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

Perhaps Aylwin would have respected Sebastian, who had been famous for years. How could he show his respect to such an insignificant person as Rivers?

More importantly, Rivers was a 400-meter runner with no good achievements. Aylwin competed against him and beat him handily. In fact, Rivers had never even been a threat to Aylwin. Aylwin would not accept him as a coach.

As the king of 400-meter event, how could Aylwin let his defeated opponent to coach him! Therefore, Aylwin ignored Rivers completely and Rivers couldn't do anything about.

Aylwin's attitude obviously influenced the others' as well. Soon Alexander began to ignore Rivers.

Alexander was not as excellent as Aylwin. He was the second-best in the world in his event. However, he had won many world championships and he really didn't care about athletes that weren't as good as him. Naturally, Coach Rivers didn't deserve his respect.

This was a common problem in coaching.A coach had to be strong to gain the respect of high-level athletes. Otherwise, no athlete would accept him and follow his instructions.

In China, coaches had the means to punish the athletes who refused to follow their instructions.In America, coaches didn't have that right. In the four major professional leagues in America, star players were often seen as more important than their coaches.

Faced with this situation, Rivers really couldn't do anything.

When Rivers was an athlete, Aylwin had been great. Now he was still extremely powerful. Therefore, Rivers had to let Aylwin do what he wanted.

As for Alexander, Rivers also couldn't do anything to him. After all, Alexander was also a world champion!

Without the necessary strength, Rivers knew that he could do nothing but tolerate this bullying. Any qualified coach would not tolerate this. However, any qualified coach would not be in this situation.

The situation got worse and worse. As the training went on, more and more athletes began to refused to cooperate with Rivers. He realized that he had lost control of the entire team.

The root of this problem was his relationship with Aylwin.

The rest of the team looked up to him. They followed his example. Many young athletes, therefore, treated Rivers the same way Alywin did.

Western culture praised individualism. There were many stories about superheroes saving the world. They had been popular since the second World War. In this culture, the obedience of the collective was far less popular than the worship of an individual hero.

If one wanted to control all the athletes in this national team, he must deal with Aylwin first. It would be much easier to get other athletes to obey him if he could get the approval of Aylwin. If the best athlete on the team obeyed the coach, the others would follow him.

Nevertheless, Aylwin didn't accept Rivers at all, so other athletes would not trust him.

...

Rivers sat in the corner of the small bar, drinking alone.

”Coach Rivers, I didn't expect to see you here,” someone said. Rivers raised his head and saw a familiar face.

His name was Carter, a doctor for the team. They had known each other since Rivers had been an assistant coach.

Carter sat next to Rivers and stated the obvious. ”You look miserable. Did something go wrong?”

By this time, Rivers was a little drunk. He nodded and muttered, ”I'm a really bad coach.”

”Why do you say that?” asked Carter.

”None of my athletes listen to me. They basically ignore me! They pretend that I don't exist at all!” Rivers complained.

Carter sighed slightly, ”Coach Rivers, actually aren't a bad coach. You should have stayed away from this team. the national team is a disaster right now. You can't handle it all.”

”Why?” asked Rivers.

”Rivers, have you ever wondered why the position of the head coach of the national team fell to you? Do you think you are qualified for this position or do you think you are extremely lucky?” asked Carter with a grim look on his face.

”You know something, don't you?” Rivers was sobering up a bit. He pleaded earnestly, ”Doctor Carter, we've known each other for years. If you know something, please tell me.”

”The U.S. Track and Field Association chose you because you were their only option,” said Carter.

”What do you mean?” asked Rivers.

Carter leaned forward and lowered his voice. ”This head coaching position used to be a coveted spot. This year it's different. The team only has half the athletes it needs. No matter who was the head coach, the team would be awful. We'll fail this Olympics, badly.”

”We are the number one track and field power in the world. Our people may accept a bad result, but definitely they will not allow a disastrous defeat. Therefore, someone needs to accept responsibility. Who do you think should be responsible for it? The athletes? Or the head coach?”

”I think now you understand why the position of the head coach fell to you. The coaches who are more famous, more qualified and more powerful than you all know that the national team is a mess right now. They didn't want them to fail on their watch. Being the most unsuccessful head coach of American could be a permanent stain on one's legacy!”

Rivers was now completely sober.

”Doctor Carter, thank you! Thank you so much!” Rivers had decided that after he returned home, he would immediately draft a letter of resignation.