Chapter 29: Exam for National Second-Class Athlete
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Only undergraduate students who were in their third year were qualified to take the exam for independent recruitment. Students who were not in their third year could not take the exam. The sports school was a technical secondary school, so their students had no opportunity to take the independent exams for universities. However, the top students of sports in each high school had already taken the qualification exam to be national second-class athletes, which was why they were considered top students by high schools. For this reason, they didn't need to take the exam.
Overall, the students who were taking the exam this time would be those who focused on their studies. Nine out of ten had been trained by these kinds of summer classes, so their abilities weren't that high. The student resources of the sports school's summer class were better than other training classes. And because their training ability was higher as well, the students there had a bigger chance of passing the exam.
The sports school had their own student resources for recruitment for summer classes, but Dai Li didn't. He didn't know that there was an independent recruitment quota of students. But he had heard of Yuejin Chen. He was among the top coaches in the province. Many of his students had been chosen by the national sports team. Even Yuejin Chen himself was recruited as an intensive coach by the national sports team.
…
The day of the exam finally arrived. Dai Li now had an opportunity to measure his training results. Early that morning, Dai Li went to the gate of the municipal sports field and gathered his eight students together, where they entered the examination field.
"Haiyang Chen, you are on the 13th team, kind of late. Qingliang Xu, you are on the 7th. And Congyan Lu, you are on the 1st. Go warm yourself up, it will be your turn soon. Don't be nervous. Just treat it like an ordinary training session. There should be no problem, your daily training record already reached the standard of a second-class athlete…"
Dai Li tried to help his students relax to relieve their nervousness. Congyan Lu was the first among the eight students. His ability was somewhere in between them, but after Dai Li's training he should have been able to pass the exam. What Dai Li was worried about was that he might be too nervous, which might have a negative effect on his performance. If he failed, it would be like a domino effect, and the rest of the students might fail too.
"Dai Li!" a voice echoed. He turned around and saw a familiar face. It was Dabing Sun, a colleague of his when he had worked in the sports school. They had both been assistants. Dabing Sun had stayed while Dai Li was fired because he had offended Shouren Zhao.
"Sun, my bro, you are here too!" Dai Li walked to him.
"Your skin has gotten brighter in the two months since I last saw you. Which big company are you working at now?" Dabing Sun asked.
"There is no big company. I started a training class by myself and enrolled a few students. I brought them here to take the exam," Dai Li said.
"Super cool!" Dabing Sun gave a thumbs-up. "So you work for yourself now! That's way better than me and everyone else who wasted our time in the sports school."
"You came with the sports school today?" Dai Li asked.
"I came here to bring the training class of the 100m sprint to take the exam. They paid a lot of attention to the exam this time. Director Zhao lead the team by himself!" Dabing Sun said.
"Shouren Zhao is here too?" Dai Li heard the name of his enemy. However, he didn't even know what he looked like. He asked in low voice, "Which one is Shouren Zhao?"
Dabing Sun looked around and answered in low voice, "The one in the light blue shirt with the suit pants."
Most of the coaches here wore sportswear, but Shouren Zhao's outfit stood out, so much so that Dai Li noticed him right away.
Shouren Zhao! He fired me for no reason. Let's compete today and see whose students are better! Dai Li's eyes were burning with passion. He was ready for the fight. He looked at his students and couldn't wait for Haiyang Chen and Qingliang Xu to take their exam.
These two students were Dai Li's trump card. Because he knew that their talents levels were a C in the 100m sprint, he had trained them even harder. And they didn't let him down. The improvements they made were much better than the other six students.
…
The proctor called the test numbers. The eight students who were in the first group walked to the desk and registered.
Congyan Lu really has bad luck. How could he be divided into the first group? That's the most difficult race because the students are not ready for the exam yet, but they have to be on the running track. And they carry a ton of pressure because everybody's attention is on them. I can only wish him good luck. Go for it, Congyan Lu! Dai Li silently cheered for him. Suddenly, he saw a familiar face.
Isn't that Youcai Wu? He was in the free trial for one day. Then his mother said that I would waste his time, and she put him in the training class at the sports school. I wonder how his training was there. I didn't expect him to be in the first group. I remember that he was much faster than Congyan Lu two months ago. I could use this chance to compare the training results between the sports school and myself to see who is better!
Dai Li looked at the running track anxiously. The eight students were ready to begin in front of the starting line.
…
Shouren Zhao sat among the audience. A coach named Zhou began to introduce the people in the race to him, saying, "There are two students in the first group are from our school."
"I know him. Youcai Wu, right? It was said that he was the top student at the beginning of the class. But it turned out that he was not when he actually ran. Even I feel ashamed for him. How is his ability now after two months of training?" Shouren Zhao asked.
"He is average. His record is always around the passing line. If he performs well, he might pass the exam. The other examinee is just like him. They need some luck to pass the exam," Coach Zhou explained.
"Luck? I doubt they will have it since they have been put in the first group, which means they don't really have good luck. There is no way that the students in the first group can perform well. They should thank God if they are able to perform like they usually do. I'm afraid these two students might be unable to pass. Such bad luck to be put in the first group…" Shouren Zhao said.
The proctor shouted, "Everyone, ready…"
All the students got ready. With the sound of the gun, the eight students took off at the same time. Meanwhile, Dai Li pressed the button on his timer.