Chapter 544: A Guest Arrives
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Claude was instantly filled with pity when he heard this child was suffering from dwarfism. As a professional coach, Claude certainly knew that it was impossible for a dwarf to engage in a career in professional football.
“Sir, my son does have dwarfism, but his illness can be cured,” Frast said eagerly.
Claude nodded. “As far as I know, there is a possibility of dwarfism being cured. The main cause of dwarfism is the lack of hormones necessary for growth and development in the body. If long-term injection of growth hormone were possible, it would be possible to let the patient grow to the height of a normal person.”
“Yes, my son has been injecting growth hormone for treatment!” Frast immediately agreed.
“Mr. Claude, as far as I know, Halls’ Wagner’s line has been closed. This is a professional report from a doctor,” Aguero whispered to Claude.
So that’s the case, Claude nodded a little, finally understanding why the River Plate team gave up this talented teenage footballer.
Injecting growth hormones to treat dwarfism cost money, but compared to cultivating a talented player, that investment would be nothing. Treating someone suffering from dwarfism would cost at most tens of thousands of dollars, but for a potentially gifted player, the European giants would be willing to invest tens of millions of euros in transfer fees. There would be a huge return on this investment. Any team with an even slightly economic mind would be able to calculate that this would be a profitable investment.
However, many teams in Argentina, including the River Plate team, chose to give up this talented football youth. This was certainly not because the manager of the River Plate team was stupid, but because the skeleton of the talented football youth had closed.
In the human body, the cartilage between the epiphysis and the metaphysis appeared as a wide translucent band on the X-ray film during a person’s early childhood. This was the so-called epiphyseal or Wagner’s line. As one aged, the wide translucent band became shorter. When the epiphysis was completely ossified with the metaphyseal cartilage, the original translucent band would become a tight seam. This meant that the epiphyseal line was completely closed and the bones would stop growing.
After a normal person pa.s.sed p.u.b.erty, the epiphyseal line closed and it was difficult to regenerate the long bones in the body. The legs and arms did not grow longer, and people did not grow taller.
However, although the long bones did not continue to grow, the spine and inter-bone tissue could still grow. There was the common saying that “people will grow taller when they turn twenty-three years old.”
For football players, it was acceptable to be a bit on the short side, but it was unacceptable if their legs were short. For Halls Frast, a football genius, it was really a fatal blow. It was like the death penalty to his football career.
“If you were in Europe, where there are better health services and better trainers, you might be able to save the child, but here in Argentina, the conditions are far less ideal. This child is a lost cause.” Claude felt pity in his heart. An athlete who had the potential to become the football king of a generation wasted just like that.
So Claude said some words of comfort, “In actuality, even if the Wagner’s line was completely closed, it isn’t impossible for there to be a chance of growing taller. A nutritious diet, scientific training, and some treatment. This child still has the possibility of growing taller.”
The words of Claude, to everyone else who was around, sounded obviously like words of comfort, but to Frast’s ear, these words of encouragement were more like a light, guiding him to the fire of hope.
“Sir, do you mean you have a way to make Halls grow taller?” asked Frast.
Claude was too embarra.s.sed to say that he couldn’t do anything in front of so many people. It might make him seem incompetent. As the top physical fitness coach in Europe, protecting one’s ego and reputation was necessary. He had no choice but to nod. “If I were to train him, there is indeed a possibility.”
“Sir, then I beg you, take my child away! As long as you can help him grow taller, let him continue to play football, I am willing to do anything,” Frast said with great enthusiasm.
“Sir, I think you understand that I came here to represent my club, so the final purchase of the player will also be decided by my club. I have no power to take anyone away,” Claude shrugged to show that he was helpless.
Frast also knew that his request was indeed excessive, but he still looked at Claude with a look of expectation.
Claud felt an unbearable feeling rise up in his heart. As a coach, when he discovered a young athlete with unparalleled talent, he did not want to see the athlete’s talent be left undiscovered.
Claude thought for a moment and said, “Sir, I know a person whose training may make your son grow taller. His standards of physical training and rehabilitation for athletes are higher than mine. I think if even he can’t help your son, then no one in the world can help your son.”
“Who is he? Is he also in Europe?” Frast asked urgently.
“No. He is in America. His name is Dai Li,” Claude replied.
“Dai Li. This sounds like a Chinese name,” Frast said subconsciously.
“Yes. He is Chinese. He opened a fitness training center in California. You may not recognize him when I just say his name, but once I mention his t.i.tle, you will definitely know who he is. I don’t know if you paid attention to the Olympics these past few days. The American team won 27 gold medals in the track and field events, and Dai Li is the head coach of the American track and field team.”
“So it is him!”
As far as Dai Li’s performance in the Olympics was concerned, no one would question his coaching ability. Moreover, everyone knew that an excellent track and field coach must also be an excellent physical fitness coach.
Claude took out a business card and handed it to Frast. He then said, “I have worked with Dai Li once before, so if you go to the United States to find him, you can say that I introduced you to him. Show him my business card, I think he will meet you.”
…
Los Angeles, U.S.A.
Dai Li’s training center had a special guest. He was the runner-up in the Olympic triathletes. The British athlete called Hansen Brown.
“Mr. Brown, I welcome you to my training center.” Dai Li looked at Brown with a smile,., He was very curious as to why Brown came all the way to the United States to visit his training center.
After the Olympics, Dai Li’s training center had become, undisputedly, the best physical fitness training center in the United States. There were countless outstanding athletes, many of them were the world’s best athletes.
In the sports of triathlon, Hansen Brown would definitely be considered one of the world’s best. So far, he had won two Olympic bronze medals and was the runner-up twice in the Triathlon World Champions.h.i.+p.
However, as a British athlete, Brown did not need to come to the United States for training, because the training conditions and training standards in Britain were already excellent. At least in regards to the triathlon, it was not in any way inferior to the United States.
Triathlons had always been one of the Caucasians’ strengths. Caucasians tended to be the best when it came to swimming. They were more talented in long-distance running events than Asians, and Caucasians generally had longer legs, so it was easier for them to do well in cycling events. So the triathlon was merely a tailor-made event for white people.
There were many accomplished triathletes in the United States, Australia, and Europe, and the sport was also prevalent in these three regions. In addition to the professional athletes who specialized in this event, there were also a large number of amateurs so, in Europe and the United States, there were often many triathlon compet.i.tions.
In Europe, the country that was the strongest in triathlons was the United Kingdom. There were more than 100,000 athletes officially registered in the British Triathlon a.s.sociation, and there were even more amateurs that weren’t registered. In the U.K., the triathlon was an industry that was worth around one billion pounds. This only included things such as running shoes, cold-proof swimsuits, bicycles and other such equipment that were needed for partic.i.p.ating in the event, as well as the costs a.s.sociated with the compet.i.tion. It did not include the sports nutrition products used by athletes.
If it were viewed from the perspective of the proportion of the population that was involved in triathlons, then the U.K. was better when it came to triathlons than the United States.
If a country were strong at a particular event, then its training standard would naturally be robust. With the training standards of the triathlon in the U.K., Brown did not have to go out of his way visit the United States.
Moreover, Hansen Brown was the silver medalists in the Olympics. He definitely was receiving the world’s best training in the U.K. From this point of view, he also did not need to fly across the Atlantic, then across the United States, specifically to Los Angeles to find Dai Li to receive training.
Dai Li knew himself well. Although he knew that he was famous, he was not at the point where athletes such as Hansen Brown had to spend money to find him.
“Mr. Brown, I am very curious. What is the reason for you to fly all the way from London to Los Angeles to my training center here?” Dai Li asked directly.
“Coach Li, I don’t know how much you know about me. Let me introduce myself first. I was born into a sports family, my father was a cyclist, my mother was a long-distance runner, and my uncle was a swimmer. My brother and I followed our uncle and swam ever since we were young. We originally wanted to be swimmers.
“When I was ten years old, and my brother was 12 years old, we came into contact with triathlons for the first time. My brother and I felt that the sport was more challenging and more suitable for us, so both of us changed our career paths to triathlon. Under the guidance of my father and mother, we became the best triathletes in the U.K.”
“My brother and I have partic.i.p.ated in many compet.i.tions, including world-cla.s.s compet.i.tions such as the Triathlon World Champions.h.i.+p and the Olympic Games. We have won many honors. The name ‘Brown Brothers’ has become an endors.e.m.e.nt for triathlons. In the U.K., when anyone mentions triathlons, they mention us brothers.”
Dai Li nodded, “Yes, in the last five or six years, triathlons have been ruled by you Brown brothers. In the Olympics that just concluded, the media also called the triathlon compet.i.tion ‘a performance by the Brown Brothers’.”
“But I have never beaten my brother!” Hansen Brown seemed agitated.
Dai Li knew Hansen Brown’s brother. He was called Tyre Brown. He was two years older than Hansen. Compared with his younger brother, Hansen Brown, his performance was even more dazzling. He was the champion of two triathlons, as well as the champion of the triathlon of the two Olympic Games. In the just-concluded Rio Olympics, in the “performance by the Brown Brothers”, the younger brother Hansen was the runner-up, and his brother Tyre Brown became the champion.
Hansen Brown continued on to say, “In every race, as long as my brother and I partic.i.p.ate in it together, I end up as the runner-up, and he always wins. I have never beaten him. I used to think that it was because I was younger, that my body was not as mature as his so I would lose to him. Now we are all grown up, but I am still losing to him!”
Hansen Brown’s tone became agitated. He said, “I want to win. I want to beat my brother. I don’t want to always be the runner-up. So I trained harder and harder, but it didn’t work. In Rio de Janeiro, at the Olympics, I lost to him again.
“I know that I should make some changes. Over the years, I have been training with my brother. We do the same training. What he does, I also do, what I do, he also does. So I realized that if I continued this way, I would never beat my brother.”
“So you searched for me? You hoped that I could provide you with a different training method than your brother’s? You want to defeat your brother Tyre Brown by doing this?” Dai Li asked.
“Yes!” Hansen Brown nodded with certainty.
Dai Li frowned and started to think.
He had already detected Hansen Brown. Hansen was an A+ athlete, and his personal ability was close to 900. It could be said that he had almost reached the limit of an A+ athlete. In other words, Hansen Brown didn’t have much room for improvement.
As for his brother Tyre Brown, Dai Li had not met him, but he guessed that Tyre was at least an S- level athlete. He may be an S cla.s.s athlete or even an S+ athlete. After all, Tyre won almost every compet.i.tion he’d been in. It could be said that since Tyre entered his peak, he had indeed dominated the triathlon sport. An athlete that was able to dominate in a particular sport had a high probability of being an S+ athlete.
Looking at Hansen’s ability value, he has almost reached the limit A+ athletes can reach. He still can’t beat his brother, though. It seems that it would be difficult for Hansen to beat his brother Tyre in this lifetime.
Dai Li did not tell Hansen Brown his own conclusion. He didn’t want to damage Hansen’s self-confidence, so he did not reject Hansen Brown. Instead, he said, “Mr. Brown, I can provide you with a targeted training program that can make you better. Defeating your brother Tyre Brown, I can’t guarantee. The only thing I can ensure is that as long as you believe in me, after a while, you will become stronger!”
“I believe in you!” Hansen Brown nodded solemnly. “You led the American track and field team to unprecedented heights, and I believe that you can also lead me to such heights as well.”
After Hansen Brown was escorted out of the reception room, the receptionist at the front desk hurried over.
“Boss, there is a man outside who doesn’t have an appointment, but he wants to see you,” the receptionist said.
“No appointment? I won’t see him. If he really needs to see me, help him make an appointment,” Dai Li said.
“Boss, he handed me a business card and said that after seeing this business card, you would see him.” The receptionist handed the business card to Dai Li.
Dai Li took the business card and saw the name of Toby Claude.
Claude came! Dai Li was joyful, as if he were meeting someone from his hometown.
When he was with the Dingtian Club, Claude took care of Dai Li and, in the end, he recommended Dai Li to join Harman’s team. Dai Li was very grateful to Claude.
However, Dai Li thought for a while. Claude had his phone number. If he were looking for him, he would call directly. Why did he need to find the receptionist and hand over a business card?
So the person outside is not Claude! But he should be someone who has a relations.h.i.+p with Claude, Dai Li suddenly made a judgment.
Dai Li said, “Bring the guest into the reception room!”