Who would still play tennis after being reborn?

Chapter 28: Let's just give them a little support and let them have their fun as orators.

After the thousands of students on the playground quieted down, the procedures began.

Chen Dahei, the host, gave a brief introduction, followed by a speech from Deng Yunhua, the principal.

The speeches were basically the same, basically just urging students to study hard and revitalize China.

"Ugh, can we have less of this routine? Every time there's a school-wide assembly, they have to give a speech first. It's like the assembly can't go on without one." After listening for a while, Li Yang probably got a little bored and couldn't help but turn around and complain.

Zhou Xiao stood behind Gu Cheng, completely agreeing with Li Yang's point of view: "The key is that they say the same thing every time, I can recite it from memory."

"It's just like an old lady's foot binding cloth, smelly and long, with no originality at all."

“Talking less won’t kill you. Why waste so much time? We’re standing here like idiots. They don’t treat students like human beings at all.”

These words immediately resonated with many students in the vicinity.

In late October, the temperature in Ningbo is quite high. In addition, the school requires students to wear school uniforms. Standing under the sun absorbs heat very quickly, and some students with strong yang energy are already covered in sweat, with steam rising from their heads.

Anyone who didn't know better would think he had already mastered the Three Flowers Gathering at the Top technique.

"Acheng, tell me, isn't this the truth?" Li Yang suddenly looked at Gu Cheng.

"What's so special about this speech?"

"Just say a few words."

Gu Cheng didn't respond, but he deeply agreed.

If you were to conduct a survey asking students what they hate most, options like "exams," "confiscating cell phones," and "getting up early" would definitely be at the top of the list. But if you were to add a principal's speech to those options, the principal's speech would absolutely be at the top of the list.

For students, the "principal's address" is undoubtedly torturous.

Many people feel that saying this is disrespectful to teachers. After all, the principal is just trying to motivate the students. Someone has to do this kind of thing. What if it can inspire a few students to work harder?

But what can you do when the principal's speech is often long and boring?

First comes a warm welcome to the new students, then earnest expectations for them, and finally a long, clichéd speech.

These three steps will take at least half an hour to complete.

Imagine students standing on the playground under the scorching sun, listening to the principal repeat the same old platitudes. Who could remain calm? Every year, the first day of school becomes a day of unbearable suffering for students, because it not only means the start of a new semester, but also means listening to the principal's long-winded lectures.

This is why the brief speech given by the Liaoning school principal in later generations became a hit online.

"Just consider it a show of support, let them have a go at being orators!" Gu Cheng chuckled, thinking, "Who doesn't like to teach others?"

Of course, the principal's speech didn't go that far yet.

This is actually a kind of celebrity effect.

As long as you have money, whatever you say is right, and you'll never lack sycophants.

To sum it up in a quote from Mo Yan, the ugliest thing about human nature is finding fault with the powerless and weak, and looking for merits in the powerful and wealthy.

Students at this age simply don't understand these things yet.

Didn't they see that the other school leaders sitting on the stage and the teachers standing on the side were listening more attentively than anyone else?

Even though Zhang Ming was somewhat helpless, he sat up very straight, glancing at the impassioned Deng Yunhua from time to time.

This is a sign of progress; it's something that people who haven't been tempered in society can't do.

The teachers, in particular, not only listened intently but also kept their eyes glued to Deng Yunhua, practically ready to pull out a notebook from their pockets to jot down the key points and study them carefully later.

Do they really want to hear it?

I didn't want to, but once I entered society, there were some things I couldn't simply choose to hear or ignore.

Gu Cheng's thoughts raced through his mind, but unexpectedly, his words stunned everyone around him, leaving them speechless with astonishment. "Awesome!"

The group made a ruckus for a while, but eventually shut up under Old Zhang's watchful gaze.

Deng Yunhua spoke eloquently for almost half an hour before finally introducing Zhang Ming, who was sitting next to him and was almost yawning.

"Next, please welcome Zhang Ming, a professional tennis player, to give a speech."

Chen Dahei led the applause, which started sparsely but quickly became more unified.

The students took more and more pictures, it was hard to tell whether they were welcoming Zhang Ming or expressing their relief at finally seeing off the long-winded principal, Deng Yunhua.

Although Zhang Ming was only twenty-four or twenty-five years old, he had seen far more of the world than the students. He took the microphone from in front of him, glanced around, and waited for the audience to quiet down before introducing himself.

"Hello everyone, I am Zhang Ming, a professional tennis player."

"First of all, I am honored to be invited to No. 1 High School to talk to everyone about tennis."

……

Zhang Ming spoke eloquently, and it was clear that he had done some research before coming. He talked a lot, starting from his own experience, then moving on to the current trends in tennis, and the current state of tennis development in China.

"Before I came here, I kept thinking about what to say to everyone. To be honest, there's not much to say. What I know, everyone knows too. And what you don't know, the internet is so developed now, you can just search it online."

The audience burst into laughter.

Zhang Ming gestured with his hand and continued, "I heard from Teacher Wei that many of our students at No. 1 High School have been learning tennis since they were young, and some of them actually want to play professionally."

"Although it's a bit late now, the reason... I probably don't need to explain, right?"

Zhang Ming paused for a moment, looked at the many students with puzzled expressions, and said, "It seems that many of you don't know that a person's decision to play professional tennis is usually made when they are six or seven years old. If you still want to play professionally at this age, it's just too late."

"Of course, there are some exceptions."

Zhang Ming didn't give a specific example here, but the image of Gu Cheng appeared in his mind.

But how many are like Gu Cheng?
You couldn't find even one or two like that in the whole country.

He smiled slightly as he said this: "But even if you can't play in world-class tournaments, you can still play domestically. But before that, you must first become a registered member of the local, provincial, or even national tennis association. This is very important. It applies not only to domestic tournaments but also to world-class tournaments. Becoming a registered member is a prerequisite for registering for the competition."

"Of course, anyone can do this. Just fill out the information online and you're basically a registered member."

"Becoming a member of the association grants you the qualification to participate in domestic tournaments, but this only applies to general events. For higher-level tournaments, such as the China Open Tour, players must be qualified for the CTN level assessment, meaning they must have participated in the China Open Association's CTN level assessment and obtained CTN level 1-4 and the corresponding certificate before they are eligible to register."

At this point in Zhang Ming's speech, Yu Xinjie, who was standing in the front row, suddenly raised his hand.

Zhang Ming reached out his hand and asked, "Does this student have any questions?"

Yu Xinjie asked, "I want to ask, is it possible to get an offer from a top American university as an NCAA student-athlete tennis player if you have a certain level of skill?"

Zhang Ming was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and explained, "That's true, but the premise is that you first have to apply to American high schools, and then accumulate UTR points as an NCAA tennis student-athlete. For those who want to get offers from top American universities through their NCAA tennis student-athlete status, UTR scores are crucial."

Yu Xinjie was silent for a moment before lowering his hand: "Thank you."

Zhang Ming smiled slightly: "You're welcome."

He saw a love for tennis in the other person's eyes, but unfortunately... he was too old. At his age, he would have already gone abroad, become a member of the NCAA, or even been playing in ITF Challenger tournaments to accumulate ATP ranking points.

However, what the two said left the students who knew nothing about tennis completely confused.

"CTN, UTR, they sound so high-end!"

Li Yang turned to look at Gu Cheng: "Acheng, do you know what that means?"

"Ask him, he doesn't know anything." Zhou Xiao said speechlessly, "Acheng plays basketball, you should ask Yu Xinjie about this."

(End of this chapter)