Chapter 148: I Just Need to Pass

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

Police training base.

Xuexi Zhuang was unhappy. His trainee was absent-minded. Because of this, his training for the day had been quite ineffective.

It was Tuesday. Yesterday, the trainee had not been himself, and was not as serious as he had been last week. Xuexi Zhuang thought it was because he was coming off of the weekend, but now that excuse looked unlikely.

This problem was not only affecting Xuexi Zhuang, but the other coaches as well. The trainees were no longer taking the training seriously, and although they were still determined to pass their exams, the effort they were giving was much lower than it had been last week.

All the coaches realized that it was their trainees' attitudes that were the problem. As a coach, having some "bad" students was unavoidable. Even if it was the same person being coached, the trainee might have a different attitude towards training depending on when it was taking place.

If the trainee was an athlete, the coach had many methods of punishing an athlete's immature attitude, such as suspending the athlete from competitions, or sending the athlete back to his or her original team. As for the athlete, there were only two options; quit, or acknowledge the mistake and correct it.

Few athletes dared to quit. In domestic amateur athletic systems, athletes only stayed on training teams. If they quit, they would effectively end their career.

In this case, however, the coaches were dealing with a group of policemen. Even though the policemen were not training seriously, the coaches had no idea what a proper punishment would be.

...

Back with the national athletics team, Chief Coach Shuren Zhao fiddled with his Kungfu tea set and said, "It's about time those young coaches face some difficulties."

Opposite Shuren Zhao sat an old man in his sixties. He had a bald head and round face, and had a fiendish look. He was Li Xue, the assistant chief coach of the national team. H had the highest seniority among all the coaches with administrative duties.

"I heard about it. The policemen are slacking." Li Xue stretched out his hand to receive a cup of tea from Shuren Zhao, then drank it quickly.

"Hey dude, slow down! This is Kungfu tea! You should take time to sip and taste it!" said Shuren Zhao. He made another cup for Li Xue.

Xue took the second cup and asked, "Shuren Zhao, is this all part of your plan?"

Shuren Zhao nodded in confirmation, "After a week of training, the policemen should have reached the qualifying standard already. Their attitudes were bound to change once they hit that milestone. For these young coaches, the upcoming week will be their real challenge!"

"You are right. People have various attitudes towards work. Say the full score is 100 points; somebody might try to get a 120-point performance, while someone might be fine with a 100-point score. Others, on the other hand, might feel satisfied with an 80-point score is pretty good, while someone else might believe reaching the qualifying standard is good enough.

"These trainees must belong to the last group. If they were the kind of people who constantly strived for perfection, they would have passed the fitness examination already. But they didn't, therefore they are not. Passing the exam is the goal for them. Now that they have reached the passing mark, they won't be going out of their way to try for a better result," Li Xue analyzed.

"That's it. So for these young coaches, what they are going to have to try and deal with now is how to inspire their trainees to keep working hard." Shuren Zhao paused, then continued, "Our national team's selection criteria for young talent is not just based off of their training abilities, but their outstanding comprehensive competence. For a coach, getting athletes highly involved in training is the foundation for success!"

...

Xuexi Zhuang said to his trainee in earnest, "Officer Wang, our training today was not very satisfying. In fact, we have taken steps backwards compared to last week. I can feel that you are not giving your all during training anymore. Do you have any concerns? Are you facing any difficulties?"

"No, I'm good. I just don't really want to practice!" Officer Wang smiled. Then he said, "Coach Zhuang, I think the current training load is enough. There is no need to add more to it."

Xuexi Zhuang suddenly felt depressed. Officer Wang had just reached the passing line. If he continued with his current workload and did not do any additional exercises, he would improve very slowly. By the time he takes the fitness exam, he will not get a good grade.

Xuexi Zhuang kept trying to persuade him, saying, "Officer Wang, having been through a week of training, you are now capable of doing higher-intensity work. Let's work this out together. There are only a few days left; by the time you take the fitness test, you will get a good grade."

"But I can pass the test now," Officer Wang said with an adorable look, "As long as I reach the qualifying standard, I will pass the make-up test. That means I only need to stay at the passing level."

"Um..." Xuexi Zhuang was at a loss for words. He had no rebuttal for Officer Wang.

Xuexi Zhuang was unsure how to persuade Officer Wang. Had he been an athlete, he could talk about honor, dreams, and a bright future, having him imagine a scenario where he was standing on the prize-winning platform singing the national anthem, with a gold medal around his neck. But it was a police officer standing in front of him, not an athlete. Glory did not mean much to him.

What should I do? Xuexi Zhuang felt like a chicken with its head cut off.

The other coaches received similar replies from their trainees. "My goal is to pass the exam. Now that I have reached the passing standard, why bother working harder?" This became a common response amongst the trainees.

Every profession had people with a strong sense of responsibility, as well as workers who muddled along. This was especially true in governmental organizations where officers held certainty in their hands. Because people in these organizations had guaranteed futures, quite a few got lazy as time went on. After all, their salary came from financial appropriations; as long as they completed their tasks, no matter how poorly they performed, they would receive the same amount of money. Why bother going the extra mile?

Those who wanted to be promoted would definitely not mess around. Instead, they seized every possible opportunity to present themselves in the best light possible in front of their leaders.

As for these policemen, they had not passed the basic fitness examination, which indicated that they were not type of people who were responsible or would pursue excellence. They wished for nothing more than to ride the waves; as long as they completed tasks, there was nothing they needed to worry about in their eyes. These were the people that only cared about passing the make-up test.

For the coaches, however, simply passing the make-up test was terrible!

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