Because the list of archers was submitted in advance, even though Shao Ping had the mind to subst.i.tute in Tang Yan, he couldn"t. Therefore, Tang Yan spent the next day watching the team event, as a part of the audience.Tang Yan felt disappointed as he watched from the stands, originally, he had thought the team compet.i.tion would be extremely intense and high level, but the actual event was much worse than what he had expected.
There was absolutely no tension. The bigger cities dominated their counterparts and eliminated them, only to be absolutely dominated by Yuhang City, who won by a huge margin. The whole thing was underwhelming.
Seeing all this, Tang Yan was disappointed. The archers partic.i.p.ating in this event were no longer the young archers from yesterday but the main force of each city.
But seeing their performance he couldn"t help but sigh, after his upgrade yesterday, he felt he could easily beat most of these archers.
Even Yuhang City"s team wasn"t much better with the exception of a few archers. With this, you could see how bad the overall men"s archery level in the Zhejiang Province was.
After the trials ended, Tang Yan finished sorting out a few administration issues and informing his parents. He headed towards the provincial team to sign in.
It was only June, but the weather in Yuhang City was already blazing hot. Walking down the road, Tang Yan felt the scorching heat on his back. After a long day of lounging about, Tang Yan felt sluggish and tired.
So, after arriving at the Provincial Archery a.s.sociation and signing in, he didn"t bother interacting with the others. Instead, he headed to his a.s.signed room and went straight to sleep.
The provincial archery team was a relatively broad term, unlike the city archery team it was subdivided into many groups.
According to the different age groups, there was the adult team, youth team, and the juvenile team.
According to the different archery distances, they were also subdivided into four groups: 30m, 50m, 70m, and 90m.
When competing in large-scale compet.i.tions, the team would be made up of people selected from each group.
Because there were so many people but so few spots, and with everyone being an elite from their respective cities, the compet.i.tion within the team was incredibly fierce.
Although Tang Yan had shot a stunning two arrows in front of Li Lao and the other head coaches, he was selected this time mainly because he was the 50m champion. In other words, his group was the 50m-youth team.
....
Early the next morning, after Tang Yan woke up, he found that his roommate had arrived, and of all people, it was Li Cunde who he had defeated in the 50-meter semi-finals.
"I heard the others say we have to gather by 9 o"clock. You should hurry up," said Li Cunde, seeing him wake up. He was already dressed.
Tang Yan turned and looked at the time on his phone, it was already half past eight, he said, "Thank you", and then turned around and got up.
Li Cunde didn"t wait for him to get ready and instead took his stuff and left.
After showering, he went downstairs and bought two steamed buns to eat while walking. When he arrived at the archery hall, he realized everyone else was already there.
Fortunately, the coach hadn"t arrived yet.
After he found a place to stand, he looked around and found that most of the people here were mostly sixteen or seventeen. At his age, he was one of the older archers.
As he was looking around, suddenly, there was a bang in the direction of the door. He turned his head and looked over. He saw a group of people geared in sportswear enter the hall. They looked to be in their twenties and older, they should be the main force of the provincial team.
At the forefront was a man with a stern looking face, everyone behind him seemed to follow his lead.
Tang Yan had experienced a lot in his previous life, and immediately concluded that this man was most likely the ace of the provincial team.
After the group entered, they didn"t really look at the newcomers. They walked straight over to the rest area behind them.
After their arrival, the originally relaxed atmosphere seemed to disappear and it suddenly became tense.
Silence now filled the hall. Nervousness could be seen on the newcomers" faces.
The older archers ignored the newcomers, and the newcomers didn"t have the courage to say h.e.l.lo.
An invisible barrier seemed to separate the two groups.
Tang Yan didn"t pay any more attention to the veteran group and instead focused back on his group.
As expected, most of them were from Yuhang City, but what he hadn"t expected was that there were five archers from other cities who had also made it into the team.
After roughly ten minutes.
"Cough cough~"
A series of coughing sounds came from outside the door.
Hearing the coughs, the older players sitting behind them suddenly stood up from their seats and then arranged themselves into two rows behind the backs of the newcomers.
Tang Yan turned his head and looked over to the door. A middle-aged man with a big belly and a Mediterranean haircut entered.
Though the man was a little fat, his eyes gave off an intangible pressure.
Before they came, they were told some information about some of the main characters in the provincial team. This was the head of the provincial archery team, Song Feng, a legendary figure in the archery scene; he had once shot a 680 point qualifier for the Olympics.
Song Feng walked into the hall and stared them down without a word.
His eyes swept over the newcomers. Then he said coldly: "My name is Song Feng, I will be your head coach. If you are looking for a pat on the back for making it here, then you"ve come to the wrong place. If you are looking for an easy ride, then you"ve come to the wrong place. If you are looking for special treatment, then once again you have come to the wrong place.
"This team is a place of hards.h.i.+p. Archery doesn"t just need talent, but hard work too. What kind of achievements you"ll make in the future will all depend on you. I don"t want to train quitters, so if you think you can"t bear it, then do us all a favor and quit in advance."