Chapter 7 - Convinced
"One, two, three, four…even that fat potato was able to do four pull-ups!"
"And he was halfway to the fifth one. If he had tried harder maybe he could have made it!"
Zhenye Zhu got on the horizontal bar and finished four pull-ups in one go. He ran out of strength when trying to do the fifth one, so he only made it halfway, but it was still very impressive. The parents were not that shocked because they had already seen Xiaoming Huang's performance.
The person who felt most embarrassed was Zhenye Zhu's mom. A minute ago she had said Dai Li had hired a swindler. Now her own son had done four and a half pull-ups. It couldn't be that she herself was hired as a coverup!
Being parents, they clearly knew what their children were capable of. Zhenye Zhu's mother knew that he couldn't even do one pull-up normally with his own ability. It was unbelievable that he could do four and a half pull-ups after one day's training. It was strong evidence that Dai Li was really good at training.
"Son, how many can you do?" one of the parent asked his child in a low voice.
"I can do four, too," the teenager said. He sounded very proud.
The other parents also started to ask their children and they all got a very satisfying answer.
All the parents looked at Dai Li differently now. Their disdain had turned into trust and admiration. A few minutes ago, Dai Li had just been some undergraduate student who knew nothing in their eyes. Now he was a training master to them.
All the changes on those parents' faces didn't escape Dai Li's eyes. He started, "You all think that I'm too young and have no experience—that I must be worse than others at training. But sports training is not all about age or experience. The training results are more related to science. The more scientific the training is, the better the result is. If the training is not scientific, then the result might fall behind, and the sports ability might be worse than before. What's worse, athletes could get injured.
"My major is sports training, which includes courses in scientific training. In fact, the scientific training that I learned in college is also a kind of experience. It summarized all the successful experiences, and helped me absorb the essence of them and leave out the drugs. After the selection and arrangement of experiences, they put them in the textbook for us to study."
Dai Li exhaled deeply after finishing his speech. All the parents nodded, agreeing with Dai Li's point of view.
Zhenye Zhu's mother was the first to respond. "Coach Li makes a very good point. There are many coaches on sports teams who have been teaching for 20 or 30 years who may not even have high school diplomas. When it comes to scientific training, we should look for these young people who have been to college."
Maybe she was trying to make up for what she had said about Dai Li being a "swindler." Zhenye Zhu's mother had changed her attitude to show her sincerity, and was the first one to support Dai Li.
Dai Li felt it was almost time to go, so he said, "Alright, everybody, it's pretty late now. If you still want to quit the class, just go to the Talent Education office. There will be someone who can give you the refund. If you still want to stay in my class, come here on time tomorrow."
Quit the class? Refund? A few minutes ago, that was what those parents were expecting. But only fools would quit the class now!
"No! No way we are going to quit the class! My mind can only be put at ease if my son can follow Coach Li and learn!" Xiaoming Huang's father patted his chest and said.
"How could we quit the class when there is such an incredible coach like Coach Li! Coach, please pay more attention to my son."
"Coach Li. Please feel free to hit my son if he does something wrong."
…
Jianguo Chen looked at the clock on the wall. It was already eight o'clock at night, but nobody was coming for a refund.
"What's wrong? There should be plenty of parents who want refunds. Where are they? Is there a traffic jam? No way. It's close enough that they can just get here by foot," Jianguo Chen mumbled.
Dai Li was partly to blame for the confusion Jianguo Chen was experiencing. If he had some working experience, he would've known that he should have called Jianguo Chen. First to relay what had just happened and to explain why the parents wouldn't ask for refunds anymore, and then to ask for the credit. However, Dai Li's working experience was close to none, so he went back home after solving the problem without letting Jianguo Chen know, not knowing better. This made Jianguo Chen wait a few hours.
"Could it be that Li didn't explain it clearly to the parents?" Jianguo Chen couldn't wait anymore, so he called Dai Li.
"Hello, Li, this is Jianguo Chen. Have you managed to tell the parents who want refunds to bring their receipts? You did? Then why there is nobody here. What? They quit asking for the refunds? All of them? For what? Because they are satisfied with your training? You say they would love to stay and continue learning?"
Jianguo Chen hung up the phone, but after a few minutes he still couldn't understand the situation here. His mind was a mess and he still had a confused look.
"What was that? They are satisfied with his training results? This sounds so unbelievable. Did Li cast a spell on them or something?"
…
The next day was Monday. Because the students had to go to school during the day, the training would start at 17:30 and last until 19:30, lasting two hours total.
All the students arrived on time. Dai Li changed the training focus. The day before, only pull-ups had been on the training list. However, that was not the only requirement of the PE exam. Students also had to complete the standing long jump and 1000m race. Dai Li decided to alternate between the training of these three activities.
Pull-ups were mainly about the strength of the upper limbs, while standing long jump was about the power and strength of the legs. The two subjects did not influence each other. The 1000m race in track and field was put in the category of middle-distance race, which tested endurance. A long-distance race was an actual test of one's endurance, but considering the physical abilities of middle school students, the 1000m race was already long enough.
Dai Li wouldn't let his training get the better of him. He was a sports training major, after all. He had gained essential knowledge and skills in teaching effectively, the effect of sports on the body, and professional training methods. That was more than enough for him to train these middle school students.
In the enrollment office of SA Education, in front of the manager of enrollment, there sat a middle-aged man in his forties. He was of average height with tanned skin. He had small eyes, a flat nose, and sharp jawline; he was not good looking.
This was Coach Shouliang Zhao.
The manager of enrollment was full of smiles. He poured Shouliang Zhao a cup of tea and said, "Coach Zhao, you said that you would attract students from Talent Education the other day. Our training class has already been going for three or four days, but the students haven't come yet."
"They haven't? There are no students today again?" Shouliang Zhao stopped and asked himself. "That's impossible! All those parents must already know that I left Talent Education and came here."
"I asked about it and found out that Talent Education found someone to replace you right after you left. It seems like that new coach managed to convince all the students to stay."
Shouliang Zhao frowned after hearing his words. He thought about it, then said, "I have the numbers of a few parents that I saved during the enrollment period. I'll ask them what happened."