After work, Lin Wanxing slung her backpack over her shoulder and headed to the old stadium where the students usually trained in the evening.
As always, Wang Fa was sitting in the stands. Lin Wanxing took a seat beside him and looked out at the field. Today felt different from usual.
She finished work later than the students' training time, so she always arrived to see them already practicing. But today, aside from a few adults playing casually, none of the boys were there.
She figured the students were too absorbed in their "recycling project" to tear themselves away...
Lin Wanxing had come prepared. She unzipped her backpack and pulled out a pile of snacks: potato chips, shrimp crackers, two cans of Coca-Cola, a large pack of fresh-preserved duck necks, and more.
She piled everything in the empty space between her and Wang Fa.
Wang Fa glanced at the snacks and, without any hesitation, naturally opened a bag of Lay's Italian Red Meat flavor. Following his lead, Lin Wanxing propped her feet up on the seat in front of her, munching on snacks while waiting for the students.
The sun hadn't set yet, and the twilight glow enveloped the empty stands. The aroma of snacks filled the air.
"Though we may be relatively poor in material terms, we're certainly rich in snacks," Lin Wanxing remarked casually.
But Wang Fa didn't respond, quietly eating his chips instead.
Lin Wanxing tilted her head and leaned slightly closer to Wang Fa, studying his expression.
Sure enough, his face was calm. He gazed straight ahead, his pupils light in color, giving him a detached, unreadable expression.
Just as Lin Wanxing was about to pull back, Wang Fa suddenly lowered his head.
They were very close now, and his unobstructed gaze fell entirely on her face. With his baseball cap pulled down, his eyes suddenly seemed profound, his eyelashes casting a heavy shadow. Lin Wanxing couldn't decipher that look.
The air was thick with the rich scent of Italian Red Meat chips, feeling somewhat warm.
Lin Wanxing chickened out. She quickly retreated to her original position, not daring to provoke him.
"Don't be mad," she said, forcing herself to take a couple of gulps of mineral water. She pointed to the stack of clipboards beside Wang Fa, trying to calm her nerves.
"Did Teacher Lin buy snacks to coax me on behalf of your students?" Wang Fa asked.
"If you're angry, of course I have to coax you," Lin Wanxing replied.
"I didn't even realize I was," Wang Fei said lightly.
"Wang Fa, anger is a serious emotion—more serious than writing a bunch of training plans. It shows you really care about us," Lin Wanxing said.
The young man turned his head and looked at her.
In the hazy evening light, streetlights gradually flickered on, casting ambiguous shadows around them.
Wang Fa didn't speak. Instead, he turned and picked up a stack of clipboards from the seat to his right.
Lin Wanxing's hands felt the weight as Wang Fa passed the clipboards to her.
Flipping through them one by one, she discovered that each clipboard contained individually tailored training plans for every student.
In addition to varying physical exercises, each player had specialized additional drills.
For example, Lin Lu was tasked with practicing crossing while on the move.
Central defenders Qi Liang and Chen Weidong both trained on jumping and contesting headers, while Zheng Feiyang worked on lateral movement and covering positions.
Qin Ao practiced competing for headers, and Chen Jianghe focused on strengthening his shooting drills.
Fu Xinshu was assigned to train on long passes.
And these individual exercises could later be integrated with each other as they advanced.For instance, Fu Xinshu and Lin Lu could continuously deliver crosses from two different directions, while Qin Ao would be responsible for contesting the landing spots alongside the two central defenders. Chen Jianghe would remain ready to seize the second ball for a shot, and Zheng Feiyang would be poised to follow up for any rebounds...
Lin Wanxing read through each item one by one, listening as Wang Fa explained the specifics. Although this was a field of knowledge she had little exposure to, Wang Fa’s calm and methodical delivery made it far from dull. Instead, it was filled with enjoyment and sparked imaginations of the future.
As the sun dipped lower in the sky, dusk gradually settled in. The people coming and going on the field changed in waves.
The children running across the pitch were gradually replaced by residents taking an evening stroll after dinner. Lin Wanxing and Wang Fa chatted for a long time on the bleachers.
When she flipped to the last page of the clipboard, Lin Wanxing saw the section about the goalkeeper Feng Suo. It contained only one sentence: "To be trained by the coach."
"Are you placing special emphasis on Feng Suo?" Lin Wanxing couldn’t help but ask.
"Why do you say that?" Wang Fa asked in return.
"Then why are you the only one specifically training him?" Lin Wanxing inquired curiously.
"The goalkeeper’s role is unique, and the training methods are equally specialized. Regular football teams have dedicated goalkeeper coaches, but we obviously don’t. So, it falls to me," Wang Fa explained.
The bleachers were quiet, surrounded by the chirping of insects.
Lin Wanxing had initially rested her chin in her hand, finding the process of listening to him explain training concepts she was unfamiliar with quite comfortable.
But after the topic shifted to the goalkeeper, she found herself forced to contemplate the question: What would happen to the goalkeeper training after Wang Fa left?
"Do you have any suggestions?" Lin Wanxing paused. "I mean, after you leave, who will help Feng Suo with his goalkeeper training? Could I do it?" She pointed at herself, a hint of eagerness in her expression.
"You wouldn’t be able to," Wang Fa said.
The young man lowered his head, lost in thought. The pencil in his fingers spun twice, and the faint glow of the streetlamp cast shadows along his straight nose, outlining the clean lines of his jaw.
The sense of anticipation she had felt while listening to Wang Fa discuss the training earlier vanished completely. Not every problem could be solved—this was simply the reality of life.
"I’ll see if I can find another goalkeeper coach by then."
In the end, that was all Lin Wanxing could say.
=
The snacks on the bench were nearly finished when the students’ wildly running figures finally appeared at the stadium entrance.
Qin Ao and Yu Ming were dragging a half-person-high burlap sack as they ran, their movements awkward.
By the time they reached the bleachers, the boys were panting heavily, looking as exhausted as if they had played an entire match.
The students’ faces were flushed from the sun, their hands dirty, but their expressions brimmed with irrepressible excitement. They guarded the burlap sack like dragons protecting their treasure.
"Sorry, Coach, we’re late!" Lin Lu waved energetically from below the bleachers, looking thrilled.
Wang Fa didn’t descend from the bleachers, and Lin Wanxing remained seated, casually munching on a snack.
Their lack of reaction made the already guilty students even more nervous. They quickly scrambled up the bleachers, cautiously studying their expressions like small animals trying to gauge their owner’s mood, their eyes filled with confusion and apprehension.
"Teacher, Coach, are you angry?" Lin Lu, nudged forward by the others, asked softly.
Lin Wanxing crunched the last pack of cheese sticks loudly, raising her hand. "I’m not angry. Your coach was, but I managed to calm him down."Wang Fa: "It's fine, I'll be leaving in a few days anyway, no need to worry too much about me."
Hearing this, the students grew even more anxious.
"We really were planning to come for training at four o'clock, but while we were in that neighborhood, an aunt called us over and said she had cardboard boxes for us to deal with, so we went to get them," Lin Lu explained pitifully. "The aunt bought furniture from IKEA, and the packaging cardboard was piled up sky-high. Teacher, you have no idea how much there was. We spent ages sorting it out, then realized we didn't bring enough rope, so we had to go get more. By the time we sold it all, we were just... too late."
Lin Lu's hands showed clear blood marks from hauling the cardboard boxes, and his nose was scraped somehow, making him look utterly pitiful.
"I told you the time was yours to arrange freely, so I won't blame you for being late," Lin Wanxing said.
It's perfectly normal for kids to suddenly get absorbed in something—even adults have moments when they get carried away. When you're filled with passion, you only want to do that one thing and nothing else.
"But the problem is, while I haven't imposed any time constraints on you, you made your own arrangements and confirmed the training time with the coach. Showing up on time is a basic sign of respect for him."
Lin Wanxing knew her words were a bit harsh, like pouring cold water on them, and the students fell silent.
They all looked at Wang Fa, the coach standing under the streetlight. At some point, they had grown accustomed to having this young man by their side.
Although the coach spoke casually, he took his work extremely seriously. He never treated them carelessly just because they were high school students. This made them psychologically dependent on him and feel like he would always be there.
"Coach, we're sorry. We'll definitely be on time next time," Fu Xinshu bowed and apologized to Wang Fa.
"Coach, we were wrong."
"We messed up."
Wang Fa nodded without saying anything else to blame them.
He handed out the clipboards he had prepared earlier to the players.
Seeing the training plans Wang Fa had carefully designed, the students felt even more ashamed.
Wang Fa said, "For physical training, setting moderately difficult goals is very important. We generally recommend aiming for a 5-15% improvement. When you're just starting systematic training like this, there's no problem setting the goal at the lowest 5%."
The students nodded one after another. They looked at their previous physical test data and calculated that if they only needed to improve by 5%, it would only take a few seconds—seemingly very simple.
"It's a bit like what the teacher said before."
Chen Jianghe thought seriously for a moment. His recent money-making experiences had given him a deeper understanding of how to view and achieve goals.
"But Coach, I'm a bit confused. What if I set a low goal but can actually do more?" Yu Ming asked, raising his hand as he didn't fully understand.
"First, focus on giving your best effort in each training session, rather than just thinking about doing more," Wang Fa said, looking at the players in front of him. He continued, "Training is like your daily money-making plans now. If you get too greedy, you'll become exhausted and lost from lack of restraint. If you stretch the string too far, it will snap. Staying clear-headed is very important."
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