Almighty Coach

Chapter 315: An Outstanding Tree in the Woods

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Zhizhong Gu stepped down too suddenly for the National Table Tennis Team, and the effect of it was like an earthquake. Everyone on the team was informed of this news without any mental preparation.

”Whatʼs going on? Coach Guʼs work is flawless, how could he be relieved of his office?”

”If Coach Gu leaves the team, what should we do? Who will be the General Coach in the future?”

”According to the notification, we will not have a General Coach from now on. A National Team Coach Group will be established for the menʼs team and the womenʼs team respectively, which will be responsible for the training and management of our team. This is the so-called flat management.”

”Isnʼt it the same as before? I remember over 10 years ago, we also had coach groups for the menʼs and womenʼs teams. This reform just takes us back more than a decade!”

”I wonder who will be the coaches of the menʼs team and the womenʼs team in the future. Do you think Coach Gu could have a chance to come back to us?”

”Wonʼt Coach Gu act as the Vice Chairman of the Table Tennis Association? This could be regarded as a promotion, right?”

”Promotion? Are you out of your mind? This is apparently an Irish promotion! The Table Tennis Association has over 10 Vice Chairmen, whose main work is nothing but drinking tea and attending meetings. The Vice Chairman is a leisure job for people who are about to retire. Coach Gu is only in his early forties, which is the prime of his life, but he is assigned to do some leisure work to wait for his retirement. I really canʼt understand the intention of the high-level management.”

Beside them, Dai Li didnʼt speak, but he could clearly sense the incomprehension of the others upon this decision, as well as their uncertainty about the future.

Dai Li was also bewildered. Zhizhong Gu had left, and the overall framework of the National Table Tennis Team would be changed enormously. He was also not clear about his own future, and whether his work in the national team would be changed after the reform.

The unknown was terrifying. A notification from the high-level management made everyone in the National Table Tennis Team anxious and bewildered, for none of them knew the future work arrangement for them.

That night, no one got very much sleep.

The next day, the disturbed feeling still permeated the national team. The media also got the news, and then all kinds of comments on the internet came one after another.

The whole team was dominated by the feeling of fear. Dai Li called Li Xue during dinner. Dai Li thought Li Xue should have more inside information than he did.

On the phone, Dai Li asked if he knew anything about the reform, and Li Xue let out a long sigh.

”There are a lot of things you donʼt understand. The root problem is the national sports system in this country, which has been denounced by many people for a long time. This system is controversial among ordinary people, and even the management isnʼt settled on the topic. The focal point of the controversy is whether we should continue this national system or carry out a market-oriented reform of the complete sports industry.”

”For now, the idea of the market-oriented reform of the sports industry has apparently gained the upper hand. In the high-level management of the sport administrative organization, someone used to say unequivocally that the problems in the sports industry of our country are mainly caused by this national system, which can also be regarded as the planning system of the sports. Although the high-level management didnʼt deny the national system publicly, their reform strategy is designed to promote the marketization of the sport industry.”

”Once all problems were attributed to the system, the judgment criteria and logic of some people became weird and simple. They deem that the planning system is wrong, and needs to be corrected, even though it could allow us many achievements. While the marketization is ongoing, no matter how many problems have been caused during the process, they will continue to promote it. They will say that all the problems are because we havenʼt taken the marketization far enough.”