Almighty Coach

People started to gather. Most of those were parents who had come to pick up their children. There were also some older people who were talking a walk after dinner. Either way, those who gathered had some time to spare. They saw the crowd and came to found out what had happened. It didn’t take long for them to begin the discussion amongst themselves.

"Why are there so many people here? What happened?"

"This is the Youth Activity Center. What else can it be? Those training education schools are competing with each other again to win over students."

"In that case we have something interesting to watch. I remember there were two taekwondo coaches that fought with each other just to win over the students last summer."

"I’ve seen those people before. Oh, right—I think he is a coach from the municipal sports team! But who is that young man in front of him? He looks like a college student."

"Maybe he is. Those training schools always hire college students to do part-time jobs. The salary is low, and there’s no need to pay them the insurance and everything."

At the moment, Xiaoming Huang had walked up to the horizontal bar and did the first pull-up without pausing.

"Well that was not bad. But the first pull-up is always the easiest because you can use the power generated from the lift-off when your hands grab hold of the horizontal bar. After that, however, it will be very difficult," Shouliang Zhao said with disdain. He was speaking as a veteran, as if he was superior to everyone else spectating.

Xiaoming Huang finished three consecutive pull-ups right after Shouliang Zhao finished speaking.

The smile Shouliang Zhao had originally worn had now disappeared from his face. As a professional sports coach, he could tell that Xiaoming Huang still had plenty of strength left for more, even after three pull-ups. Maybe he really could do two more.

"Even I wouldn’t be able to make this fatty do more than three pull-ups in such a short period of time. But it seems like he could easily do two more. Don’t tell me that I’m going to lose this game," Shouliang Zhao thought to himself, having a feeling that it was not going to turn out well for him today.

Xiaoming Huang didn’t slow down. He was able to do five pull-ups three days ago, and after this afternoon’s training, he had gotten even better than before. Although the standing long jump and 1000m race had used up some of his energy, six pull-ups wouldn’t be a problem for him.

Xiaoming Huang began and completed the sixth pull-up successfully. This time his movement was much faster than before. He had done it quickly because he was running out of power.

"Six! That’s enough to pass!" one of the parents said excitedly.

In the scoring criteria of Yuzhou City’s high school entrance PE exam, six pull-ups meant passing. Even though it was only 12 points for those who could pass the test, it could still make a drastic difference. For example, there was an enrollment restriction in the high school entrance exam. Many of the key universities wouldn’t take students who failed one of the exams, even if the total score achieved a passing grade.

Parents didn’t only care about their children’s scores, but also about the competition with others. For many, it was a matter of honor and reputation. When they talked about their children’s scores, getting zero points and failing were two results that could damage their reputation. If a child failed his cultural classes, it was normal for him to get a few punches.

"That’s impossible!" Shouliang Zhao had lost his confidence as a "veteran" and looked very pale. He would have never believed this if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes.

The parents would’ve been so happy if a child as fat as Xiaoming Huang could do six pull-ups and pass the exam. However, he himself was not satisfied with the result. He rested for a few seconds, recalled the points of the movement that Dai Li had taught him, and began attempting his seventh pull-up.

It was a struggle, but finally, he did the seventh pull-up successfully. This time, many people around couldn’t help but marvel at him. Some people even said "nice." Xiaoming Huang quit trying after he finished the seventh pull-up.

Dai Li took one step forward and cleared his throat. "This student has been training with me for four days, including today. Four days ago, he couldn’t even do one pull-up. But now he can do seven. I’m pretty sure that he will make even more progress in the following days, and that a full score in pull-ups during the exam will be a realistic goal for him."

"Full score?" Everyone standing around looked at Xiaoming Huang’s bloated figure and found it very difficult to imagine.

"He was trained by me for only four days and now he can do seven pull-ups. But this Coach Zhao..." He pointed at Shouliang Zhao, who was right next to him, and continued, "He said he needed two weeks to train this student to do six pull-ups. Now who do you think is misleading the students and wasting their time?"

Shouliang Zhao’s face turned a purplish shade of red. He had just promised in front of everyone that he could get Xiaoming Huang to six pull-ups in two weeks, in a conceited tone no less. But now, right in his face, Dai Li proved that he had only needed four days to help the students do seven pull-ups— one more than Zhao’s promise of two weeks’ training.

"And he said he was a coach for the municipal sports team! I guess that not all coaches get in because of their abilities. Even a young man is better than him. No wonder it took the athletes from our city so many years to get trained, and they were still rejected by the national team. I guess it’s the fault of those coaches!"

"You are right! I just asked the others and heard that this young man is an undergraduate student. Even a student is better than that professional coach. Do you think he bought the title of so-called ’professional coach?’"

These voices swarmed through Shouliang Zhao’s ears and made him embarrassed. He knew that if this spread around, his reputation would be damaged, which might cause many students to quit his training class.

"Had I known this, I would never have come for trouble!" Shouliang Zhao thought sadly. He didn’t expect the undergraduate student to be so difficult to deal with. He thought that Dai Li would surrender right after being made aware of his title "coach from the municipal sports team", but unfortunately, he ended up coming across a hard nut.

"How could he train that fatty to do seven pull-ups in four days? Even the coaches I know from the provincial sports team wouldn’t be able to achieve that. It seems that kid must have some specialties in pull-up training!"

At this thought, Shouliang Zhao quit focusing on the pull-ups and sneered, "The high school PE entrance exam is not all about pull-ups. There is also the standing long jump and 1000m race. Even if you get a full score in pull-ups, it means nothing. Without a good score in the other two subjects, you won’t be able to raise your score anyway."

"Coach Zhao, it’s always easy to say. But what matters is the result. If you are not convinced, we can compete in other events." With the help of the top-level coach card, Dai Li was not afraid of anyone. He was ready to beat Shouliang Zhao, even as an underdog.

"Sure. Let’s compete in standing long jump!" Shouliang Zhao stopped for a second and then said confidently, "You’ve held your training classes for four days, just like me. Let’s pick one student from each class and see who can jump further. What do you say?"

"Why not? The standing long jump it is," Dai Li agreed.

...

"Look, those training classes are competing with each other again. Now we can kill time by watching that! Who do you think will win in standing long jump?"

"I think that young man has a bigger chance of winning. He is not a nobody. I mean, just look at that fatty who did seven pull-ups after four days of training."

"You don’t really know the situation. Coach Zhao is a professional coach for the municipal sports team specializing in standing long jump. He might not be as good as others in pull-up training, but when it comes to the standing long jump, that’s what he’s known for! How could he lose to that young fellow!"

"No wonder that Coach Zhao asked to compete in standing long jump. That’s his specialty! This young guy lacks the experience to compete with a professional coach. He’s doomed to fail!"