Meanwhile, Coach Lu, the chief coach of the Youth Team, was sitting in the meeting room, anxiously waiting the results. He was holding a form in his hand that listed all the events. After each title of each event there was a big red cross, indicating that the Youth Team had failed in the event.
Fail, fail again! We began preparing one week beforehand, yet we are being disastrously defeated. Nantan Middle School is strong, and they are well-prepared. We will be their stepping-stone.
Coach Lu sighed with disappointment. The Youth Team was good at middle and long distance running, especially in the 1500m and 5000m. The team had earned several national championship titles in the 1500m, while in the 5000m, the team had also raised some Asian Games champions.
Unfortunately, the youth team had failed in the two events. The main reason for this was that the best athletes had been selected to the Provincial Sport Team, and the new athletes were not good enough to compete yet.
Damn! If I had another half year to train the new athletes, we would not fail! Coach Lu gnashed his teeth in anger.
Every team has reported their results except for the throwing team. I will cross my fingers and pray that we win at least one of the four throwing events. Coach Lu stared at the form, praying in his heart.
Javelin is not our strong suit, so forget about that; Coach Sun of the discus team is experienced. He might win; hammer is one of our strengths. Coach Cai has been evaluated as an excellent coach for two years. Even though the best athletes were taken away, he should be able to handle the situation.
Finally, Coach Lu focused on the shot put team.
"Dai Li is the new coach of the shot put team It seems like he has a good relationship with Coach Xu from the swimming team. Coach Xu called me to take care of Dai Li. Because Dai Li was introduced as a person with ability, he should have some strengths. Alas, Nantan's trump card, the National Youth Games third place finisher, is a shot putter. We cannot defeat that guy.
Suddenly, Coach Lu's phone rang. He picked it up and answered the call.
"Coach Lu, we failed in javelin!" said the caller.
"Got it." Coach Lu was not surprised. Javelin was not their strength.
One minute later, Coach Lu's phone rang again.
"Coach Lu, we failed in discus! But we didn't lose by too much..." said the caller.
"Failure is failure, no matter how much we lose by," said Coach Lu. "Tell me the details..."
Ending the conversation, Coach Lu shook his head helplessly.
I expected the discus team to win the game. Seems like my expectations were too high. Coach Sun is a skillful coach, but he does not have any amazing athletes. Now we have to depend on the hammer team. If Coach Cai also fails, our team will be completely dominated by Nantan.
Coach Lu put his phone right in front of him as he stared at the screen, waiting for the next phone call.
Ring ring... the phone rang. Coach Lu picked it up immediately.
"So, how are you doing over there? Did we win?" Coach Lu asked straightforwardly.
"We almost won!" the caller answered.
"Almost! So we fail again!" Coach Lu was upset.
Coach Cai of the hammer team was an excellent coach, and was also one of the best coaches on the Youth Team. Coach Lu was praying that he would win, but the result was not what he had hoped for.
All the good athletes were taken away! We cannot do it! If even Coach Cai failed, then we have been defeated by Nantan!
Although the Hanbei Youth Team was not the first team to be beaten by Nantan, and Coach Lu had prepared for the failure, when the time came, he still felt unhappy.
As for shot put, Coach Lu did not even fool himself into thinking the team could win. Nantan had sent their best shot putter. According to the team's current ability, they would never win the game.
"Why won't Coach Lu answer me?" Coach Zhang was staring at the re-dial icon, counting the seconds.
Coach Zhang had jsut called Coach Lu, but the phone had rang several times, only for Coach Lu to not answer.
Perhaps he is out without his phone? Or maybe he is too busy to answer it? If it is the latter, should I even bother him? Will he be upset me? Coach Zhang hesitated for a few seconds, then finally pressed the re-dial button.
Whatever. I have a good news for him. He won't blame me for my rudeness!
The phone rang again, pulling Coach Lu back to reality. The screen displayed Coach Zhang's name.
He must have the results for me, thought Coach Lu.
But he was in a bad mood. He ignored the phone call.
He must be calling to tell me that they failed. I already know the result, stop bothering me! Coach Lu wanted to ignore the bad news, so Coach Zhang's call, leaving the phone ringing on the table.
Soon, Coach Zhang called again.
Why won't you leave me alone! Coach Lu was pissed off. He answered the call and said in a serious tone, "What is the result? How much did we lose by? Were we defeated badly?"
Coach Zhang did not notice Coach Lu's tone. He was still excited. "Coach Lu, we won! The shot put team won!"
"What did you say? We won? Say it again!" Coach Lu sat up straight right away.
"We won the game!" Coach Zhang repeated.
"How is that possible? Did the third place finisher show up?" asked Coach Lu.
"He did. But he was defeated," answered Coach Zhang.
"Was he injured? Did he hurt himself?" Coach Lu asked maliciously.
"No, nothing happened,Coach Zhang.
"Then how did we win?" Coach Lu was confused.
Coach Lu's questions confused Coach Zhang.
"How did we win? It is not a battle. If it was basketball or ping-pong, I could describe the process in detail. But it is shot put! Isn't the game only about throwing a shot the furthest to win the game?"
Coach Zhang had a perplexed look on his face. He said, "Our athletes threw the shot further, so we won!"
The next second, Coach Lu's roar could be heard on Coach Zhang's phone. "Idiot! I know that whoever throws the ball further wins the game! I'm asking for the details!"