Almighty Coach

Dai Li was not a psychologist, so that was all Dai Li could do to help Shuang Pang adjust his mindset.

Actually, Shuang Pang should have understood many things by himself. After all, he was still under 20, and his career life had just begun. An athlete at this age had tremendous room for growth. Shuang Pang had just come across the problem of the "Eternal Second"; more setbacks awaited him in the future, so he had to acquire the ability to overcome difficulties by himself.

Dai Li also had his own work to do. He needed to prepare for the Olympic Games.

As a quadrennial event, the Olympic Games was the most important event for most sports. During the preparation period of the Olympic Games, all coaches of the National Table Tennis Team stayed in the training base; sometimes they couldn’t go home for a whole week.

This was acceptable for bachelors like Dai Li, who had gotten used to living in dormitories. Most of the rest of the coaches had families; therefore, they really sacrificed a lot by staying with the team every day and leaving their family members at home.

The players who would participate in the Olympic Games had been decided internally at the beginning of the Olympic year.

The players who had not been selected to participate in the Olympic Games also had tasks. They acted as the training partners of the contestants by simulating the playing style and techniques of their opponents.

This kind of training was quite monotonous and dull, but the monotony was an efficient time-killer.

In a blink, August had come, and the quadrennial Olympic Games successfully attracted the attention of the world.

...

The experience award for a champion of the Olympic Games is really good! Dai Li couldn’t help showing a delighted expression on his face. The national team had obtained 3 gold medals so far; with the awarded experience, Dai Li had upgraded again. Now he had successfully moved beyond the threshold of the top-level coach and had been upgraded to a famous coach.

This time, Dai Li hadn’t had to wait long for the upgrade. The main reason was that players of the National Table Tennis Team could always win championships, so Dai Li was awarded more experience than before. Moreover, the experience he gained in this quadrennial Olympic Games was many times more than his experience accumulation in normal days.

After all, this is the Olympic Games, which is held every four years. The gold content of a champion of the Olympic Games is quite high. The experience award is also several times that of open tournaments and championships. In addition, the experience award of the team champion is also much higher than that of an individual champion.

The table tennis event of the Olympic Games had four gold medals for the men’s singles, the women’s singles, the men’s team, and the women’s team respectively. It was certain that the National Table Tennis Team would take all four gold medals. Now the gold medals for the women’s singles, the men’s singles, and the women’s group had been obtained by the national team, among which, the most experience gained by Dai Li came from the gold medal of the women’s team.

In the award identification of the system, the team events are more important than those individual events, as expected, Dai Li thought.

"It is more than that," the system said. "The experience award is also dependent on the importance of the match, the popularity of the event, and the distinctiveness of the award."

"I could understand the importance of the match; for example, the Olympic Games is definitely more important than ordinary international events, so the award for the Olympic Games is more. What is the meaning of the popularity of the event? Does it mean the award for events which are more popular is greater?" Dai Li asked immediately.

"Right, the experience award for champions of football or basketball in the Olympic Games is certainly more than the experience award of the champion of table tennis. If you could help a team to win the FIFA World Cup one day, you would get an astronomical sum of experience," the system answered.

"Then what is the meaning of the distinctiveness of the award?" Dai Li continued to ask.

"Some sports events and sports leagues set up special awards, such as the player of the week, player of the month, MVP, and rookie of the year of the NBA, the Golden Shoe Award of the World Cup, the Golden Ball Award of FIFA, the Laureus World Sports Awards, etc. If the players coached by you win these awards, you will also get an experience reward. Of course, the more influential the award and the honor is, the higher your experience reward will be," the system explained.

Dai Li said, "The awards you mentioned only exist in large professional leagues, such as basketball and soccer, right? In ordinary competitive sports, these special awards are quite rare."

"Yes. So if there is a chance, I suggest you try to participate in those large professional leagues. You are now in the stage of the famous coach. The experience accumulated through table tennis could still help you upgrade rapidly. When you are upgraded to a renowned coach or even a star coach, you will need huge amounts of experience for your upgrade, and even the frequent table tennis championship will be far from enough. After all, you are just a physical trainer, not a head coach," the system said.

"I got it. In the future, if I want to keep upgrading, a physical trainer is not enough, even the physical trainer of the National Table Tennis Team." Dai Li continued, "Okay, let’s stop talking about this. What about checking the bonus items of my upgrade?"

The bonus package appeared in the system. Dai Li opened the package and found two items in it. One was a skill book which he was familiar with, and the other one was a card.

This card looks familiar, just like that top-level coach trial card at the very beginning. Dai Li hesitated for a few seconds, but he finally picked up the skill book.

Let me check the skill book first. In any case, it is a skill. That card might be another useless item like the athlete illustrated handbook. Dai Li lowered his expectations to avoid great disappointment.

Stamina Long-Distance Walking? Is this new skill related to physical training? And the training should be realized through walking. After reading the name of the skill, Dai Li had a rough idea of it in his mind.

Long distance walking was quite a popular outdoor sport in recent years. In cities, many middle-aged women who used to be avid square dancers had been turned into long-distance walkers. Some of them were even injured in car accidents because of their walking in the motorways.

The popularity of long distance walking was mainly caused by insufficient sport venues for citizens in the cities. In foreign countries, communities provided a lot of sport venues and open spaces for citizens to do exercises. However, most of the open spaces in this country were used to build more apartments. The citizens couldn’t find a place to do exercises, so they chose to be long-distance walkers instead.

At this moment, the system explained, "This ’Stamina Long-Distance Walking’ could help athletes to enhance their physical performance, which doesn’t mean the athletic ability and endurance of the body merely, but also the cardio-respiratory fitness, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, etc."

"I know. The physical performance mentioned in competitive sports mainly refers to the athletic ability of people. Strictly speaking, it should be called the athletic physical performance, which is defined in kinematics as the general term of all athletic abilities necessary for athletes to enhance their technique levels and create excellent results. Actually, the broadly defined ’physical performance’ was more than that. The cardiovascular endurance, the muscular strength and endurance, flexibility, agility, and balance should also be included in physical performance," Dai Li said.

"Your answer is correct. This ’Stamina Long-Distance Walking’ is designed to enhance all physical qualities. The endurance halo and the flexibility yoga you have obtained could only enhance a certain quality. The Stamina Long-Distance Walking might not be as effective as those skills in enhancing a certain physical quality, but its effect in the comprehensive enhancement of all physical performance indicators is definitely the best," the system said.

This skill doesn’t have many restrictions upon the sport events; it could be used in almost all events, so it is really a practical skill. Fortunately, I have gotten at least one useful item from this bonus.

Then Dai Li looked at the second bonus item anxiously.

A Duplicate Card? What is it?