Lei Qin had almost reached the throwing circle when he heard Dai Li's words. Once he heard him, he turned around and walked back.
Nobody understood what Dai Li was trying to do. They all looked at him. Dai Li recalled how to use the morale-boosting book.
"Step one, praise the athlete before he goes on stage. How? I suppose any praise will do!" After thinking about this, Dai Li told Lei Qin, "Lei Qin, you are awesome!"
"What?" Lei Qin's mouth was wide open. He had not expected these words to come out of Dai Li's mouth. He thought Dai Li was about to give some additional instructions, so he had put up an attentive look, preparing to listen while he was standing there.
"This is praise. It should work." Then Dai Li said, "OK. You can go now!"
Lei Qin suddenly felt clueless. He had been called back by Dai Li, expecting to receive detailed instructions. Yet all he had gotten was "You are awesome."
"What is Dai Li doing? Calling the athlete back just to tell him that he is awesome?" Hui Zhang, the youth team coach, looked perplexed.
Hu Liu, the coach of Nantan Middle School, had the same look on his face. "Is this even encouragement for the athlete? You are awesome? Is that it? Shouldn't you say a few more words? What half-hearted encouragement! I think shouting 'go for it' would work better than calling back the athlete to tell him 'you are awesome.'"
At that moment a clapping sound could be heard. It was Dai Li clapping for Lei Qin.
Dai Li thought in silence, "Step two: clap for the athlete when he walks up to the stage. My hands are hurting from the clapping. It should work! Next is step three: cheer for the athlete during the match."
Dai Li's clapping did not draw any attention. It was too normal that a coach clapped for his athlete during a game.
Lei Qin stood in the throwing circle, held the shot, and prepared himself to throw.
"Come on, Lei Qin! Go for it! Go!" Dai Li's sudden cheering sounded particularly loud.
Everyone in the audience looked at Dai Li. He was not behaving the same way a moment ago. It was too abnormal.
"Is Mr. Li frightened out of his mind? He is being stupid!" Hui Zhang suddenly felt embarrassed.
At the same time, however, Lei Qin's spirit was suddenly elevated. The morale-boosting book had worked.
All Lei Qin felt was a sudden excitement, as if he had a great mission to accomplish and could not wait for it. The anxiety, restlessness, and fear of failure suddenly vanished in the air.
Right now, Lei Qin's morale was high. He shouted and threw the shot.
"16.53 meters!" the measurement crew announced.
"Good job, Lei Qin!" Dai Li could not help but yell. This was the best record Lei Qin had ever gotten.
Jinpeng Lu, the athlete from Nantan Middle School, felt pressure in his heart. His rival had just had another breakthrough. He had a feeling that consecutive defeats might happen again.
Hu Liu, on the other hand, seemed much calmer. He had expected that some of Dai Li's athletes would be able to throw beyond 16.50 meters. Yet even in this case, it would be 0.5 meters away from Xian Su's 16.98 meters. This was a gap impossible to bridge.
Zhanshan Zhao was the next one to step up. Dai Li repeated his trick.
"Zhanshan Zhao, you are awesome!" He uttered the same pointless praise. Then came the clapping sound from Dai Li.
"Come on! Go for it!" Dai Li's cheering could be heard throughout the entire field. The others gave the same awkward look to Dai Li. In their eyes, he was truly being silly. Yet Zhanshan Zhao's morale was boosted as well. He threw the shot 16.56 meters.
Feng Luo was the next in line. He also reached 16.50 meters.
"16.50 meters is a great record for athletes under the age of eighteen, enough to qualify for the provincial sports team of any province. But it is not enough to beat Nantan. They cannot defeat Xian Su." A relaxed smile appeared on Hu Liu's face. "I thought the Hanbei provincial youth team was short of athletes and would be easy to defeat. I cannot believe that we kicked an iron board. Luckily we still have Xian Su on our shot put team as a trump card. Otherwise we may have failed miserably on an easy task!"
Not far from him, Dai Li still looked calm. None of the results had been anything he had not expected. A distance over 16.50 meters by Lei Qin, Zhanshan Zhao, and Feng Luo was already good performance. Dai Li had not been counting on these three to defeat Xian Su from Nantan anyway. Dai Li's real trump card were the two remaining athletes, Bin Wang and Jiankang Chen.
Bin Wang had thrown almost 17 meters in his training. If he was able to outdo himself, he might exceed 17 meters.
Jiankang Chen was the strongest among the five. He was smart, a quick learner, and more gifted than the rest. Although he was not as competitive as Xian Su, Dai Li believed that he would definitely have a chance to defeat Xian Su with the help of the explosive force halo.
Xian Su did not forfeit this attempt this time, nor did Dai Li forfeit on behalf of Bin Wang and Jiankang Chen. He sent Bin Wang up first.
This was Bin Wang's debut, which made him slightly nervous. But he was anxious to go. Dai Li boosted his morale in the same way.
Hu Liu squinted his eyes. "This athlete did not compete just now. I'm not sure how good he is. Under most circumstances, the best athletes either compete first to boost the morale, or compete last to ease the others. I do not know how this Dai Li will choose to go about it." Then he smiled. "Even if this athlete is good, he will not be comparable to Xian Su."
"Go for it, Wang!" Dai Li's cheering was still loud and clear, which was the last step of the morale-boosting book. Wang's spirit was suddenly boosted. He then used all his strength to throw the shot.
"This is far!" Hu Liu's eyes suddenly widened. The shot landed on the ground the moment he had the thought.
"17 meters? Did it reach the 17-meter marking?" Hui Zhang craned his head, anxious to know the result.
"I underestimated this athlete. He might be as good as Xian Su! I can't believe that the Hanbei youth team has athletes of this level, especially during a time where they are supposed to be depleted of talent!" Hu Liu became nervous. If the shot had indeed touched the marking, even by a little, it would have been a better result than Xian Su's.
"16.97 meters!" the measurement crew announced with a tone of disappointment and shame.
"Oh, it was close! Just one centimeter off!" Hui Zhang looked mortified, almost as if he had just missed a million-dollar jackpot.
"Phew...it was close. Only off by one centimeter." Hu Liu, on the other hand, was sweating a cold sweat. He was extremely nervous a moment ago, fearing that Xian Su might lose the game.
"Excellent! Great job!" Dai Li continued clapping for his apprentice. Despite Wang not exceeding Xian Su's 16.98 meters, it was a great attempt that was worth acknowledging.
Hui Zhang had a hint of despair in his eyes. "We will not make it in the end. It is not easy to defeat the bronze medalist of the National Track and Field Championship. Besides, there was still a third attempt left. Xian Su might do even better that time.
What Hui Zhang had forgotten was that Jiankang Chen had not competed yet.
"Jiankang Chen, come here!" Dai Li waved his hands to summon Jiankang Chen.
"Sir, do you want to tell me that I am awesome?" Jiankang Chen asked him directly. Dai Li had been saying "you are awesome" every time he used the morale-boosting book earlier.
"Right. You are awesome!" Dai Li felt a little embarrassed, but he said it anyway.
"Sir, if you are not good at complimenting, then do not do it. It sounds pretentious." Jiankang Chen was being snarky again. "How about this: next time I will think of some kind words for you. You can recite them before the match, then use them on us. What do you think?"
"Go ahead with the match now. Do your best. Do not embarrass me!" Dai Li almost kicked Jiankang Chen's butt. But Jiankang Chen walked towards the field chuckling.
"He is an optimistic guy. His morale seems fine!" Dai Li decided to clap for Jiankang Chen anyway.
"Go for it!" As Jiankang Chen was getting ready to throw, Dai Li began cheering.
At that very moment, the morale-boosting book kicked in. Jiankang Chen suddenly had the illusion that he had become an almighty gladiator who was about to step into the arena, surrounded by clapping and cheering. The drum was beating as the audience cheered for him. He was a superstar at the centre of everybody's attention.
He could almost envision a horn that signaled it was time to march forward into battle, which excited him. His heart was burning with passion. His head was filled with intense impulses that would not go away. Even the shot in his hand felt lighter.
"Huhh!" With a loud shout, Jiankang Chen threw the shot.
Jiankang Chen's momentum reached its peak in that moment. The distant measurement crew suddenly moved back a few steps. In fact, they were standing around the 20-meter marking. Only a world-class shot put athlete could throw far enough to hurt him. Nonetheless, he was stunned by Jiankang Chen's momentum.
The shot made a perfect line in the air, then landed solidly, leaving a clear dent.
"17 meters! We made it! It is over 17 meters!" Hui Zhang was the first to yell out in excitement. The dent in the ground was clearly beyond the 17-meter marking, and by quite a bit at that.
"Yay!" Jiankang Chen clenched his fists and shouted in excitement. Behind Dai Li, the other four athletes cheered at the same time.
Hu Liu of Nantan Middle School was shocked. It was as if his chest had been hit by a heavy object.
"How could it be? Over 17 meters! This is a 16 pound ball, and it was thrown beyond 17 meters by a youth athlete! This is definitely a top 10 distance in the national adult championship."
Xian Su's face turned red. He had always been full of confidence, and looked down upon the Hanbei provincial youth team members. Even when Bin Wang had thrown 16.97 meters, it did not make him nervous. But now, a distance beyond 17 meters made his face change.
Everybody could tell that Xian Su was astonished. They were eager to find out how far Jiankang Chen had actually thrown.
The measurement crew took the measurement a few times in the front, then finally announced his result.
"17.11 meters!"
"Excellent job!" Dai Li finally smiled with relief.