I Wasn't Born a Champion - Chapter 4

“Su Yu?”

The assistant coach was stunned when he saw the name. “Ah, Brother Pei, I know about that Zhou Yuang. Before the camp started, the team mentioned we should focus on that kid. But this Su Yu…”

The assistant coach hesitated for a moment and asked tentatively, “Brother Pei, did you get the name wrong?”

Pei Dingshan glanced at him and shook his head. “I didn’t.”

“Uh.” The assistant coach was choked up by Pei Dingshan’s blunt answer but continued to ask incredulously, “Su Yu? The one with the exceptionally poor physical health, whose parents specifically asked the team to reduce his training load?”

Pei Dingshan nodded calmly. “That’s him.”

“…But isn’t he just a filler student in this summer camp??”

The assistant coach, Wang Pengfei, couldn’t help but blur out the question in his heart.

Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, Pei Dingshan actually smiled. His pen tapped on the two characters for “Su Yu” on the training manual as he turned to the assistant coach. “A filler?”

“If every filler student could have this kind of talent, then by all means, bring a few more. Perhaps China’s sprinting project would take flight.”

Wang Pengfei was first dazzled by Pei Dingshan’s smile and then shocked by his words.

“Take flight?” Wang Pengfei said, “Brother Pei, you’re really joking.”

Before this summer camp even opened, several athletes were already well-known within the team. One was Zhou Yuang, the 100m and 200m sprint champion of the provincial middle school games earlier this year. Another was Jiang Yuan, a dual champion in high jump and long jump.

Long before the camp started, the provincial team had specifically gone to Zhou Yuang and Jiang Yuan’s schools to investigate them. They wanted to use this summer camp to test the true mettle of these two young geniuses. If they were suitable, they would be recruited into the provincial youth team.

Aside from Zhou Yuang and Jiang Yuan, there were a few other young athletes worth watching, but Su Yu was not on any of the provincial team’s internal watchlists.

Or rather, while he wasn’t on the watch list, the coaches at the provincial team all knew there was a student named Su Yu who was here purely for physical exercise.

Pei Dingshan’s expression remained unchanged. “I’m not joking.”

Listening to Pei Dingshan, Wang Pengfei froze for a long time before saying hesitantly, “Brother Pei, are you serious?”

“Uh, no… I watched a bit of the morning training just now. That Su Yu is the one standing next to Jiang Yuan and Zhou Yuang, right? The very pretty-looking one?”

“The one who gasps three times for every step he runs? I saw him look like he was about to die after three warm-up laps…” Wang Pengfei choked for a while before asking with difficulty, “How did you see that he’s a good prospect?”

Wang Pengfei knew, of course, that different coaches have different scouting habits. Some coaches can pick out a world-class talent from students who seem utterly mediocre.

But even so, you have to follow the basic laws of physics!

In this entire summer camp, Wang Pengfei wouldn’t have been surprised if Pei Dingshan had taken an interest in anyone else, but this Su Yu… he really couldn’t understand it.

Pei Dingshan looked at the disbelief in Wang Pengfei’s eyes, flipped open his training manual, and turned to the page marked with Su Yu’s name.

As Pei Dingshan opened the manual, Wang Pengfei instinctively stole a glance. He realized that Pei Dingshan had created a uniform table template, breaking down athlete conditions into different screening modules such as physique, talent, technical skill, psychology, and obedience.

As Pei Dingshan flipped through, Wang Pengfei noticed that he had drawn a large “X” directly over the tables of all students who were late or had slacked off.

“This… Brother Pei, isn’t this a bit too arbitrary?”

Pei Dingshan glanced at him and asked expressionlessly, “So you’re saying you want to recruit a batch of ‘good prospects’ for the provincial team who are late, disobedient, and skilled at slacking off?”

Wang Pengfei was choked up again on the spot.

To be fair, in the early years, the provincial team really did have a batch of such good prospects. They had decent physical talent, but entering the provincial team was just a stepping stone for them. With luck, they’d try for the national team. Without it, they’d coast in the provincial team for a steady job and a decent placement after retirement.

You couldn’t expect those athletes to follow the team’s training requirements or regulations. They would slack whenever possible, and for a time, they dragged the team’s atmosphere into the gutter.

Later, the team made a firm decision to clean house, forcing out a group of athletes who had too many violations and abysmal results. Only then did the team’s atmosphere improve significantly.

It was exactly as Pei Dingshan said—did he really want to recruit another batch of those “good prospects”?

But he still hesitated, saying, “It’s only the first day of camp. Some students might just not have adapted yet…”

Pei Dingshan nodded non-committally. “That’s why I gave those who were late a three-day chance.”

“Uh, then the ones slacking off… okay, Brother Pei, I get it!”

Wang Pengfei felt guilty as he spoke—thinking about it, being late is one thing, but those who slacked off clearly had no great interest in improving themselves. There was no need to recruit kids with that kind of mindset.

As he thought this, Pei Dingshan’s manual flipped to Su Yu’s page.

“Name: Su Yu, Age: 14, Height: 169cm, Weight: 50kg.”

Just seeing this, Wang Pengfei started muttering with a frown, “Height 169 and weight only 50kg, that’s way too thin…”

He continued reading as he muttered.

“Conditional Traits: Naturally large stride, high stride frequency, excellent body elasticity, obvious step rebound, naturally stable center of gravity, strong physical recovery, high perceptiveness, rapid and standard mastery of basic techniques, strong pressure resistance…”

As Wang Pengfei read, he became dazed: “Huh? Who is this describing? Is this Su Yu? One by one, point by point, how come I didn’t see a single one of these?!”

“Brother Pei…” Wang Pengfei looked at Pei Dingshan in a daze, “Are you serious?”

Pei Dingshan tapped the data records in Wang Pengfei’s hand. “Based on this, why wouldn’t I be serious?”

“Uh, no, Brother Pei. Mastering basic techniques quickly is one thing, but from that warm-up jog Su Yu did, where did you see that he has a naturally large stride and high frequency?”

“With that speed of his, he’s in the lower-middle tier among those students, right?”

Pei Dingshan let him finish before asking, “Correct. Now tell me, what are the physical conditions of the other students, and what is Su Yu’s?”

Wang Pengfei froze.

Pei Dingshan added: “According to statistics, out of the 101 junior high students participating in the summer camp, everyone except Su Yu has received varying degrees of track and field training.”

“Perhaps you should consider—what does that represent?”

“During the warm-up run phase, Su Yu maintained the maximum speed and maximum stride/frequency within his physical limits from start to finish. Under untrained conditions, his stride is already equal to the vast majority of trained students.”

“Even in a state of physical extremity, he can maintain personal stability. His overall running posture showed no obvious change throughout—when his energy consumption was near the limit, he still possessed a certain level of control over his body to keep his technical movements from deforming.”

“Regardless of whether Su Yu’s technical movements are right or wrong, what do you think that represents?”

Wang Pengfei originally didn’t believe Su Yu had any talent that Pei Dingshan could truly value, or if he did, it couldn’t be anything significant.

But after hearing this string of analysis from Pei Dingshan, Wang Pengfei was truly shocked.

“Oh shit, Brother Pei, is everything you said true?!”

The moment Wang Pengfei asked, he slapped his own head. “Bah, what kind of question is that? Brother Pei, you don’t make reckless jokes!”

After saying that, Wang Pengfei stared at Su Yu’s data in his hand, murmuring, “Holy shit, so this Su Yu really is a prospect with outstanding talent?”

“But that’s still not right!” Wang Pengfei looked at Pei Dingshan anxiously. “Su Yu’s talent might be good, but Brother Pei, his physical condition is really too poor!”

“You saw it too, right? Gasping for air with every step, nearly dead at the end—we all saw that just now, didn’t we?”

Pei Dingshan nodded but pointed to the line strong physical recovery. “Just now, when his body was at its limit during warm-up and nearly collapsing, he basically recovered his state after only three to five minutes of rest. Meanwhile, during the subsequent technical training which was higher in intensity than the warm-up jog, it was obvious that he had stabilized his physical condition.”

“A very smart kid. He quickly grasped the limits of his physical state and maintained a very stable condition throughout the technical training, controlling it within his own recovery range so he wouldn’t push himself beyond what he could bear like during the warm-up.”

“Eh?”

Wang Pengfei was stunned—how did he not know about this?

A trace of a smile flashed in Pei Dingshan’s eyes. “Think about it. During the technical training, did Su Yu look as miserable as he did before?”

“Uh, it seems… he really didn’t?!”

Pei Dingshan smiled. “His basic physical state is indeed poor. However, many of our country’s world-class stars only started exercising because their health was too poor as children, hoping to improve their constitution through sports.”

At this point, he paused and smiled again. “As for how many athletes in international sports are ‘legally’ on drugs, I don’t need to tell you that, do I?”

“Ah, well…”

Wang Pengfei scratched his head sheepishly.

After this series of analyses from Pei Dingshan, he actually felt that this kid Su Yu had pretty good conditions?

Mainly, since Pei Dingshan arrived at their S Province sports team, he rarely showed a smiling face. Mentioning Su Yu today actually made him smile. It was clear their Brother Pei truly felt, from the bottom of his heart, that he had found a treasure.

Even though he still had a sliver of doubt about Su Yu’s talent, Wang Pengfei was now truly convinced by Pei Dingshan.

“Then Brother Pei, remember to give feedback to the team. Oh right, what about Zhou Yuang? What do you think of that kid?”

Pei Dingshan glanced at the manual. “Tall with long legs. 181cm at age 14, still plenty of room to grow. Large stride, strong hip-drive ability, already has a decent technical foundation. Overall conditions are excellent, he’s a good prospect.”

Wang Pengfei: “…”

Wait, you looked rather unenthusiastic while reviewing Zhou Yuang. That makes it hard to be convincing.

In fact, when evaluating Zhou Yuang, Pei Dingshan simply returned to his usual speaking habits, whereas when reviewing Su Yu, he had the joy of a scout discovering a legendary horse.

Even though Pei Dingshan wasn’t a person of great emotional fluctuations, at that moment, he felt a surge of joy.

Su Yu didn’t know about the discussion regarding him between Pei Dingshan and Wang Pengfei. After morning training ended, his body—which hadn’t exercised in too long—was covered in sweat. The sticky, uncomfortable feeling made his irritability index double.

Fortunately, although the dorms of the provincial sports team were simple, the bathroom facilities were complete. Su Yu returned to the dorm, grabbed a change of clothes and a towel, and wanted to head to the shower, but he stopped and frowned when he saw Zhou Yuang and Jiang Yuan.

Zhou Yuang and Jiang Yuan were stared at for two seconds. This time, before Jiang Yuan could speak, Zhou Yuang showed his big white teeth and smiled, “Are you going to shower? Yuan-zi and I want to rest for a bit. You go first.”

Only then did Su Yu give a muffled response and head to the bathroom with his clothes.

As Su Yu brushed past Zhou Yuang, the latter heard a very tiny “thank you,” causing his grin to widen even further.

Once Su Yu entered the bathroom, Zhou Yuang whispered to Jiang Yuan outside, “Heh, Yuan-zi, our Little Ancestor is really cute.”

Jiang Yuan rolled his eyes at him. “Enough, don’t go ‘our Little Ancestor’ this and that. That’s my Little Ancestor.”

After saying that, he laughed himself. A moment later, he whispered to Zhou Yuang: “Xiao Yu has a bit of an awkward personality, but he really has no malice. He actually has a very good personality.”

“Don’t look at how he likes to keep a cold face, he’s actually like a kitten. If you coax him, you can smooth his fur.”

Zhou Yuang laughed too. “That is pretty cute. But what’s with ‘my house’ and ‘your house’?”

Jiang Yuan huffed. “Of course. Auntie Lin even said Xiao Yu is my little ‘child bride.’ Isn’t that my Little Ancestor?”

After saying that, Jiang Yuan laughed bashfully. “Alright, no joking. Anyway, just know Xiao Yu means no harm. I’m just afraid someone will say they don’t mind at first, only to later dislike his quiet and brooding personality.”

Hearing Jiang Yuan’s words, Zhou Yuang blinked and nodded understandingly.

When Su Yu came out, what he saw was Zhou Yuang leaning over to pat his head. Caught off guard, Su Yu had his head patted, and a fluffy dry towel landed on his head at the same time.

“Quick, quick, Xiao Yu, dry your hair first. Breakfast is coming up soon.”

Before Su Yu could throw a couple of eye-daggers at the sudden attacker, Zhou Yuang grabbed his own towel and change of clothes and zipped into the bathroom like a flash. Immediately after, the sound of splashing water came from inside.

With the dry towel covering his head, Su Yu looked exactly like a dazed kitten with wet fur. The icy expression on his face disappeared in an instant, replaced by a look of total blankness.

Jiang Yuan found it funny. He stood up, pressed Su Yu down onto his bed, picked up the towel, and began to dry his hair for him, nagging all the while: “How many times did Uncle Su and Auntie Lin tell you? Dry your hair before coming out of the shower so you don’t catch a cold…”

Su Yu was a bit annoyed by the nagging, but he knew he was in the wrong, so he just stayed silent.

Jiang Yuan didn’t care if his Little Ancestor was angry or not. He used the towel to dry Su Yu’s hair meticulously over and over. When the hair was half-dry, he looked down and asked, “How is it? Not feeling unwell anywhere?”

Su Yu shook his head. Just as he responded with a “fine,” Zhou Yuang came out of the bathroom after a lightning-fast shower.

“Yuan-zi, quick, quick! Rinse off! We need to get to breakfast. Morning training starts again at 8:30!”

Jiang Yuan let go of the towel, tossed it to Su Yu to finish drying his hair, and quickly entered the bathroom for a battle shower.

By the time the three of them finished showering and reached the provincial team canteen, many people were already eating. The S Province team had ample funding and had even hired a dedicated sports nutritionist in recent years to provide nutritional meals for athletes of different projects. The canteen was equipped with a special digital screen for meal references. If a provincial team athlete scanned their fingerprint, the nutritionist’s recent meal suggestions would pop up. This was considered a leading setup among provincial teams in China.

As summer camp students, they didn’t have one-on-one meal suggestions, but the team nutritionist had provided a unified “Summer Camp Participant Meal Suggestion” based on the students’ age group and the intensity of the training they would undergo over the next 40 days. As long as they ate according to the chart, it would be enough to guarantee the nutrients needed during training.

Of course, that’s just how it was phrased. It didn’t mean students could only take food from the suggested area. The canteen was buffet-style. They were all fourteen and fifteen-year-old kids; they craved everything they saw. Right now, many students were picking whatever they liked.

When the three arrived, Zhou Yuang asked casually, “Xiao Yu, what are you eating?”

Su Yu ignored him, scanned his fingerprint at the electronic station, checked the “Summer Camp Participant Nutrition Suggestion” options that popped up, noted a few items, and headed to the food counter.

Zhou Yuang laughed at Su Yu’s actions and nudged Jiang Yuan with his shoulder. “Heh, our Little Ancestor isn’t a picky eater. I was just about to suggest he’d better eat according to the nutritionist’s balance.”

Jiang Yuan couldn’t be bothered with him. “Xiao Yu has never been greedy for food. He’s been weak since he was little and couldn’t eat many things. He’s been taking medicine since he was a kid without Uncle Su and Auntie Lin ever having to worry. What they worry about is how to make limited things nutritious for him.”

“This nutritionist’s suggestion is already plenty of variety for Xiao Yu.”

Zhou Yuang listened and smacked his lips, lamenting: “Hey, tell you what, I really think our Little Ancestor is great material for an athlete. Good body elasticity, good perceptiveness, quick learner, can endure hardship, and even disciplined with his diet…”

Jiang Yuan, tired of Zhou Yuang’s blabbering, retorted: “Then I could say Xiao Yu is great material for a top scholar. He was sick so much he barely attended school as a kid, relying on tutors and self-study, yet he ranks top three in his grade every year.”

The two bickered while getting their food and sat down next to Su Yu.

Perhaps because the summer camp was hosted by a sports team, the topic of discussion among the students in the dining hall was the final World U18 Championships (World Youth Championships), to be held in Nairobi, the capital of the East African nation of Kenya, in a few days.

“What are the dates for the World Youth Championships again?”

“July 12th to July 16th, right?”

“Speaking of which, is this really the last World Youth Championships?”

“Yeah, IAAF reform. They say the athletes are too young and countries were over-exploiting junior athletes to get good results, so they’re stopping it.”

“Actually, whether they stop it or not has nothing to do with us. It’s not like we could participate anyway. Each country can only register two people per event. To participate, you’d first have to reach the national top two in the trials! And your results have to meet the standard. Let’s not mention anything else—can you run the 100m under 10.85 seconds? If not, don’t think about it.”

“Huh? 100m in 10.85? That’s almost at the National First-Class standard! Hehe, let me tell you, I have no hope for electronic timing, but for manual timing? If the coach’s hand shakes, I’m in!”

“You’re killing me. Why not have him shake a 9.85 and break the World U18 record while he’s at it?”

“Pfft, dream bigger. If his hand is shaking anyway, why stop at 9.85? Just shake an 8.85 and break the human limit!”

Listening to these wild discussions nearby, Jiang Yuan joined in the conversation: “Hey, speaking of which, Aung-zi, didn’t you go to the World Youth trials? You were the 100m and 200m champion for the provincial middle school games this year, weren’t you?”

Zhou Yuang shook his head. “I’m not good enough. I was only the champion of the Grade 7 group. My 100m is 11.33, I’ve never been able to break 11.30. My school track coach said I’m still developing and lack explosive power. He said once my body develops and my muscles grow, I’ll naturally break 11 seconds and told me not to rush. But I don’t think that’s right. There are problems with my start-transition-acceleration and my mid-phase running. So I want to find a better coach to teach me.”

Su Yu ate his meal in silence while listening to Zhou Yuang.

Among the three in their dorm—or even all the summer camp participants—the one with the most steadfast goal was likely Zhou Yuang.

Jiang Yuan also admired Zhou Yuang’s determination. He patted Zhou Yuang’s shoulder: “Your talent is so good, and you have the drive to push down this path. As long as you perform well in this summer camp, you will definitely get your wish!”

Zhou Yuang gave a cheeky smile and asked Jiang Yuan what his plans were.

“Me?”

For Jiang Yuan, different coaches and teachers had told his parents since he was little that his athletic talent was great and it would be a waste not to train professionally. In this year’s provincial middle school games, he not only won the double championship in long jump and high jump, but his winning marks even surpassed those of the Grade 8 students.

Compared to popular sports like basketball or soccer, he seemed more interested in the not-so-popular long jump and high jump, but he hadn’t thought much about going professional yet.

At fourteen or fifteen, boys like Zhou Yuang who are firmly committed to going professional are a rare minority.

Jiang Yuan scratched his head. “I don’t know. We’ll see.”

Zhou Yuang didn’t press him. He turned the question to Su Yu: “Xiao Yu, what about you? Do you want to be a professional athlete?”

Beside them, Jiang Yuan was about to laugh and say “How is that possible,” but instead, he heard an answer that stunned him.

“Yes.”

?!

Just a single syllable left Jiang Yuan frozen in his tracks.

Before he could ask when Su Yu developed this idea, another voice popped up from behind them: “In that case, are you interested in training with me?”

Hearing this, Jiang Yuan turned his head in shock to see the man who had intimidated the entire camp with his demonic memory during morning training… Pei Dingshan?!