! So fast!" Duke took a deep breath. He knew Ford could pass the tryout with such a score.

Coach Duke lived in Seattle in Washington State. Miami, Florida was about as far away from Coach Duke as it was possible to be in America. So Duke didn't know about Ford's achievement in the southeast.

And then, the referee asked the athletes to be ready on the starting block. The race was about to begin.

…

Vincent was a high school student in Eugene. And he was a master of sports, especially sprinting and long jump. He might be a star in high schools of other cities. But Eugene, the Capital of Track and Field, saw numerous high school students who were good at track and field just like Vincent. 

It was the weekend, so Vincent came to the competition site with his friends to watch the race and cheer for the athlete he liked.

"The race is going to start. Which one do you think will win?" asked a friend beside him.

"Mayer, of course. I think he's the best runner there," replied Vincent without hesitation.

But his friend shook his head and said, "I prefer Foster. I have a poster with his signature on it!"

"Foster is good, but he cannot outrun Mayer. He runs terribly on the bend, and always falls behind. Compared with him, Mayer's skills are more comprehensive," Vincent argued at once.

"But Foster is faster on the straightaway. He is good at spurting. And I think that would be a remedy for his weakness on the bend," his friend argued back.

As the two argued, the sprinters readied themselves on their starting blocks. The starting gun went off as usual, and all participants spurted forward instinctively. 

"Let's wait and see. Mayer will win!" Vincent sneered and refocused on the race.

"Cheers! Foster!" his friend suddenly cried out.

"It's too noisy. He cannot hear you. Save your energy!" Vincent scorned.

Every sprinter on the field was trying to move as far left as they could to shorten their running distance as much as possible. That was a test of a sprinter's running skill on the bend. High-level athletes like them wouldn't make a mistake such as stepping on the line, but some of them might lose control of their steps and waste their time.

Suddenly, the audience who sat in front of Vincent started to wave an American flag. Vincent's sight was blocked.

"You blocked my view!" Vincent cried at the audience in front of him.

They looked at Vincent, apologized, and then put down the flag.

When Vincent looked at the field again, he found that all participants were running on the straightaway instead of the bend.

However, he found that the leading sprinter was neither Mayer nor Foster. The leading one was an athlete unknown to him. And more importantly, the guy had a great lead. It seemed that he was fixed to win.

"Who is he?" asked Vincent with surprise.

The man was Shawn Ford, of course.

…

Why does he have such a big lead? Sebastian was shocked.

Sebastian knew that Shawn Ford got several impressive achievements recently. And it was acceptable to Sebastian that Ford became a temporary leader in the race, but the fact that Ford was holding such a safe lead wasn't acceptable to him. From the professional perspective, Sebastian thought it was meaningless for the race to go on. The advantage Ford got when he ran out of the bend had already made him the winner.

A single bend gave him such an advantage. How did he do that?

But then Sebastian found that Ford's speed was slower than the other participants' on the straightaway.

Is he only good at running on the bend? Sebastian calmed a little.

But his advantage is too big on the bend. Other sprinters cannot outrun him within such a short distance. Shawn Ford is going to win! Dai Li's new drug is effective for old athletes. Even the weak Shawn Ford got rejuvenated.

…

The bend was going to end. And Mayer thought he performed well on the bend. He had made no mistakes. And he believed that he would be the leader when he ran out of the bend.

Mayer's explosive force ranked in the middle among all top sprinters. So, he wasn't very good at the 100m sprint. But he had a good running skill on the bend, and he was able to run persistently. Therefore, he found his place in the 200m program. He took part in the World Championship two years ago as a representative of America, and he won a bronze medal with a score of 19.89 seconds. The champion of the World Championship that year was the top flying man in the world of the time, Kittell. 

Mayer was confident that he could pass the qualifications. But whether he would be the champion depended on whether he could defeat Foster or not

Foster's running skills on the bend weren't very good. But his ability to spurt on the straightaway was great. And Foster got the third place in the 100m race. In Mayer's opinion, Foster was the strongest rival on his path to being the champion.

Finally, Mayer got on the straightaway and he was indeed ahead of Foster.

But Mayer wasn't in first place. A man was running ahead of him.

Shawn Ford! How could he be ahead of me? I didn't make a mistake on the bend! I should be the fastest one. How could it be possible for him to be faster than me?

…

Foster got on the straightaway and immediately found that ahead of him were Mayer and Shawn Ford.

More importantly, while Mayer was just a little ahead him, Shawn Ford was holding a great lead. Foster even thought about giving up, taking Ford's big advantage into consideration.

The gap between Mayer and me is small, and I can catch up with him. But I can never catch up with Ford. His lead is too large. The race is meaningless. He will cross the finish line before I get closer.

Foster at that moment recalled his coach's remarks about Shawn Ford. His coach said Ford was "the worst champion of the World Championship ever."

"'The worst champion of the World Championship ever'?" Can the worst one run so fast? Can the worst one hold such a safe lead? If he isn't the worst, will he be one or two seconds faster than me? Was my coach kidding me?

…

Ford wasn't the fastest on the straightaway, but he built so much lead on the bend that no one could catch up with him. So, he finally got to be the champion of the 200m race.

Ford's time was 19.85 seconds, 0.08 seconds faster than his time in the Miami Open. According to the situations of previous years, 19.85 seconds deserved a medal in the Olympic Games. Whether it was a gold one or not depended on the performance of other participants.

"A bend brought him such a great advantage. It's my first time witnessing this in my career life as a coach," Duke said to himself.

Other coaches around also looked at Ford with surprise. No one in the final was weak. To be a fixed winner by running on the bend of the first 100 meters was rarely ever seen in a final.

Dai Li showed a happy smile. In his opinion, that wasn't only Ford's victory but also his victory.

At one time, Dai Li would've used the Athlete's Patch to make up for Ford's leg length discrepancy without any hesitation.

But this time he chose another way. He used his experience and understanding of the 200m program along with his unique ideas to make Ford change the way he ran.

He thought the achievement this time was not made with the magic of the Coach System. It was made by his own abilities.

Dai Li had a sense of achievement.

It was like playing a game. When you cheated to beat your rivals, you could get satisfied along with joys of winning. But the victory you gained by cheating was so different from the victory you got by yourself. Many cheaters would stop being interested in the game after a short time of excitement. But those who won with their own efforts would carry on because that they could experience more joy and a greater sense of achievement after their victories.

Dai Li had been a "cheating gamer" since he got the system. In fact, Dai Li's joy of being a coach had disappeared as both the upgrade time of the system and the time intervals between the awards became longer.

But this time, he found remembered the joy of being a coach through training Shawn Ford.

Looking at Ford, who was celebrating on the field, Dai Li exclaimed in his heart, It's joyful to be a coach!