Almighty Coach

Holly only felt confused and didn’t know what to do during the ten days of weird training, which included dancing, yoga, and trudging.

Holly was a shooter, but he was also a world champion for many years. He had met many great coaches and also knew what their training was like. However, this was the first time that he had encountered this kind of training.

Every evening when Holly returned home and carefully recalled his daily training program, he always felt that the day had been a waste of time. But every time he saw Dai Li, he would follow his training arrangement involuntarily. Every word Dai Li said was full of authority in Holly’s ears, just like an order given by a general to a soldier, which had to be carried out at once without any doubt.

Holly didn’t know the reason why. As for age, Dai Li was younger than him, but Holly felt that even the chief shooting coach of the United States national team was inferior to him in terms of momentum.

But after ten days of weird training, Holly paused his training. He needed to attend the shooting championship in Tennessee, whic was also the qualification trial for the World Shooting Championship.

In the United States, the selection of the World Shooting Championship was just like the field and track events. No matter how great you were, how excellent your previous scores were, or how many world championships and Olympic championships you had earned before, every player had to pass the qualification trial to attend the world games. Even a world record holder couldn’t attend the games if he couldn’t pass the qualification.

This shooting tournament was held in Tennessee because there were many people who liked shooting there.

When talking about places with guns, people generally thought of Texas first. Texas cowboys didn’t hide their love of guns, and there were pictures posted online of Texans carrying M16’s in the supermarket.

However, the number of guns per capita in Tennessee was higher than that of Texas. People there also liked guns. The National Rifle Association often held gun shows in Tennessee, and whenever a gun control act was introduced, there would be demonstrations and parades against it. It was worth mentioning that the famous civil rights fighter, Martin Luther King, was assassinated by an automatic rifle in Tennessee.

It was natural that shooting activity received more attention in a place where guns sold well. Gun manufacturers would not hesitate to sponsor shooting competitions. Here, a famous competition shooter such as Holly had become the idol of many people.

...

Dai Li stood before one of the posters that were hung on the walls of the corridor of the museum and read the content on it carefully.

"Dai Li, why are you looking at this? These are the basic knowledge of shooting events. Only people who are coming here for the first time pay attention to these things," Blake said to Dai Li before handing him a cola.

"I’m coming here for the first time," Dai Li said. "I mean, this is my first time being here to watch the games. I’ve watched live on the TV before."

"I see." Blake walked to Dai Li and started to lecture him on the subject. "The Olympic Games shooting events mainly use three kinds of guns; handguns, rifles, and 12-gauge double-barreled shotguns. The double-barreled shotguns are mainly used for skeets, and both handguns and rifles are sports pistols."

"In official competition, pistol events include the men’s 50m pistol slow fire, the 25m pistol rapid fire, the 10m air pistol, and the women’s 25m pistol slow fire and 10m air pistol. Rifle competitions include the 10m air rifle, the 50m rifle prone position, and the 50m rifle three positions, among which the last event is only a men’s event."

"Of all these shooting events, the 50m rifle three positions is recognized as the most difficult shooting event. The distance and the duration are both very long. Players need to shoot 120 times from three positions. Each shot is important. And another 10 shots are needed if entering the final. The 50m three-position rifle is known as the marathon of shooting."

Blake led Dai Li to another poster and pointed to a target painted on it. "This is the target for the 50m air rifle, one to one true size. It is 154.4mm in diameter, black within the fourth ring. The black is 106.4mm in diameter."

Looking at the true-size target, Dai Li estimated that the area within the ninth ring was nearly the size of a coin, which meant that the shooter should hit a coin fifty meters away if he wanted to gain nine points.

For professional shooters, the ninth-ring meant failure. Taking the Olympic Games as an example, a player needed to gain 1170 points with 120 shots to be qualified for the next round, which meant he should hit within the ninth ring less than three times.

I can’t even see a coin from fifty meters away! Dai Li thought. He sighed. "As for this target, I am virtually blind compared to Adam Holly!"

"Exactly! These shooters practically have eagle eyes. Ordinary people like me even have trouble playing the popstar games on our smartphones due to poor visions," Blake said.

Pointing at the target, Dai Li asked, "Is there a gun sight on their guns?"

"The guns can have sights, but they can’t amplify the scene. This aiming device may only contain a red dot or a cross to aid in targeting." Finishing his explanation, Blake pointed to the fast food truck on the road outside and said, "Let’s eat something first. Adam Holly’s competition will take several hours! We have enough time to see a movie before we come back."

...

The information of the match and the names of the contestants were shown continuously on the big screen in the stadium, which was surrounded by a crowd of spectators.

"So many great shooters. All the best shooters in America are here."

"Of course, this is the qualification match for the World Shooting Championship."

"I saw Adam Holly’s name. I don’t think it will be difficult for him considering how good he is."

"But it’ll be difficult to get the first prize. After all, Prince is also here. In the last two national shooting championships, Prince defeated Holly with the final kill!"

"Final kill? Do you really think it was a final kill? Obviously, it was because Holly missed his last shot. He always was ahead of Prince, and he always missed his last shot."

"Sure, that’s why he is called the Tragic Last Shot."

Everyone talked about Holly’s last shot and shook their heads helplessly.

...

Adam Holly appeared at the shooting stadium and was immediately surrounded by a crowd of fans. As Blake said, Holly was remembered for missing the last shot at the Olympic Games on the international stage, yet he was still viewed as a world champion and a hero in the hearts of the American people.

Holly signed autographs, was photographed, and finally dealt with his fans. He took his rifle and entered the competition area and adjusted his equipment.

"Adam, several days before I heard that you would retire and wouldn’t be attending the competition. Now it seems that was a piece of false news," said a young man with curly hair walking next to him.

This young man was Prince, Holly’s main competitor in America. During the last two national shooting championships, Prince defeated Holly twice, which made him nearly the number one of the 50m rifle event.

Holly looked back at Prince. He didn’t say anything and responded with a cold look, just like an old lion king, facing a young lion’s aggressive challenge.

Prince continued, "I heard you applied to a fitness training center recently, right? To be honest, it’s beyond my imagination! We are shooters, not those wild guys running and jumping on a field. Shooting is a peaceful sport. What can fitness training do for us? You are just too anxious."

It was not surprising that Prince knew that Holly attended a fitness training center. Prince was Holly’s main rival, and it was normal to know your opponent’s condition.

Hearing Prince’s words, Holly still said nothing, but his heart was very uncomfortable.

Prince is right. I shouldn’t waste time on fitness training. What did I do these days? Dancing with that noisy music, doing yoga lying on a pad, and trudging in the training center? What’s the meaning of that? Well, except the massage. Coach Li’s massage felt really good. But that was not what I need. I want to not miss the last shot! Maybe I made a mistake this time. I’ll terminate the contract after the competition, Holly thought as he adjusted his gun.

...

Dai Li and Blake got something to eat. When they came back, the game was half way over, and the screen showed the results of the players.

"Holly has 876 points, ranking first. Prince has 875 points, in second place. Three people are 874 points and nine 873 points, and many of the rest are 872 points. It seems the gap is quite narrow," said Dai Li.

"It’s quite often narrow in 50m three-position rifle. The gap between the players who enter the final is less than 5 points. In fact, it’s impossible to win the championship if you’re behind by three points. No one can recover the gap in the last 10 shots," Blake explained.

50m three-position rifle contained prone position, kneeling position, and standing position with 40 shots each and a full score of 1200 points. These 120 shots only counted integer points. For example, if a player hit the 9.5 ring, it would be only calculated as nine points.

Under the rules, there was actually no difference between 9.9 and 9.1, which would both be calculated as nine points. However, the difference between 9.9 and 10.1 would be amplified.

After these 120 shots, the best eight players would enter the final and each one would shoot another 10 times, and the decimals of the scores would also be calculated. Therefore, the best result would be 10.9 points, and the result of the 10 shots would theoretically reach 109 points in all.

In the last 10 shots, as for the existence of decimals, the difference between 9.9 and 10.1 was not one but 0.2. Under this circumstance, it was harder for the people behind to catch up to the players ahead of them. In the previous phase, they could catch one point with one shot, but now they couldn’t, let alone in only ten shots total.

In such a world-class competition, all the players here were extremely good, especially the last eight ones. Everyone could get more than 10.5 points. Therefore, during the last ten shots, it was impossible to catch up if there was a gap over two points.

...

The 50m three-position rifle was really the marathon of shooting. After Dai Li returned back to the field, he waited another hour before all the players finished their own 120 shots.

"Here come the results. Adam Holly’s total point is 1174 points, with prone position 399 points, standing position 389 points, and kneeling position 386 points. Holly did much better in prone position than standing and kneeling position," said Dai Li, looking at the scoreboard.

"It’s normal. The 50m rifle event contains the special competition of prone position. Therefore, players usually will train prone position shooting so that their grade in prone shooting will be better. Look at Prince, in second place. He also got 399 points in prone position and both the third and fourth place got 398 points," Blake said.

"Prince’s score is 1174 points, the same as Holly in the first place. The third and the fourth are 1172 points, and they still have hope to win. However, all the players beneath the fifth place are basically out of the race. Next, it is time for the final ten shots!"

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