Almighty Coach

The second training camp for the US National Track and Field Team.

"Jimmy, have you heard that our new coach is Rivers." Alexander said with a smile.

"Which Rivers?" Jimmy Irwin looked a little confused.

"Don't you remember? He was also a 400-meter athlete back then. You must have fought against each other! I didn't expect to become a coach now and temporarily act as the head coach of the US team." Alexander said.

"You're talking about him! In the last Olympic Games, he seemed to be the assistant coach of the national team, the lowest-ranked assistant coach." Alvin replied.

"I'm not sure about this. I was banned from the last Olympic Games." Alexander made a helpless expression, and then asked, "Then how is Rivers' coaching level?"

"It's not good. When he was an athlete, he didn't even make it to the national team. And after he became a coach, he didn't train a top athlete. This kind of coach can catch a lot of people in the United States. Such qualifications are not worthy of being the head coach of the national team. I think I am better than him when I come to be the head coach." Alvin said with a look of disdain.

...

Rivers used to be a 400-meter sprinter, but he didn't achieve good results in his career. So after he passed his peak age, he didn't persevere, but chose to retire and became a track and field coach.

Rivers' journey as a coach has been far smoother than his career as an athlete. Although he has not trained top track and field athletes, he has also brought out a few outstanding children in the past few years. Moreover, in the Olympic Games four years ago, Rivers Si was fortunate enough to join the US national track and field team at the time and became an assistant coach in the national team. Although he was only the assistant coach at the bottom of the ranking, he had fulfilled his dream of the national team.

This year, Rivers is no longer satisfied with the position of an assistant coach. He hopes to become the deputy head coach of the national team. For this, he also specially participated in the interview of the head coach of the national team, hoping to use this to create momentum for himself. It's just that Rivers' luck was not good. He was eliminated in the first round, and he didn't even enter the head coach interview.

After Sebastian was elected as the head coach of the U.S. team, he didn't consider letting Rivers join his team. This year, Rivers missed the U.S. National Track and Field Team and didn't even get an assistant coach.

The outbreak of the doping scandal made Rivers turn around. He was invited to take the position of the head coach of the US National Track and Field Team. If it didn't work, he continued to be an assistant coach, but he didn't expect to become the head coach in one step, so Rivers agreed without hesitation and came to the national team's training camp.

After coming to the training camp, Rivers immediately discovered the first problem, that is, the number of athletes in the national team is a bit small.

...

The officials of the Athletics Association handed over the list of athletes participating in the training to Rivers. After Rivers took it, he roughly counted and found that there were only about 70 names on the list.

Rivers once participated in the Olympics with the US track and field team as an assistant coach, so he knew that the US team should not have so few athletes under normal circumstances.

There are more than 20 track and field events in the Olympic Games, and if they are divided into men and women, there are close to 50 small events. As the world's largest track and field country, the US team has countless athletes who can reach the Olympic A standard, so each small event basically has Can send three athletes to participate. In addition, four people are required for the relay race, and there can also be substitutes for race walking and marathon, so the number of athletes in each US team is around 150.

And there are only 70 people on the list, which is a full half. Rivers will naturally have doubts about this list.

"Is this list of athletes missing a few pages?" Rivers said, pointing to the list in his hand, hoping that the officials of the Athletics Association could take a look in person.

"No less." The official of the Athletic Association called directly without even looking at it.

"But there are only more than 70 people on it." Rivers said.

"That's right, it's 70 people." The Athletics Association official said with certainty.

"Under normal circumstances, even if the number is relatively small, there must be more than 140 people?" Rivers asked.

"That's all this year. Everyone else has retired." The Athletics Association official replied flatly.

"More than 70 people have retired? How is this possible? Why?" Rivers asked subconsciously.

"To be precise, more than 90 people withdrew from the competition, and we postponed the recruitment of more than 20 people based on the results of the qualifying round." The tone of the Athletics Association official was full of dissatisfaction, and he continued: "Don't you Get it? It's all because of the doping scandal. Our situation is so bad, I don't know how to express it. Hey...you will know it when you get to the training ground."

...

It didn't take long for Rivers to figure out what the Athletics official's last words meant.

The situation of the US team this time is indeed very bad. Rivers can feel that the morale of the athletes is very low, and there is no fighting spirit at all. It feels like a soldier will surrender without a fight when he arrives on the battlefield.

The impact of the doping scandal was too great. Originally more than 150 people, nearly two-thirds retired because of the doping scandal. Of course, the remaining athletes were panicked. It's like two-thirds of the troops deserted before the battle started, and the rest of them were defeated before the enemy appeared.

And the situation of the more than twenty athletes who have joined the national team is not much better. They were not the strongest athletes in the first place, and many of them even ranked seventh or eighth or even lower in the qualifying rounds. It's normal for them to be nervous about going to the Olympics, or to be timid.

Rivers has never encountered such a situation. Leading a U.S. team short of major generals and demoralized to the Olympics, the result can be imagined.

At this time, Rivers felt regret for the first time, and he realized that he really shouldn't come to this muddy water.

However, when the real training started, Rivers encountered a new problem. He couldn't control those athletes at all, and some athletes even ignored him, such as Jimmy Irvine.

...

As a legendary athlete, Irvine is undoubtedly the ace of this US team.

But Alvin's attitude towards Rivers is not good. He is very indifferent to Rivers, and even looks down on Rivers.

After all, the identity gap between the two parties is too great. One is a legendary athlete who has been famous for many years, the "first brother" of American track and field, and the absolute king of 400 meters; the other is an unknown coach who has not yet proven his ability.

For a coach like Sebastian who has been famous for many years, Irwin may still give the opponent some face, but how could Irwin pay attention to an unknown person like Rivers.

More importantly, Rivers was also a 400-meter athlete back then, and he was the kind of 400-meter athlete who had no results. He had played against Irving, and there was no doubt that he had never won. On the court, Rivers is a scumbag. Now that the "five scumbags of war" are going to coach him, Alvin must be 10,000 unwilling.

The king of 400 meters has dignity, how can he let a defeated subordinate of the year coach himself! So Irwin ignored Rivers directly, and Rivers couldn't do anything to Irwin anyway.

Alvin's performance was obviously a bad start, and Alexander gradually began to ignore Rivers.

Although Alexander was not as good as Alvin, he was still the "second flying man in the world" back then. He had won many world championships, and he really didn't pay attention to athletes of average level. A coach with Rivers' qualifications will naturally not be taken seriously by Alexander.

Coaching is like this. In high-level training, if you want to gain the respect of athletes, you must have the corresponding strength. If you don’t have strength, even if you sit in the position of head coach, you will not get the respect of athletes. It is recognized that athletes will naturally not obey the discipline of the coach. .

If it is placed in China, there are institutional constraints, and if the athletes do not obey the discipline, the coach will always have some methods to punish the athletes. But in the United States, the means that coaches can use are very limited, especially when the athletes are relatively big, the coach has become the weaker side. In the four major professional leagues in the United States, it is often the case that the team's star athletes force the head coach away.

Faced with this unfavorable situation, Coach Rivers has nothing to do.

Irwin, the 400-meter king, was an unattainable existence in the eyes of Rivers in the athlete era. Even though he has retired and became a coach, Irwin is still the kind of existence he needs to look up to. So for Alvin, Rivers can only let it go.

As for Alexander, Rivers also had no means and could only let him go. Who made Alexander also a world champion!

As a coach, I have no ability, and I deserve to be bullied by athletes, and I can only swallow my anger when I am bullied. The so-called people are poor and short-sighted, and Rivers is probably like this now. As long as it is replaced by a capable and qualified coach, he will not be so angry. Of course, capable and qualified coaches will not encounter Rivers' situation.

However, this is not the worst. As the training camp progressed, worse situations began to visit Rivers, and more and more athletes in the training camp began to show an uncooperative, insubordinate attitude towards Rivers. Rivers found that as the head coach, he had gradually lost control of the entire US track and field team.

In other words, Rivers never had this kind of control.

And the root of all this is because Rivers can't handle Alvin.

The power of role models is powerful. Alvin is the "first brother" in the US track and field team and the idol of many young athletes. His every move must be valued by other athletes, and his behavior will also attract attention. Many people followed suit.

European and American cultures are not so respectful of collectivism, so the meme of superheroes saving the world will be popular from World War II to the present, and it will last for a long time. In this culture, obedience to the collective is far inferior to worship of individual heroes.

It is also for this reason that Alvin's influence becomes even greater. In this American track and field team, if you want to get rid of other athletes, you must get Alvin first. And if Irwin's approval can be obtained, it will be a lot of honor to obtain the obedience of other athletes. After all, the "first brother" in the team listens to the coach, so there is no reason for other athletes to be disobedient.

But Rivers was completely unable to get Irwin's approval, which meant that Rivers would lose the trust of other athletes.

...

In the small bar, Rivers was sitting alone in the corner, drinking with a depressed face.

"Coach Rivers, I didn't expect to meet you here." A voice sounded, and Rivers looked up and saw a familiar face.

The man's name was Carter, and he was the team doctor for the U.S. National Track and Field Team. He and Rivers are also old acquaintances. Four years ago, when Rivers was an assistant coach of the US team, the two had known each other.

Carter sat next to Rivers and asked, "You look depressed, did you encounter any trouble?"

At this time, Rivers was already a little drunk. He nodded and murmured, "I'm such a failed coach."

"Why do you say that?" Carter asked.

"Those athletes in the team, no one listens to me, no one cares about my existence, I am almost ignored by them! A head coach, what the players say is ignored by the players! In the eyes of those players, I am probably a Transparent people! Hehe, isn’t that enough failure?” Rivers said.

Carter sighed slightly: "Coach Rivers, you are actually a very good coach, but this time, you shouldn't be here. The national team is a hot potato, and you can't take it over."

"Why?" Rivers asked.

"Coach Rivers, haven't you thought about why the position of head coach of the national team will eventually fall on your head? Although you are only an agent, do you think you can take this position with your qualifications? Or Do you think you are favored by the goddess of luck?" Carter asked solemnly.

"Do you know something?" Rivers was three points sober from his drunkenness, and he said earnestly: "Dr. Carter, we have known each other for many years, if you really know something, please tell me I."

"The reason why the Athletic Association chose you is because they have no one available." Carter said softly.

"No one is available? What do you mean?" Rivers asked.

Carter leaned forward, lowered his voice and said: "The head coach of the national team has always been a sought-after position, but this time it is different. As you can see, affected by the doping scandal, there are still a few left in the team. The bottom half, many of the best athletes will not be able to compete, whoever becomes the head coach of the national team will have to lead a defeated team to the Olympics, the result is actually doomed. This Olympics, we will fail , and will fail miserably.”

"We are the number one track and field power in the world. Our people may accept a less serious failure, but we will never allow a disastrous one. Therefore, someone must take responsibility. Do you think the person who takes responsibility will be Who? Will it be an athlete? Or a head coach?"

"I think you should now understand why the position of head coach of the national team falls on your head. Because those coaches who are more famous, senior and capable than you understand that there is only one national team left. It’s a mess, and if you take over this mess, you have to bear the responsibility of failure. The head coach of the most failed national team in the history of the United States is not a very honorable title, and it may become a stain that a coach can’t wash away for the rest of his life! "

At this moment, Rivers is fully awake.

"Dr. Carter, thank you for your suggestion! Thank you so much!" Rivers had already made up his mind. When he returned, the first thing he would do was to immediately type out a letter of resignation and resign as the head coach. .