83 Investiture Ceremony

◎How come these coaches have two faces?◎

Zhu Qi was also familiar with the people who got off the bus.

Some of them have appeared in the table tennis version of the "Purple Light Pavilion Meritorious Officials Picture" Grand Slam, some have won various doubles championship titles in team competitions, and some have served as super sparring partners in the team and have left a strong mark in the history books of table tennis.

Many of them are elderly, and some are about the same age as Gao Xiaofeng and He Qianlu.

Several of them were former national team players whom Zhu Qi particularly admired during his childhood.

But it's a pity that when I joined the national team, he had already retired for a long time.

Ah Shui, who was standing next to him, was extremely excited. He whispered to Zhu Qi, "Is that Lu Ziming? Oh my god! China's first Grand Slam winner!"

About ten veterans of the national table tennis team came. When they came down, Zhu Qi saw that they were wearing the same military uniform as himself, and were carrying their personal belongings. It seemed that they were planning to eat and live here with the players.

very good.

They are here to "train" the players.

Ren Xinhua continued, "This military training will be divided into coaching and player groups. You will eat and train alongside veterans who have won countless gold medals. They have more experience playing against foreign teams and have mastered all sorts of unique and unusual playing styles. For these 90 days, you will train against veterans who once dominated the table tennis world."

She went through a lot of trouble and made countless phone calls to invite these glorious players from all over the world.

These people are among the early athletes who have never left the table tennis circle. Although they are older, they still pay attention to table tennis competitions from time to time, and often make private appointments to play with others.

The predecessors who once dominated the pool table.

And the young players currently in service.

One side is the past, the other side is the present.

And...the future at the end of the team.

/

Although the seniors are getting older, with wrinkles under their eyes and gray hair at their temples, they can immediately regain their passionate past when they hold the racket.

When the CCTV5 reporters came over and saw this scene, they inexplicably felt tears welling up in their eyes.

These former national players who have retired and disappeared from the public eye will still return for the industry they love.

Pass on all the experience you have gained from the game to the players below without reservation.

Ren Xinhua stood nearby, occasionally chatting with his former colleagues who were tired from fighting.

Look at this child's future development potential, and then see if that child has any areas for improvement, and let these good friends give you some training plan suggestions.

Then at the end of the conversation, they all talked about one person - Zhu Qi.

"She's Zhu Qi," said Wu Shunli, the former straight-blade star, standing next to Ren Xinhua, wiping his sweat. "I heard there's a new Wu Qu star on the national table tennis team. She's quite capable. This kid's serve is really powerful. Just receiving her serve is exhausting."

Another person followed up, "Old Wu, that's because you're old, hahahaha."

"I'm not saying anything, but why are all these kids carrying big swords? Only one is practicing with a straight blade."

"There's more room to play with a horizontal blade. It's too difficult to get spin with a straight blade."

They are all veteran table tennis players. In their era, most Chinese people played with straight rackets, and horizontal rackets were relatively rare.

As a result, the vertical and horizontal boards are now falling one by one.

Someone else joked, "These kids nowadays are all so tall and strong, and they play the ball really well. We old hands are no longer up to date. We thought we could teach the kids, but in the end, we ended up asking them for advice, hahaha."

Ren Xinhua smiled and said, "That may not be the case. After all, there's an old saying that goes, 'Old ginger is still the spiciest.'"

Although our predecessors may not be able to keep up physically due to their age, their brains are definitely sufficient.

These are all veterans who have snatched gold medals from the United States, the West, Japan and South Korea.

Ren Xinhua felt that since everyone was here, he had to make the best use of them.

So, Ren Xinhua decided to change his training method.

Aren’t the veterans physically unable to keep up?

OK, let’s have a round-robin battle.

Maomao asked curiously, "Chairman Ren, what is a round-robin battle?"

"One person per coaching team, one round, 11 points." Ren Xinhua said, then looked at Zhu Qi. "Bao Bao goes first."

Zhu Qi also played for a whole day. He was called up again less than five minutes after taking a break and had no choice but to continue playing with his racket in hand.

She was standing on one side of the table and the coaches were on the other.

Zhu Qi wants to fight with all the coaches...

/

The former iron-blooded singles player of the men's table tennis team, Wang Zhide, the straight-blade warrior Wu Shunli, the rubber queen Song Qingmei, and the ball-saving pioneer Zhang Gaosheng...

They were all well-known figures from the 1960s to the early 1980s.

After one round, Zhu Qi almost crawled back to his stool.

When the others saw that even Zhu Qi was like this, they felt even more uneasy.

Maomao was the second one... When he came back, he was in a similar state to Zhu Qi. They were both sweating, and they didn't even have time to talk when they picked up the water bottle, just guzzling water.

A Shui was the third one, and she was even more miserable because A Shui was a typical slow warm-up player, and her fake left hand was a big reason. Basically, her touch didn't pick up until the third game or the end of the second game.

Previously, a newspaper published A Shui's post-match analysis and gave him the nickname "The King of the Third Game". Zhu Qi was very happy when he found out about it.

Many fans of Ah Shui in Shanghai Province, whenever interviewed about watching Ah Shui's games, would say: "This girl uses the first game to get familiar with the opponent, and we all start watching from the second game."

Now facing a group of veteran players, A Shui had just adapted to one person's playing style, but he had to change players in the second game.

After ten rounds, A Shui won three games.

"No, no... I'm dying." Ah Shui collapsed on the stool, his legs shaking uncontrollably. "They have all sorts of moves. I've never seen that straight rubber... How can I take it?"

That’s not all.

Ren Xinhua took into consideration that Jin Lili had used some tricks when she was in the national team and liked to block the ball when serving.

When several veteran players were playing, the International Table Tennis Federation had not yet banned blocked serves, and their blocked serve techniques were truly exceptional.

Covering with the head, covering with the shoulders, covering with the arms... there are all kinds of ways.

In the entire national table tennis team, only Zhu Qi, who had trained his ears, could hear the rotation. The others followed one by one without saying a word.

After observing the training for a few days, the CCTV5 reporters were fully immersed in it, eating and training with the players and coaches.

When CCTV5 reporter Sen Qiaobei chatted with Ren Xinhua, he joked, "Looking at the entire national team, only the table tennis team has the ability to have a group of former world champions as sparring partners."

"Yes, I also hope that this group of children can understand how difficult it is to conquer an empire. They know that when they go to Moscow, they are also shouldering the expectations of their predecessors," said Ren Xinhua.

"Many external reporters have speculated that after the Munich World Games, if Chang Hongxia and Gao Xiaofeng retire, the national table tennis team will have no successors. But in the Tokyo World Games, many players with good results appeared. Does this mean that the national table tennis team has escaped the crisis of a lack of young players?" Reporter Sen held a notebook and took notes as he asked, intending to use Ren Xinhua's answers as an interview report in the newspaper.

Ren Xinhua thought for a moment and said, "I don't think we've completely escaped the crisis of a generational gap, because no one can predict the future. Furthermore, the men's team's performance at the Tokyo World Games wasn't ideal. These four years have only helped them regain some form, but they're still not 100% certain to sweep the gold medals. International athletes are taking table tennis very seriously these days, and both the men's and women's teams need to reflect on themselves as they face the growth of foreign associations."

When they were chatting, Zhu Qi happened to be nearby and heard these words.

So, this is why the coaching staff prepared this military training.

When I first met reporter Mori five years ago, he was a young reporter who had just graduated and was doing his internship. He was about the same age as Maomao.

Although he wasn't a sports major, he was very interested in table tennis and was fair in his commentary. He would directly point out his players' weaknesses and was generous with his praise for his opponents' shortcomings.

Many players will review reporter Mori’s commentary of their games after the games, using it as a reference to identify their own problems.

In the past two years, many table tennis fans have also known him, and his fame has increased a lot along with the national sport.

Because it was Sen Qiaobei who interviewed the national table tennis team many times, he knew many players in the team, and he would occasionally chat with the players.

The person we talked about the most was Maomao, because she was the captain of the women's team and the two of them were of similar age.

"I heard that you went out for surgery due to a shoulder injury two years ago. How is your recovery now?" Sen Qiaobei was holding a cup of hot tea in his hand, with his press card hanging on his chest and a pair of rimless glasses on his nose, looking very gentle.

"I'm recovering okay." Maomao replied politely.

The pure green short-sleeved T-shirt she was wearing was soaked through, and the sleeves were pulled up to her shoulders, revealing the thin muscles of her shoulders.

Reporter Mori then discussed the Hong Kong team's visit to Beijing last year. "I heard that Shackleides Jamie's blood test report has been submitted again. People in Europe and the United States say there's a good chance it will pass this time."

Maomao lowered his eyes, without making any other expression, and said, "We have also made all the necessary preparations."

Ever since the China-US exchange competition last year, Ren Xinhua felt that the lag in Maomao's racket swing was a problem and began looking for ways to build muscle for Maomao.

Proper muscle to protect bones may be able to compensate for this problem.

However, after gaining muscle, Ren Xinhua found that although the power of the ball had changed, there was still no way to make up for the connection problem after multiple shots.

Later.

Ren Xinhua came up with a solution, which was to replace the cat's rubber with one degree higher in degree.

Adjust the previous 37-degree rubber to 38 degrees.

In this way, the ball will bounce faster when it is hit.

Use the speed at which the ball flies out to make up for the problem of swing speed connection.

Zhu Qi had changed the degree of his rubber once before, but this change was a fine-tuning, unlike when Daxiong wanted to change his skills and tactics to a loop ball system, which was a major change.

Zhu Qi quickly adapted to the new rubber's density, and Maomao's acceptance was similar.

Judging from the results of the military training at the Military Control Center, the effect of the cat's degree of improvement has begun to show.

Zhu Qi's ability to adapt was also very fast. He was almost the first player among all the players to start adapting to the special playing style of the older generation. This learning talent made the predecessors admire him.

Since ancient times, even the elders in the family have favored outstanding children, and coaches are no surprise.

So in the later stages of military training, these seniors began to surround Zhu Qi.

He often stood beside Zhu Qi's table and watched him train.

A few kind-hearted people even liked to give Zhu Qi some difficult serves, helping him to find ways to overcome the impact of blocked serves.

After all, listening to the sound will still be affected by the interference of the scene.

There are only dozens of people around now, and the environment is relatively quiet. I can judge the rotation by listening to the sound. However, it may not be a problem if I really go to a stadium with tens of thousands of people.

By then, with tens of thousands of people, even if they don't talk, the sound of their breathing alone will be noisy enough.

"You can actually observe the spin of the ball and the path it takes. A topspin ball will typically fly upward, while a backspin ball will sink more. However, when serving, many people like to serve fast, so you may not be able to see the rise and fall. Instead, you can focus on the trajectory of the ball as it bounces..."

"Let me tell you, I've fought against the Russians a lot. One of their characteristics is that they're stubborn. It's easy for them to lose points multiple times with the same routine. When fighting them, you can throw more punches and use some combination punches..."

"North Korea's playing style should still retain a lot of the characteristics of our era. Many of their coaches were our rivals back then..."

Zhu Qi is very smart.

Basically, you can understand it right away, and within three or four balls you can find the key and start to get on the right track.

The male team players next to him looked at Zhu Qi with envy.

These "ferocious gods" who used to yell and shout in front of them, and even curse from time to time, would turn into kind-hearted people when they watched Zhu Qi training.

How come these coaches have two faces?

Three full months of military training.

Not only do they have to practice basketball every day, but many of their living habits are exactly the same as those of soldiers.

For example, the most basic thing is to fold the bedding into tofu blocks, the washbasin must be placed at a 45-degree angle to the wall, the toothbrush heads must face outwards, and bathing should be done in batches.

The coaches will also act as checkers, checking once in the morning and once in the evening every day.

They even placed a mobile red flag at the door of each dormitory with gold-plated words "Advanced Dormitory" written on it.

At the beginning, A Shui would complain a few times because he was not used to it.

But after all, we are all sports students. We have been running around since childhood and are very hardworking, so we quickly adapted to this rhythm.

By the middle of the military training, many people were still reluctant to leave.

Because their daily routines were adjusted while they were in the military control center.

It's not like in the national team, where some people who can't sleep would secretly organize to play mahjong at night.

Most importantly, the food in the cafeteria is even better than that of the national team.

Considering that the training days in the military control center were indeed too hard and too intense.

Ren Xinhua started another "betting" game.

A group of children gathered around the table curiously. Ren Xinhua took an A4 paper and placed it flat on the table near the net. He said, "Knock this paper off the table within 10 balls, and you can sleep an extra half hour the next day. You don't have to run exercises, just gather at the training hall at 8 o'clock after breakfast. But there will be a punishment for those who fail the challenge, which is to run three laps around the playground."

"Wow!" The players roared with excitement, eager to try!

Being able to sleep an extra half hour is so tempting!

Some people gathered around the table and started to make noises, shout, and try their best to interfere with the person who was challenging.

But this kind of ball is really hard to play.

The ball must be hit onto the edge line where the white paper and the table are attached, and then the ball must be pushed out of the table little by little by the rotation of the ball.

It really tests the player's ability to hit fixed points.

If the ball is even slightly off target, the spin of the ball can easily cause the paper to move towards the net.

After several consecutive challenges, few people can do it.

More than 90 days, three months of military training life.

Many young players who had just joined the national team were miserable, but at the same time they began to understand the difference between transitioning from the provincial team to the national team.

Seeing how hard the main players worked, I started to work hard too.

Especially some motivated second-team players would follow and listen for a while when the absolute main players were training.

As for the last three players in the direct quota for the men's and women's teams, they also know that although they have obtained direct quotas, whether they can finally go to the World Games and what roster they will be on depends on the arrangements of the coaches.

If you perform well in this military training, you might be able to get a ticket to "get on the bus."

Although there is air conditioning in the museum, it is difficult to get enough cool air because the venue is too large, there are too few air conditioners, and the door is often opened and closed.

After just one round of serving and receiving practice, my clothes were soaked.

But because the weather in the southeast was hot, the water dried up again after I stood there for less than five minutes.

Many people are busy with training and don’t have time to buy new ones.

Even someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder like Zhu Qi had to endure it, practicing from morning to night in clothes that were soaked and stuck to his body.

There were also a few girls whose faces were dry and flaky due to sunburn, so they ran to the cafeteria and asked the cafeteria aunt for cucumber slices to put on their faces.

Xu Dong saw that Zhu Qi seemed to have some sunburn, and her face was red every time she came back from going out. She specially ran to the nearest town to buy two cans of aloe vera gel and brought it back for the girls to apply.

Zhu Qi felt that getting tanned didn't matter, as he would be back to his normal self in a few days after returning home.

But the intensity of training these days is no joke.

Every day when she returned to the dormitory, she felt as if her legs and feet were filled with lead. Her waist, shoulders, wrists, and fingers were all numb and sore.

Xiao Lingling doesn't talk much, but she was busy running to the water room to get a pot of hot water for Zhu Qi and the others, then added cold water and poured it into a basin for Zhu Qi to soak in.

While the three main people in the house were taking a shower, she would cut up some fruit for everyone and put it on the table. She was also the first one to get up the next day to fill everyone's toothbrush holders with water and squeeze out toothpaste.

Every time Zhu Qi saw Xiao Lingdang doing things skillfully, he felt a sense of pity.

This feeling is similar to my past life in the club.

He Qianlu said that Xiao Lingdang's original family was not very good. After her parents divorced, their respective families caused the little girl to become an outsider.

This life experience is unexpectedly similar to my previous life.

But Zhu Qi was luckier, as he had the care of his family in this life.

Maomao felt sorry for the 14-year-old girl and said to Xiaolingdang, "I'm the oldest in the room and the team leader. There's no reason for you, the youngest, to be so busy all day. You don't have to be so troublesome. We all do our own things."

Xiao Lingdang's face had been flushed by the sun over the past few days, and after being concerned by the captain, her face turned even redder. She quickly said, "It's okay, I'm free anyway. The coaching staff called us here to train with you, so I will definitely do what I can to help you train with peace of mind."

Xiao Lingdang, who is only 14 years old this year, is the same age as A Shui when he joined the national team.

Being in a room with a group of adults, I felt like a little adult.

In fact, before joining the national team, Xiao Lingling heard about this from athletes from provincial teams in other events.

It is easy for older players in the national team to bully younger players.

For example, asking them to run errands, help with rubber taping, fetch water, buy food...

There are even cases of gambling on football. Young players dare not beat the older players even if they can, for fear of being bullied by them.

In fact, before joining the national team, Xiao Lingdang also had this mentality and was prepared to be "exploited".

However, I didn't expect that after joining the women's team, I found that the atmosphere in all aspects of the national team was very harmonious, which was completely different from what the athletes from other provincial teams said.

Not to mention Sister Baobao, who is also from Jianghuai Province, is very caring towards Xiao Lingdang and even called Xiao Lingdang to her dormitory for military training.

The captain of the women's team is also very gentle, friendly, easy to talk to, and takes good care of the new players.

This also includes Sister Fang Miao, who especially loves to chat and laugh with the young players, and doesn't have the airs of an absolute main player at all.

This place is simply paradise!

When Ah Shui heard Xiao Lingdang talk about this later, he sighed, "You came at the right time. I did have some 'exploitation' behavior back then, but your sister Bao Bao corrected it, and the atmosphere has been improving ever since."

Xiao Lingdang thought, Sister Baobao is an angel!

/

When the military training was almost over, Zhu Qi's fingers had two large blisters on the second joint of the middle finger and the inside of the thumb due to the high-intensity training.

Maomao and A Shui also had wear and tear on their fingers, but not as severe as Zhu Qi's.

Because Zhu Qi likes to use his fingers to rotate the paddle to increase friction on the ping-pong ball, he has experienced finger cramps during previous competitions due to excessive force on his fingers.

As a result, the two blisters were rubbed open when I was playing tennis the next day.

The coaching staff asked Zhu Qi, Song Linzhou, A Shui and Qin Xiaoba to practice mixed doubles. Suddenly, A Shui shouted first, and Song Linzhou stopped immediately.

Zhu Qi was busy catching the ball and didn't notice that his fingers were bleeding. When he raised his hand, he found that two blisters were squeezed and two lines of blood were slowly flowing down his palm.

Seeing that the coaches didn't hear him, Ah Shui shouted again: "Hey! Bao Bao is bleeding!"

The game is suspended.

Xu Dong took Zhu Qi's hand and wiped it with iodine, then found two Band-Aids and wrapped them on it.

The coaches came over and took a look at what was going on. Mr. Buddha suggested, "We've almost finished practicing today, why don't we just rest tonight."

"It's okay, keep practicing." Zhu Qi put on a Band-Aid, wiped the blood drops on the racket and went back to the table.

The sound of ping-pong was heard.

The distant 10 o'clock evening bell tells everyone that the day is coming to an end.

Ren Xinhua turned around.

I found that these children were all tanned, their flesh was tight, they had elastic bandages on their legs, and some of their shoes were twisted... I knew that this military training camp had an effect.

But when he saw the mixed doubles, Ren Xinhua stood in front of the foursome, looking at the brother-sister combination who were repeatedly defeated by Zhu Qi and Song Linzhou, and pondered for a moment.

Although Ah Shui and Qin Xiaoba are also right-hand men, every time Qin Xiaoba touches Zhu Qi, he feels a blood suppression.

There was clearly nothing wrong with his playing style or tactics, but for some reason he just couldn't beat Zhu Qi.

After going through all these circles, Ren Xinhua had a general idea in his mind.

It went back and forth several times day and night.

The three-month military training is finally coming to an end.

On the last day of the military training closing ceremony, Ren Xinhua found Zhu Qi and Daxiong and specifically reminded them to wear their military uniforms of the Bayi Team the next day.

Zhu Qi felt a little strange at the time, as he had previously refused to bring his military uniform, thinking it was too heavy. But before Xu Dong left, he reminded Zhu Qi not to forget it, so Zhu Qi had to put it alone in the innermost part of the suitcase.

As a result, the next day I saw Mr. Shi from the Military Control Center and several nearby officers.

Zhu Qi understood the purpose of asking him to wear a military uniform.

Mr. Shi and his entourage also brought several suitcases. Everyone was wearing very formal military uniforms and medals of honor on their chests.

At the beginning of the closing ceremony, Ren Xinhua gave the final summary of the military training, and Mr. Shi stood by and waited.

Everyone stood facing the podium, not understanding what this old lieutenant general was doing here.

If they were here to help them train, they should have come a long time ago. Why did they only show up at the closing ceremony?

After Ren Xinhua finished speaking, all the players off the court began to applaud loudly.

Everyone was very excited. They were almost dried up in the sun. They were finally going to leave the military control center where they had stayed for three months and return to their long-missed beds in the national team.

But there seemed to be another activity at the end, and Ren Xinhua handed the microphone to Mr. Shi.

The old man, wearing a neat military uniform, stood in front of everyone and said to the majestic national anthem - "... Because Comrade Zhu Qi of the table tennis team won the championship title in the singles event of the 51st National Table Tennis Championships, with the approval of our party, the awarding ceremony officially begins."

No one told Zhu Qi about this, but it seemed that Ren Xinhua had known about it for a long time.

Could it be that the coaching staff wants to give him a surprise?

Zhu Qi's heart was beating fast.

The soldiers waiting to be awarded walked towards her step by step, their hearts beating fast as if they were waiting for their lovers.

She has been a member of the Bayi team for exactly two years, and previously won the "Miriam" Cup at the National Table Tennis Championships.

Meets the standard of having made outstanding contributions to the country.

When he was 20 years old, Mr. Shi personally took off the horizontal bar on his shoulders and replaced it with a horizontal bar with a star.

The teammates next to him looked at Zhu Qi enviously.

You will be a second lieutenant in the future!

No longer a bald warrior.

It's great, I have a name and a rank, and I think I'll get a good pension in the future...

Especially Daxiong, who was unable to apply for a promotion in military rank because he failed to win the men's singles championship in table tennis. He looked at the new badge on Zhu Qi's shoulder and said "Congratulations".

Zhu Qi is the first player of the Bayi team to be promoted to second lieutenant.

There is applause from teammates around me and a bright future ahead.

Military training is over.

They can return to the national team.