Philip's tone became much more modest. He was like a transfer student who had just entered a new school. He introduced himself: "The main event I practice is the 100-meter dash, and occasionally I practice the 200-meter dash. I now need to run the 100-meter dash." It took 13 seconds and 35 seconds, and I hope that through training, I can improve this time to less than 13 seconds."
"According to your T43 level, if you can run under 13 seconds, you have a chance to participate in international competitions." Li Dai said.
Running 100 meters in 13 seconds is not even considered a third-level athlete in China. Many middle school students can run faster than him. However, for a disabled athlete with amputations of both feet, a speed of 100 meters in less than 13 seconds is already an international level. It's up to the level of the National Sports Games. In the T43 level, the world record for 100 meters is only 12.20 seconds.
"Let me see what his talent is first." Dai Li detected Phillip.
"For 100 meters, the talent is A-, for the 200 meters, the talent is A, and for the 400 meters, the talent is A+!" Li Dai suddenly took a breath of air, the result was beyond his expectation.
"A-level talent, world champion-level talent! It's such a pity that he, a disabled person, has an A-level talent. He has such a good sprinting talent, but he doesn't have feet!" Dai Li thought with great regret.
The disabled athletes who came earlier were generally D-level talents, not even a C-level talent.
After all, the athlete selection and training system in the United States is different from that in China. Domestic athletes are selected on a one-to-one basis. Sports schools, municipal teams, provincial teams, and national teams train and select at all levels. In the end, those who stand out must be the most talented ones. Those who can't be chosen should change careers as soon as possible and don't waste time. Therefore, those who can become athletes in China must have some athletic talent.
However, American athletes all rely on their own money to train. The coaches don’t care whether you have talent or not. They provide training services after receiving money. Therefore, although there are many people in the United States engaged in sports, the proportion of people with real talent is not high. There are only a small number of people who are truly suitable for eating the rice bowl of athletes.
A-level sprinting talent is also rare among American athletes. However, the Philip in front of him, although he has A-level sprinting talent, has lost both feet.
Dai Li's eyes showed disappointment and regret. He was convinced that if Philip was a normal person, then he could train Philip to become a world champion!
Phillip didn't pay attention to Dai Li's expression. He took out a pair of semi-curved black sheets from his backpack.
"Is this a sports prosthesis?" Dai Li recognized this thing.
"The Leopard blade prosthesis is also the most advanced sports prosthesis in the world. It weighs 8 pounds. The thickest part of the prosthesis has 80 layers of carbon fiber, and the bottom is the sole of a running shoe. I went to a equipment company for the disabled in Iceland to customize it. , it cost me a total of twenty-five thousand US dollars, and more than half of the disability compensation I received from the insurance company was spent on prosthetics." Philip said.
"Then why did you lose your feet?" Dai Li paused and then said, "Don't get me wrong, I'm not inquiring about your privacy. I want to make a detailed assessment of your situation and then formulate specific training." plan."
Phillip nodded and introduced his experience: "I have loved various sports since I was a child, including rugby, basketball, tennis, boxing, and golf. I also like riding motorcycles. My previous ambition was to be a rugby player. I I was also the main proofreader in high school, but after graduating from high school, no university was willing to provide me with a scholarship. For my family's financial situation, university tuition was too expensive, so I did not go to university, but chose to join the army. Because after joining the army, I can apply for tuition subsidies. With this subsidy, I will have money to go to college after I retire."
"However, a year after I joined the army, I was deployed to Iraq. You know, in Iraq, we were not welcomed by the locals. Even if we stayed in the 'Green Zone', we had to worry about being flown overhead. rockets. I was more unlucky and stepped on a landmine during an operation. Fortunately, it was a homemade landmine, not a professional anti-infantry mine. Otherwise, I would not only lose my legs, but I would probably be dead. .”
"Then I returned to the United States. I received disability insurance from the insurance company, and the government would also pay me monthly benefits for disabled military personnel. I used the disability insurance money to buy a set of ordinary prostheses, and then trained to walk. At that time, I naively thought that as long as I could walk like a normal person, I could live a life like a normal person."
"But when I could walk normally, I still couldn't find a formal job. I didn't go to college. People who haven't gone to college can only do some physical work, but as a disabled person, I can't Even if I wanted to do heavy manual labor, employers would not hire me. Employers would be worried that labor protection organizations and disability protection organizations would accuse them of abusing disabled people. They were unwilling to cause trouble for themselves, so I could only fight. Odd jobs.”
"I joined the army for a better life. I didn't want to be at the bottom of society. However, when I lost my feet and left the army, I found that I was still at the bottom of society. I had no job and relied on doing odd jobs and getting paid. Life on the relief fund. I was very decadent at that time, and I thought that my whole life would pass by like this, until one day, I met Johnny."
"Johnny was my commander when I first arrived in Iraq, an Army sergeant. Later, he was burned by a gasoline bomb. During the treatment, the doctor gave him morphine, and he became addicted to drugs and began to drink alcohol. So when I When I met him, he had become homeless and slept on the street. All the disabled military subsidies provided by the government were used by him to buy alcohol. He only lived by going to charity organizations to receive food every day. It was really It’s hard to imagine that that heroic sergeant on the battlefield turned into a drug addict and drunkard!”
"The moment I saw Johnny, I seemed to see my own future, and I began to be afraid. I was worried that I would become Johnny, a homeless drunk, so I felt that I must not After losing myself, I should do something meaningful. I planned to try to be an amateur athlete, so I made a special trip to Iceland and ordered this set of Panther-style blade prostheses."
"Initially, I planned to play rugby. I joined a rugby club, but the confrontational nature of this sport didn't seem to be suitable for people like me who have lost both feet. My sports prostheses are very hard and can easily cause pain. Injuries, including myself. In a competition, I was injured and sprained my knee. I started running to recover. At that time, the coach of the club felt that I had a talent for sprinting, so he suggested that I participate in track and field training, and then I started trying. Practice sprinting.”
Dai Li nodded silently. He sympathized with Philip's experience. If it weren't for the war, Philip might have been able to complete his military service safely, get that special scholarship, go to a university, and find a decent job after graduation. Work.
After adjusting his mood, Dai Li said: "The difference between you and ordinary athletes is that both legs and ankles have been amputated, which means you don't have feet. The feet are the most important weight-bearing and supporting organs of the human body. In addition, the legs Feet can also adjust the balance of the human body, and I don’t think your prosthetic limbs can replace your feet anyway.”
"As a sprinter, you are missing a very important organ, and that is the Achilles tendon! For sprinters, the explosive power of pushing off the ground mainly comes from the Achilles tendon, so without the Achilles tendon, you will suffer from explosive power. It's seriously affected. If I'm not wrong, your start will be very slow. I don't know if your leopard blade prosthesis can provide you with extra elasticity, but it is not a part of your body after all, so What I am sure of is that after you start, you must spend 20 to 30 meters to find an appropriate running rhythm."
"Let's talk about other aspects next. Let's talk about the calves first. When you walk, the forces on your calves are also different... "
"And your thighs, when you step..."
"Swinging your arms should be your main way to maintain balance, but..."
Li Dai went on talking about Phillip's shortcomings one by one, and Phillip's expression gradually became solemn, then surprised, and finally one of admiration.
"Coach Li got it all right. He was able to deduce so many things just by seeing my prosthetic legs! No wonder even Allen Hampton came to him for training."
At this time, Philip had completely lost his contempt for Dai Li. All the points-reducing items for Chinese Americans in sports were all put aside by Philip. Philip was eager to get into training right away.
…
Philip started training, but soon he discovered that Dai Li's training not only involved physical fitness, but also included some training on sprinting skills. Moreover, Dai Li's training skills in sprinting were no less than those of professional track and field coaches. .
"My disciple once won the 100-meter and 200-meter championships in the Asian Games." Li Dai explained in a slightly showy tone.
Among the sports games on all continents in the world, the track and field events of the Asian Games should be the lowest. Compared with Europe, the United States and even Africa, the gold content of the Asian Games sprint championship is obviously the lowest.
But in a place like the United States, anyone with skills can easily find a job. The more talented people are, the more valuable they are. Athletes will flock to coaches who have some achievements. A coach who is a champion sprinter in the Asian Games can also find a job. Enough to call yourself a high-level coach.
"Coach Li is actually the championship coach of the Asian Games. It seems that I have really earned it!" Philip thought of this and asked tentatively: "Coach, can you be my coach? I mean, not only In terms of physical training, but also in terms of sprinting.”
"No problem, but I don't have a long enough runway here." Dai Li thought for a while and then said: "If you don't mind it, you can draw a temporary runway in the open space outside the training hall."
"Great!" Phillip suddenly looked excited, but the next second, he suddenly thought of other things.
"Well, Coach Li, there's another problem. I'm still receiving relief subsidies, so I still don't have money to pay you." Phillip said with an embarrassed look.
"I don't plan to charge you either!" Dai Li said and laughed.
However, Phillip shook his head: "Coach Li, how about I owe it first? When I get a sponsor, I will definitely pay you back the money with interest!"
…
After all, Philip has A-level sprinting talent. Although he lost his legs, his performance began to improve rapidly when training began.
Two weeks later.
On the temporary track outside the training hall, Dai Li looked at the electronic timer in his hand with a look of confusion on his face.
"11 seconds 99, he broke the 12 second mark, did I remember it wrong!" Dai Li muttered to himself.
Manual timing is about 0.2 seconds faster than electronic timing, so a manual timing of 11.99 seconds is equivalent to 12.19 seconds if replaced by electronic timing. Although the 0.2 second error between manual timing and electronic timing is not absolutely accurate, the error is not too large.
However, Dai Li knew that in Philip's T43 level, the world record for 100 meters was only 12.20 seconds, which meant that after just two weeks of training, Philip had the ability to break the world record for the disabled T43 level!
"I used to think that training disabled athletes for free was a loss-making business, but now it seems that I have found a treasure!" Dai Li sighed in his heart.