As the Swedish Open approaches, the national table tennis team has begun to prepare for the competition. The original two days of rest a week has become one day of rest every two weeks, and the daily training time will be extended by two hours.
At six o'clock in the morning, when Dai Li arrived at the training ground, he found that all the members of the first team had arrived early and started to warm up.
Today, the first team of the National Table Tennis Team will hold a practice match within the team. The practice match adopts a large round-robin competition method and must be played in one day. A win will get 1 point and a loss will result in no points. After the game, the players will be ranked according to the points.
There are a fixed number of 26 people in a team, thirteen men and women, so each person will have twelve opponents, and the game will take twelve games. If one game takes one hour, it will take twelve hours to complete the twelve games. , excluding the time for eating and resting, it is inevitable to play from morning to night.
Moreover, playing twelve games a day is also a relatively big test for the athletes' physical fitness. There are no weaklings in the national table tennis team. Anyone on the world stage is capable of winning the world championship. No one dares to guarantee that he will win 100% against a certain teammate, so every game is This cannot be taken lightly.
This kind of intensive competition is obviously more advantageous for young players. Young players are full of energy, but older players are not as physically strong as young people, and they may suffer from physical injuries. It may be difficult for them to bear this kind of competition. Long game.
Everyone is teammates and knows each other relatively well, so in this kind of intra-team practice match, the head coach often does not provide guidance to the athletes and relies entirely on the athletes themselves to adjust the game tactics.
After playing from early morning to dark, the game finally ended. The athletes dragged their tired bodies and reviewed their results.
"Wang Anshan won twelve games in a row without losing a single game! His condition is really at an all-time high."
"Zuo Xiangxian also had 11 points. He only lost to Wang Anshan and won all other games."
"Didn't Zuo Xiangxian have a waist injury? He was training with a waist protector in the past few days. I thought he was going to lose a few more games!"
"When I played with Zuo Xiangxian today, he was not as aggressive as usual, and it didn't look like he had a back injury at all. His pen-holding style is so annoying, and his stalemate ability is so strong that he basically wins in three shots. If we don’t come down, we will definitely lose this ball.”
"When you said that, I also remembered that he was like this when he played with me. And I met him in the eleventh game."
"The eleventh game is coming to an end. If he is still in great condition at that time, it means that his recent back injury must be much better."
Amidst the commotion, Cui Pengfei's face looked a little unnatural.
In this practice match, Cui Pengfei only scored 6 points, which means he won six games and lost six games. He was obviously not satisfied with this result.
As a Grand Slam table tennis player, Cui Pengfei was the "first brother" of the national table tennis team three or four years ago. But now due to injuries, not only has he failed to retain his position as the "first brother", he has even often lost to The "little brothers" in the team.
Zuo Xiangxian has also been troubled by injuries. It can be said that he and Cui Pengfei are close brothers. Judging from today's game, the impact of Zuo Xiangxian's injuries has been minimal.
"I'm lagging behind!" Cui Pengfei clenched his fists tightly. His pride told him that he didn't want to be the one holding him back.
…
In the restaurant, Zuo Xiangxian's plate obviously contained many more dishes than usual.
Perhaps because the injury has been alleviated, Zuo Xiangxian has been in a very happy mood recently, or perhaps because he has been training more recently, Zuo Xiangxian's appetite has also increased.
Cui Pengfei hesitated for a few seconds, then walked over and sat down opposite Zuo Xiangxian.
The two have been teammates for so many years and train together all day long, so they are not strangers. Cui Pengfei directly asked: "How is your back injury?"
"Much better. Take care of yourself and don't get too tired. It shouldn't affect the game. What about you?" Zuo Xiangxian asked rhetorically.
"It's still the same as before." Cui Pengfei said after a pause: "Maybe it's even more serious than before."
Zuo Xiangxian seemed to have guessed Cui Pengfei's purpose. He knew that Cui Pengfei must have come to inquire about how his back injury improved.
The next second, Zuo Xiangxian showed a sunny smile and said, "You can go find Coach Li. He is very good at rehabilitation training."
"Coach Li? Is that the new physical coach?" Cui Pengfei asked doubtfully.
"Yes, that's him!" Zuo Xiangxian nodded seriously.
"He should be about the same age as us, right?" A trace of distrust appeared on Cui Pengfei's face.
Zuo Xiangxian had long expected Cui Pengfei's reaction. Cui Pengfei's character was that he was not afraid of anything and would not accept anyone. Many experienced coaches in the team could not control him, and a newcomer like Li Dai could not control him. How could a young coach gain Cui Pengfei's trust
"Brother Cui, let me tell you that although Coach Li is young, he does have real abilities. My waist injury is not much worse than your shoulder injury, but it has improved now. This is the credit of Coach Li." Zuo. Xiang Xian paused and then said, "When you go to find Coach Li, don't do whatever you want!"
…
"Dong dong dong..." There was a knock on the door. Li Dai stood up, opened the door, and saw Cui Pengfei standing there.
"Cui Pengfei? Is something wrong?" Dai Li asked subconsciously.
Cui Pengfei nodded, and Li Dai called Cui Pengfei into the room: "Come in and talk!"
Cui Pengfei is a very straightforward person. When he walked into Dai Li's room, he said directly without polite words: "Coach Li, I would like to ask you to help me with rehabilitation training."
Dai Li's expression did not change, but he secretly thought in his heart: This Cui Pengfei is finally here.
Cui Pengfei can be said to be the most individual athlete in the national table tennis team. It is said that he is unruly and unruly and is not suitable for the training system within this domestic system. As an athlete in China, you must listen to the coach and you will contradict the coach if you have nothing to do. Those who should have been eliminated from the ranks of athletes as early as the youth sports school stage. However, Cui Pengfei's father is the table tennis coach of the sports school, so he can always play table tennis. Facing his own father, he can never let his temper be.
When he was fourteen years old, Cui Pengfei was selected for the national team. It only took him 10 months to rise from the second national team to the first national team. This can be said to be a rocket-like improvement in the national team. . However, a year later, he was expelled from the national team for violating discipline. He was only fifteen years old that year.
However, the brilliance of talent cannot be concealed. After two years in the provincial team, Cui Pengfei returned to the national team. But in the national team, there are few coaches who dare to take over coaching Cui Pengfei. Everyone knows that Cui Pengfei is not easy to coach.
Cui Pengfei is a well-known "thorn" in the national team, and he is also a strong and accomplished one. The title of Table Tennis Grand Slam is not empty, and this has become Cui Pengfei's "protective umbrella", allowing him to He can be more unique.
This kind of character of Cui Pengfei has been reported by the media eight hundred times. Dai Li already knew about it before he came to the national team.
Dai Li doesn't think he has any "domineering spirit" in him, which can make Cui Pengfei, a prickly person, "bow down". So he had been deliberately avoiding too much contact with Cui Pengfei during training. Because Li Dai knows that if he wants to tame a "cold" athlete like Cui Pengfei, he must be more "cold" than him.
Li Dai's rehabilitative massage would definitely be of great help to Cui Pengfei's injury, but Li Dai did not take the initiative. Instead, he chose to wait. He waited for Cui Pengfei to come to the door, and waited for Cui Pengfei to take the initiative to ask for his help. when. Only when Dai Li takes action can Cui Pengfei be convinced.
Facing a rebellious person like Cui Pengfei, if Li Dai chased Cui Pengfei and said, "I'll treat your injury," it would definitely have the opposite effect. As a coach, if Dai Li cannot establish his own authority, the effectiveness of training will be greatly reduced.
Now, Dai Li finally waited until Cui Pengfei came to his door.
If possible, Li Dai even hopes to help Cui Pengfei when he is cornered, so that the effect will be better.
Help in times of need is always more memorable than the icing on the cake.