498 Hard to be a Head Coach (1/2)

The second training camp for the American track and field team was underway.

”Jimmy, guess what? Our new coach is Rivers,” Alexander said with a big smile.

”Rivers who?” Jimmy Aylwin seemed to be a bit confused.

”Don't you remember? He was a 400-meter runner. I remember you competed against him once. I didn't expect he would even become a coach, let alone ours,” said Alexander.

”I know this guy. During the last Olympics, he was an assistant coach for the national team. He was at the very bottom,” said Aylwin.

”I wouldn't know about that. I was suspended during the last Olympics.” Alexander also felt hopeless. ”How good is he?”

”Not very good. He didn't even make the national team as an athlete. He hasn't trained a top athlete since becoming a coach either. There's no way he's qualified to coach us. I think I would be a better head coach than him,” said Aylwin disdainfully.

...

Rivers was a 400-meter sprinter, but he was never any good. After he was out of his prime, he decided to retire and become a coach.

So far, his coaching career had been better than his athletic one. He hadn't trained any top athlete, he had trained several decent ones. Additionally, he had been able to be an assistant coach for the national team four years ago. Although he was at the bottom, at least he was on the national team.

This year, Rivers had not been satisfied with an assistant coaching position. He wanted to become the second-in-command. Therefore, he applied for the head coaching position, hoping they'd see his potential. However, Rivers was unlucky. He was eliminated in the first round and didn't make it to the interview round.

When Sebastian was head coach, Rivers wasn't offered any spot on the coaching staff. This year, Rivers didn't think he had any chance of being on the national team, not even in an assistant coaching position.

After the drug scandal, Rivers was lucky enough to temporarily replace Sebastian as head coach. It was really beyond his wildest dreams. He had only hoped to be second-in-command. He never thought that he could be the head coach. He accepted the invitation without delay.

When he reached the training camp, he found that there were not enough athletes on the team.

...

An officer of the U.S. Track and Field Association handed Rivers a roster with all the athletes' names on it. There were only about 70 athletes. This was not enough.

There were over twenty track and field events in the Olympic Games, fifty if one divided them by gender as well. As the number one of track and field team in the world, America had a large number of athletes who reached the A standard of the Olympics. Therefore, America could send three athletes to participate in every event. Normally, the American team had about 150 athletes.

Now, there were only 70. Naturally, Rivers had doubts about this list.

”Are there several pages missing?” Rivers pointed to the roster in his hand and wanted the officer to take a look.

”No,” the officer responded without looking at it.

”But there are only about 70 athletes,” said Rivers.

”Yes, just 70,” the officer said.

”Normally, there should be at least 140 athletes, right?” asked Rivers.

”That's all for this year. The rest are banned,” responded the officer flatly.

”All of them are banned? How could it be? Why?” Rivers asked all these questions at once.

”Over ninety withdrew from the team and we recruited twenty from the qualifiers that didn't originally make the cut. Don't you understand? The drug scandal decimated the team. I can't even describe how bad of a position we are in. You'll see when you get to the camp.”

...

Soon enough, Rivers saw the truth behind the officer's words.

This American team was really terrible.All of the athletes had lost their morale, it was like they had given up before the Olympics had even started.

The drug scandal had lost them almost two-thirds of their team. Everyone else was panicky now. If two-thirds of an army deserted their comrades, the remaining members of the army are put in an impossible position.

The twenty substitute athletes were also in bad shape. Many of them had ranked quite low in the trail so they were nervous about their competition in the Olympics.

Rivers immediately regretted accepting the head coaching job.

When the training began, Rivers met another problem. No one respected him. Some, like Jimmy Aylwin, even ignored him completely.

...

As a legendary athlete, Aylwin was a powerful force on this American team.However, Aylwin had a bad attitude. He gave Rivers the cold shoulder and he looked down upon him.

There was an enormous gap between them. Aylwin had been a legendary athlete for years, the absolute king of the 400-meter event, while Rivers was just a little-known coach without any achievements.