Almighty Coach

There was a man, who was in his forties, standing beside Ping Wang. He was not tall, was pot-bellied, and looked pudgy.

The man was named Tao Lin, and he was the vice chief coach in the ping-pong team. Tao Lin used to be the grand master in the national team, and after retired, he went to the provincial team to coach. Although he had not been coaching for long, as a previous grand master, he was able to become the vice chief coach in the team within a short time.

"Coach, your three retired cadres, this is a tough task for them," Tao Lin joked with a smile.

"True gold does not fear fire. How can I tell who is better, without giving challenging tasks?" Ping Wang looked at the training field, as he continued to say, "I think most coaches have little experience in coaching old people, therefore, training seniors is a brand new topic for them."

"Old people have poorer physical conditions than young people, let alone when compared with professional athletes. To us professional coaches, who are used to teaching high-level athletes, when facing seniors, the most important thing is knowing how to control the level of difficulty and the intensity of training."

"Take the Warm-Up before formal training, for example. Usually, professional athletes need twenty minutes’ to half an hour’s high-intensive warm-up, while old people can only bear about ten minutes of a low-intensity warm-up. Another example is training length, as we professionals can commonly bear a continuous high-intensive training for an hour, but ordinary people can not do so for sure. As for seniors, they must be weaker than the ordinaries, so they might practice no more than half an hour. Therefore, when designing training plans, the coach must take these things into consideration."

Tao Lin nodded, then said, "These three are the best guys in our sports team, so they can surely think about these, can’t they?"

"Of course. If they can’t even consider these, then they are not qualified to be here. But one must talk the talk, and walk the walk, in order to reasonably arrange training plans. After all, that is indeed a tough question, due to the fact that they lack the experience of working with old people. Hence, they don’t know what level of intensity to use to maximize the training effect," answered Ping Wang.

"So, they can only figure it out during training?" Tao Lin immediately asked.

"Right, they can only work it out through actual attempts. In addition, during training, they have to adjust their training methods at any time, based on real and changing conditions," Ping Wang explained.

"You are testing their reactions!" Tao Lin now understood Ping Wang’s purpose.

"Haha...yes." Ping Wang grinned cunningly. "I am testing their reactions, but how can things be that apparent?!"

Tao Lin was surprised, asking, "Do you have any other ’traps’?"

Ping Wang nodded proudly, then lowered his voice and explained, "Those three retired cadres, they all have some problems."

"What do you mean?" Tao Lin asked, dazed.

"That Mr. Zhang, he has Lumbar Disc Protrusion and slight Cervical Spondylopathy. Mr. Liu has not only Scapulohumeral Periarthritis, but also a poor cervical spine. As for Mr. Chen, he has Osteoporosis and Arthritis on his knee." Ping Wang paused, then said, "But I didn’t tell the three candidates about these awarenesses."

Tao Lin was shocked, his eyes wide and his thumb up, as he said, "So, these three old cadres have sicknesses! These illnesses will probably affect their training. In this case, some training programs are not suitable for them. Hey coach, you are so brilliant!"

"Let’s wait and see when they realize this!" Ping Wang said. "After all, their three resumes all said that they are good at rehabilitation training, so I should give them a chance to show themselves!"

...

Dai Li looked at Mr. Zhang in front of him, and couldn’t stop brainstorming which method was suitable for this old man.

I’d better detect him first. Let me have a general understanding of Mr. Zhang!

Thinking about this, Dai Li detected Mr. Zhang.

The result showed that, Mr. Zhang was an ordinary person, as his ability was counted within the percentile system for normal people, rather than the thousandth system for athletes. The result displayed that Mr. Zhang had 63 points for individual ability, which was pretty good for his age.

Since Mr. Zhang was not an athlete, the detector didn’t show his talents. But it did give evaluations on individual advantages and disadvantages, which were aimed at ordinary people.

"Advantage: Frequent exercise has equipped him with a good physical quality, so this person is suitable for most mid-intensive sports activities. Disadvantages: This person has Lumbar Disc Protrusion, and thus, he is not suitable for spending a long duration of exercising, and should avoid any exercise with large movements, which may result in compression to the lumbar spine."

Seeing this disadvantage, Dai Li frowned his eyebrows at once.

Lumbar Disc Protrusion. This meant that many exercises involving bending should be avoided. Besides, individuals with Lumbar Disc Protrusion would feel much pain, once they stand for too long. As such, I can’t let him stand for long. I need to revise my plans again.

Dai Li sighed silently, feeling that bad luck had come to him again.

Poor me, why do they give me an old cadre with such an illness?! One out of three, so it was a one-third probability this would have happened on me. Am wondering now, what do Youdi Wei and Guang Wu have over there...

Dai Li thought these things, as he detected Mr. Liu subconsciously..

Scapulohumeral Periarthritis? Youdi Wei is as poor as me. Mr. Liu has Scapulohumeral periarthritis, which means that 80% of upper-body practices cannot be done. It seems that I’m not the only one with bad luck!

Dai Li suddenly felt more balanced.

Let’s look at Guang Wu’s... I heard that Mr. Chen used to be a professional athlete, and it looks like he has been taking good care of his health. Dai Li detected Mr. Chen.

Knee Arthritis? This is the toughest problem in athletics. Usually, people with Knee Arthritis cannot do fierce exercises, and have limitations on choosing programs. For instance, speedy runs or jumps must be avoided. To patients with Knee Arthritis, the best exercises are bike-riding and swimming. It looks like I’m not the poorest, but that Guang Wu has even worse luck than me!

At this moment, Dai Li felt he was lucky. If Mr. Chen, who had Knee Arthritis, picked him, he would be in big trouble.

Suddenly, Dai Li sensed something different.

Lumbar Disc Protrusion, Scapulohumeral Periarthritis, plus Arthritis, these three old cadres all have physical problems! Although these are common illnesses among seniors, they can affect physical exercises. I see, these are arranged on purpose, in order to enhance the difficulty of the competition!

Dai Li had already felt that today’s practical training had been upgraded from "Complex Level" to "Difficult Level".