Rebirth 08: A Happy Life Begins in Elementary School

Chapter 128 Where did you get your experience?

Dressed in their gear, the two returned to the court, where the coach had already prepared everything for training.

The racket is a small black one, which is relatively light, with a shaft that is moderately stiff and has a low tension, making it very suitable for children to learn to play.

Li Zhao examined the ball in the box; it was about 70% new.

Anyone who has participated in badminton training should know that this box of shuttlecocks is 70% new.

For elementary school students, it's already a good thing they didn't give them a bunch of cheap, low-quality balls with broken ends. Li Zhao would be satisfied if a 100-yuan lesson could explain the movements clearly.

Is this coach surnamed Ding just bored at home and coming here to offer some warmth?

"Do you know any coaches?" Li Zhao asked Chen Nian during warm-up.

"I don't know him."

"So how did you find it?"

"----ah."

What kind of answer is that? There's more to it than meets the eye.

"Actually, it was my mom who found it," Chen Nian said.

"What's there to hide?"

Coach Ding is very strong and muscular, with dark skin, and actually has a rather fierce appearance.

But when he spoke, his voice was clear and crisp. "You two, have a match first. Go all out. I'll see your level and then decide where to start teaching you."

What Chen Nian sought but could not obtain.

Ever since he was utterly defeated by Li Zhao, who had "just realized" something, he secretly sought out his cousin, who was skilled at badminton, to learn how to play—yes, the same cousin who was the internet cafe prince and could be considered an amateur expert in badminton.

In badminton, or most skills in general, the fastest progress is felt during the period from complete ignorance to becoming a novice.

During the time when he couldn't summon Li Zhao, Chen Nian was experiencing what he perceived as a frenzied period of progress.

So that's why the ball can be shot so low, why you can drop it to the net, why you need to move your opponent around —

Chen Nian almost completely rediscovered the sport, quickly progressing from a novice to someone who could easily beat up even more beginners.

He's arrogant.

This is a typical peak in self-awareness. Because you feel that you have made great progress compared to when you knew nothing, you feel that you are almost at the professional level.

There is a curve with confidence on the vertical axis and awareness on the horizontal axis. In the early stages, confidence soars when awareness increases and can quickly reach its peak. However, as awareness continues to increase, confidence will gradually decline and fall to the bottom. At this point, you are often just out of the beginner village and it seems difficult to make progress. Looking back, you realize that those who are slightly more advanced are better than you, and you realize that your level is just that of a complete novice.

Once this trough is overcome, confidence will begin to rise again as awareness increases.

"Come!"

Li Zhao could tell from Chen Nian's confident demeanor that he must have received special treatment, so he didn't dare to be careless.

Chen Nian's tee shot was of significantly higher quality than before, and his movements were quite skillful, but that was all.

Through continuous training, Li Zhao's control over his body and his ability to exert force are now far superior to what they were before.

In other words, his past life's experience playing ball will be better utilized.

Faced with Chen Nian's completely insufficient ball speed, Li Zhao began to take this opportunity to adapt to the technical movements and find the feeling of playing ball in his previous life.

The display was so impressive it made my scalp tingle.

At first, he was thinking, "Oh, so you can do this too. I get it."

Then it became: What kind of move is this now?

Completely giving up.

In terms of speed, strength, and technique, Chen Nian is inferior in every aspect. If Li Zhao doesn't give Chen Nian more opportunities to practice and improve, the coach might not be able to fully appreciate Chen Nian's level.

Because on the court, he's practically a ball-serving machine capable of getting the ball to the backcourt.

In the first game, Li Zhao made two mistakes, resulting in a crushing 11-2 defeat.

Coach Ding frowned.

The wrinkles aren't from Chen Nian. Chen Nian is the easiest kid to teach. He only knows a few unorthodox techniques. Just teach him the correct swing and footwork, and that'll be enough for him to practice for four lessons.

But what's wrong with this Li Zhao?

I've never seen anything like this before.

At only 12 years old, a sixth-grade elementary school student, if he knew some technical moves, that would be considered a child prodigy.

It should be that the force was applied correctly and with ease.

Li Zhaohui's technique is extensive, but it's all over the place. Some of his movements are correct, but they're not the kind of stances a child is used to. Others are completely haphazard, resulting in poor performance.

It's like when you start playing badminton as an adult, your movements aren't standard but you have a lot of power. You rely on compensation and brute force to force the shuttlecock to bounce high with the wrong posture.

Their coaches all call this situation "oil."

This is a common problem among seasoned players on the court; they use all sorts of unexpected moves to hit decent shots.

In particular, some of Li Zhao's technical moves are exactly the amateur versions that seasoned veterans like to use.

Strange, how can a 12-year-old child who has never learned to play ball and I heard that he doesn't play regularly play with such a greasy feel?

Moreover, he himself is not strong enough, so how could he possibly develop a compensatory habit?

The reason why children's skills are so powerful is that children lack strength. In order to play well, they must learn to exert force correctly. Once they have mastered this force exertion pattern, even if they do not touch a ball for a long time and their physical fitness declines significantly, they can hit many shots that strong veterans cannot hit in their entire lives as soon as they pick up a racket.

For example, with a backhand stroke, there's a world of difference between knowing how to generate power and not knowing how.

"I'll play a few rounds with you two, and you'd better do everything you can to beat me." Coach Ding showed great interest in Li Zhao. "Li Zhao, you go first."

Li Zhao was on high alert.

The result, of course, was that they were completely destroyed.

Even Li Zhao in his previous life was defeated and destroyed, let alone his current strength, which is far inferior to his physical body at that time.

But after the match, Coach Ding was even more puzzled, so much so that he began to contemplate life.

Li Zhao's smash is very good, with smooth movements and clear power. Judging from this alone, it fully meets the standards of a child prodigy, and is even higher than the average child prodigy level - because he is tall and has a long arm, and looks somewhat muscular.

But when he turned around, it was a complete mess!

That kind of bizarre confusion.

Li Zhao clearly knows the backhand grip and power generation method, but he doesn't know how to use it, resulting in very low quality shots and ineffective use of power.

It's like hitting with the wrong technique too many times, while your brain knows the correct way to hit, so you get stuck in a mess between the two.

No, where did this child get this habit from?

This kind of player is the hardest to teach. He basically understands everything you say, but then he can't execute it. He has a bunch of bad habits from playing pickup basketball, and a bunch of compensatory power-generating characteristics.

As a coach, you must carefully analyze the situation and offer targeted suggestions to figure out the core problem, then identify a key point and point it out to the person.

This trainee also needs to be willing to use their brain and have strong body control, otherwise they can drive the coach crazy with their own jokes.

That's why he doesn't teach adult classes. There are a bunch of old hands who are impossible to teach. When asked, they say they understand, but when asked, they just say, "Oh, I'm used to it."

Damn it, it makes me so angry just thinking about it.

Who would have thought that raising a child could result in such an unreasonable one!

This made Coach Ding and Chen Nian distracted during practice. Anyway, the kid didn't know anything, so he was the easiest to teach.

"There are gains and losses," Coach Ding thought to himself.

After a simple explanation of the basic swing motion, Chen Nian said he understood, but then immediately fell into self-doubt after hitting a few bad high clears.

Coach Ding smiled and comforted Chen Nian, saying that this was normal; who could understand everything just by listening to the movements? He pointed out that Chen Nian was far more skilled than Chen Nian, and while his movements looked precise, the power generated during the swing wasn't quite fluid enough.

As he spoke, Coach Ding passed the ball to Li Zhao.

"Snapped!"

With a loud, sharp sound, the ball flew from one baseline to almost the other.

Chen Nian blinked, and Ding Jiao blinked too.

Another loud, sharp crack.

Moreover, Li Zhao's movements were more relaxed this time.

"I get it! So this is what the coach meant by the power chain!" Li Zhao twisted his body. "My whole body is like a rope. The power starts from the push-off, brings out the body rotation, then the arm, just like swinging a rope. Finally, the racket is the end of the rope. It feels like I don't even need to exert any force, and the ball just flies out!"

Chen Nian was dumbfounded.

Teacher Ding quickly reviewed all his previous judgments and overturned them in an instant, arriving at a new conclusion: This kid is a genius!