Almighty Coach

Zhongyi Xu went from his position as a first-team coach to an administrative position. Due to his excellent performance as a coach, his career had been relatively smooth. He was now the assistant director of the General Administration of Sport in Hanbei Province. The Provincial Sports Bureau was considered a departmental level unit.

In the morning, Zhongyi Xu went to his office. The room had already been cleaned by his comrades in the office. The hot water in the water dispenser was already boiled. Zhongyi Xu made himself a cup of instant coffee and stirred it with a spoon. The coffee’s aroma filled the entire room.

Most sports coaches in China liked to drink tea. A large teapot, half filled with camellia sinensis, would relieve the heat and quench their thirst. It could last an entire morning. However, Zhongyi Xu was different. He was a swimming coach, so he stayed in the swimming pool all day. He was not hot in the summer, and he was not cold in the winter. He hated the humidity of the pool, so he chose coffee. He felt that it helped dispel that humidity. Over time, drinking coffee became a habit.

There was a knock on the door. Zhongyi Xu shouted to invite the person in and he saw that it was the director.

“Director! Why are you here?” Zhongyi Xu immediately got up and greeted him.

“I need to talk to you about something.” The director didn’t consider himself an outsider in Xu’s office, and he promptly sat on the sofa in the room.

“If you needed me for something, you could have just called me over. Why did you have to come personally? Let me pour you a cup of tea.” Zhongyi Xu smiled and walked to the water dispenser.

The director sniffed with his nose and said, “Are you brewing coffee? That’s good. I don’t drink tea anymore. Give me a cup of your coffee.”

“Alright. I will make one for you, but I only have instant coffee, I hope you don’t mind,” Zhongyi Xu said.

“I don’t know what that is. I usually drink tea every day. It’s good to have a change of taste here and try something different,” the director replied.

Zhongyi Xu made the director a cup of coffee. He then sat down on the sofa and asked, “Director, what is it that you wanted to see me about?”

“Our provincial training team used to have a coach named Dai Li. He was later taken away by the National Table Tennis Team. This person was recruited through a talent search, and he was recommended by you. You are familiar with him, right?”

“I recommended Dai Li. At the time, he was very capable. I felt that he had talent, so I recommended him to the training team. I heard that he has not been part of the National Table Tennis Team for the past two years. He seems to have gone to the United States.”

Zhongyi Xu actually knew that Dai Li was operating a physical fitness training center in the United States, but he was not sure why the director was asking about this. Because of his uncertainty, he gave a somewhat ambiguous answer. He neither dared to admit that he was very familiar with Dai Li nor dared to say that he was unfamiliar with Dai Li.

It all depended on whether the director was going to talk about something good or something bad. If it was bad, Zhongyi Xu would say that the two of them had not kept in touch after Dai Li left for the United States. He would try his best to sever his relationship with Dai Li. If it was good, then Zhongyi Xu would definitely say that he and Dai Li had a close relationship. They were practically brothers. Zhongyi Xu was politically sensitive.

He heard the director ask, “Do you still keep in touch with him now?”

Zhongyi Xu secretly observed the director’s expression and found that the director’s appearance was not very serious, but was rather one of expectation.

“I can contact Dai Li,” Zhongyi Xu replied. Instead of saying the words “keep in touch,” he said “can contact.” This was a deliberate move to create room for him to maneuver.

“It would be good if you could get in touch.” The director smiled and went on to say, “If you can, please invite Dai Li to visit our sports bureau and give us some guidance.”

“What? Let him guide us in our work?” Zhongyi Xu was shocked.

“It seems that you still don’t know! Our ‘old colleague’ is now the head coach of the U.S. National Track and Field Team! The United States is number one in track and field and they hired him to be the head coach. He made us proud,” the director said.

“Really?” Zhongyi Xu could not believe it, but he knew that the director would not make jokes about such matters with him.

This Dai Li. I thought he had gone to the United States to run a large gym, I did not to get such huge news about him! Zhongyi Xu thought.

By then, Zhongyi Xu already understood the intention of the director. The director was looking for Dai Li to “claim kinship.” Asking the head coach of the U.S. National Track and Field Team to be a guest was obviously more valuable than asking domestic coaches. It was more glamorous.

The director went on to say, “I wonder if his position should be consider a result of our successful coaching system! So, are we going to take this opportunity to highlight our experience in training coaches? We will continue to work harder, and continue to train more talented coaches.

“Old Xu, as you are a coach, this matter will be handed over to you. Give me a detailed report later.

“In addition, the General Administration of Sports of China will have a meeting next week and I am to report this matter at this meeting. Meanwhile, see if you can get them to give us some special itemized funds.

“Old Xu, are you free next week? If you have nothing going on, come to the general meeting with me. After all, you know Dai Li. If I miss anything in my report, you can help me out.”

Zhongyi Xu finally understood the director’s intentions. It went without saying, the current funding for sports was not enough. The director was going to take advantage of Dai Li’s reputation and try to get more benefits from the General Administration.

…

“Psshhhhhhh.” The sound of a can opening filled the room. Zhizhong Gu gulped down a few mouthfuls and took a deep breath.

His retreat from the competition years ago shut the door on Zhizhong Gu’s return to the national team. Those who held power would not allow a person who had such a large influence over the China National Table Tennis Team to teach again. So they assigned Zhizhong Gu a job. They said they were honoring him, but he wasn’t allowed to do anything.

One needed to know that Zhizhong Gu was only in his forties. He was in his prime, but he was forced to retire. That kind of blow really hit him hard.

In the past two years, Zhizhong Gu had entered the world of business. He worked on some projects with a few well-known businessmen. At the very least, he had something to do. However, Mrs. Gu knew that Zhizhong Gu still couldn’t get table tennis out of his heart and he couldn’t let go of his disciples.

Zhizhong Gu would occasionally be a guest commentator for table tennis games. Of course, he could only work on the online platform that broadcasts table tennis competitions. Zhizhong Gu’s current situation made it so that TV stations dared not invite him. The fact that the former head coach of the China National Table Tennis Team was going to an online platform to commentate was an illustration of how difficult it was for him to give up table tennis.

Zhizhong Gu’s wife came out of the kitchen with a plate of food in her hand. She looked at Gu Zhizhong and, not knowing why, asked, “Why are you drinking alcohol again? The only time you touched alcohol this year was when you drank with my father on New Year’s.”

“I am happy today! Especially happy!” Zhizhong Gu’s tone showed that he was excited.

A trace of pity flashed in Mrs. Gu’s eyes. Ever since Zhizhong Gu ‘s retirement from his position, she rarely saw him in such a happy mood.

“Why are you so happy?” His wife came over and sat next to Zhizhong Gu.

“There is good news,” Zhizhong Gu took out his mobile phone and handed it to his wife. “Look at this.”

“The U.S. track and field team is looking at a Chinese person to be their next head coach? This sure is news.” Mrs. Gu wondered why her husband cared about this, as it was not about table tennis. She asked, “When did you start paying attention to track and field?”

“I don’t pay attention to track and field. It is this person!” Zhizhong Gu pointed to Dai Li in the photo and said, “This is Dai Li. I scouted him from the Hanbei Provincial Track and Field Team for the China national Table Tennis Team. He became a physical fitness coach.”

“So that’s how it is!” Now Mrs. Gu understood why her husband was happy.

Zhizhong Gu drank all the beer left in the can in one gulp and said, “After I left the China national Table Tennis Team, my people either had to choose between siding with other groups or being removed from the national team. Because I was the reason Dai Li joined the National Table Tennis Team, he also suffered. He was assigned to some kind of boxing committee. Hehe, the person who has the ability to be the head coach of the U.S. National Track and Field Team was taking care of applications for boxing over here! Ridiculous!”

Zhizhong Gu calmed down and said, “I am really happy to see Dai Li’s development. He is a capable person and he needed a platform to display his abilities. Now that he has found this platform, I am happy for him!”

Mrs. Gu frowned slightly. She knew that Zhizhong Gu had been blaming himself for years. After the dropping out crisis that year, Zhizhong Gu’s people on the China National Table Tennis Team were either left out or suppressed. For example, Dai Li was given a promotion but in actuality lost any real power. He was assigned to a Tai Chi Application Committee to serve and spend his time doing useless work.

Zhizhong Gu always felt that he was the cause of his colleagues’ suffering. He felt guilty because he could not help them in any way.

However, today, Dai Li became the head coach of the U.S. National Track and Field Team, an even better position than his place on the China National Table . This helped ease Zhizhong Gu’s sense of guilt.

…

In the back seat of a luxurious car, Zhicheng Huang reported the contents of his notebook to Dingtian Xiao.

“Chairman, this is your itinerary for today. Do you see the need for any changes?” Zhicheng Huang asked.

“Let’s just follow it for now; make a change only if something offhand comes up,” Dingtain Xiao answered.

“Okay.” Zhicheng Huang closed the notebook. He hesitated for a moment and then said, “Yes, there is one more thing to report to you. Dai Li became the head coach of the U.S. National Track and Field Team. The media is reporting that he has brought glory to the country.”

“Oh, I know,” Dingtain Xiao answered disinterestedly as if he didn’t care.

Zhicheng Huang smiled slightly. He then sat up properly and stopped speaking.

Soon after, the car had arrived at the Dingtian Group and Dingtain Xiao had began a day of work.

There was a lounge outside the chairman’s office. Dingtian Xiao’s bodyguards sat on the sofa waiting for instructions. After Zhicheng Huang completed his work, he ran to the sofa and sat down. He could finally relax a little.

“Assistant Huang, our future son-in-law became the head coach of the American track and field team. He has brought us a lot of pride. Now the media is bragging about him, but the director doesn’t seem happy at all!” The bodyguard said.

“Unhappy? Why on Earth would you say the director is unhappy?” Zhicheng Huang asked with a smile.

“I was sitting in the passenger seat at the front of the car just now. Looking into the rearview mirror, I noticed that after you told the director about the news, he answered plainly. He didn’t seem happy at all,” the bodyguard answered.

“The director is the kind of person that doesn’t express his emotions explicitly. He is thrilled in his heart,” Zhicheng Huang said as he looked at the door of the director’s office.

Inside the room, all of Dingtian Xiao’s usual dignity was gone. He was humming a song and his body swayed with its rhythm. He looked delighted.