Stringy Wind in the Ear - Chap 31
After entering the venue, the athletes lined up for equipment inspection. Archery is different from other sports in that athletes need to bring their own equipment. Of course, everyone can use the bows and arrows provided by the competition committee, but it takes a long time for people and equipment to get used to each other. Unless there are special circumstances, under normal circumstances, everyone brings their own equipment.
The psychological trauma caused by not bringing a bow to a competition is equivalent to not bringing a school bag. You will receive countless surprised and mocking looks.
Whenever this moment came, Song Yang would be grateful to Li Xun in his heart, otherwise he really wouldn’t have even the most basic equipment.
In addition to the men’s individual competition, this competition also includes women’s individual competition and team mixed competition.
The T University team once had three female players, but they withdrew one after another due to personal reasons, and no female players joined later.
After not having interacted with girls with similar interests for a long time, some voices inevitably emerged in the team.
“Look, there’s a beautiful girl over there.”
After all, they were just a bunch of young boys in their twenties. When they heard this, they turned their heads involuntarily, stretching their necks like giraffes.
“Where is it?”
“Over there, the one in the grey sweatshirt.”
Song Yang was tall, so he didn’t stretch his neck as exaggeratedly as they did, but he did tilt his head out of curiosity.
The girl was about the same age as them, with very thick eyelashes and a nose bridge that was higher than that of ordinary people. Her fluffy, slightly curly ponytail swayed back and forth with her light steps, giving her an exotic beauty.
Yu Shenwei was a man of great talent and courage, so he walked straight up to the beautiful girl and greeted her.
“Hey, have we met somewhere before?”
Putting aside his self-righteous character, Yu Shenwei still looks good. He always wears a pair of thin-rimmed gold-rimmed glasses on his nose, which makes him look both gentle and unsophisticated. The girl seemed to like this type of guy. After hearing such a rustic opening remark, she didn’t even turn around and leave.
Song Yang was watching the show at the side and accidentally discovered that this girl also had a small face.
I just don’t know how the results will be. If they are good, wouldn’t it overturn the theory that small faces are not suitable for archery?
Just as he was listening intently, suddenly a hand snapped its fingers in front of his eyes.
Song Yang came back to his senses.
“You can’t walk when you see a beautiful woman.” Li Xun folded his arms and looked at him.
“No, I was just looking around.”
“Just take a look.” Li Xun repeated in a low voice, glancing at the quiver behind him, “Why do you only have so many arrows?”
Song Yang looked down, his pupils suddenly dilated.
“What the hell is going on!” He turned around twice like a puppy biting its tail, his heart pounding with anxiety, “Where’s my arrow? It was clearly full when I entered!”
Could it be that someone didn’t have enough arrows and stole them?
But his initials were written on the arrow shafts, so even if someone stole it, it would be discovered quickly, unless they hid it and used it secretly.
That was the first set of arrows Li Xun gave him. He was reluctant to use them during training. He was like a child who had lost his toy, and his eyes suddenly became hot.
Li Xun raised his eyebrows and said coldly, “You were busy looking at the beauties. They must be unhappy and ran away.”
Song Yang raised his eyes to look at him.
Li Xun lost an arrow before the game started, which was such a fatal thing, but he could still remain calm and make sarcastic remarks. This was really abnormal.
He gritted his teeth and jumped behind Li Xun at lightning speed. As expected, dozens of arrows were stuck in the gap between his belt and trousers.
“Do you want to scare me to death?” Song Yang slapped him on the arm, pulled out the arrow, and glared at him again.
“Why are you glaring at me? I’m just teaching you a lesson,” Li Xun tapped his forehead fiercely and taught him, “The bow and arrow are the lifeblood of an archery athlete. How dare you lose your lifeblood? How can you compete? Do you know how many athletes were unable to compete in the competition due to problems with their equipment?”
Song Yang was surprised and asked, “Does anyone really dare to steal things?”
“Of course. Some people will do anything to win. The competition field is like a battlefield. It is much more cruel and realistic than you can imagine. There is nothing that the enemy dare not use, except what you can’t think of.”
“I understand, Master.” Song Yang admitted his mistake obediently and massaged his arm.
The first round was the individual all-around recurve archery competition, with shooting ranges of 15 meters, 25 meters, 30 meters and 50 meters, with 36 arrows released at each position, for a total of 144. After every 12 arrows were shot, the referee on site scored and pulled out the arrows until the last arrow was shot, and the ranking was based on the total number of rings.
The rules are similar to those of the school sports meet, the difference is that the diameter of the target is shorter, and each athlete has four target papers on the target. The first one is shot at 15 meters, the second one is shot at 25 meters, and so on.
If the arrow hits the target paper outside the specified area, even if it is a ten-ring, it will be considered as off target, which adds a certain degree of difficulty to the competition.
The total number of athletes participating in the competition is nearly three hundred. The venue can accommodate up to sixty athletes shooting arrows at the same time, so the individual competition is divided into five groups, three groups for boys and two groups for girls.
Song Yang was drawn to target position C5 in group 1. His groupmates were Yu Shenwei and Wu Jianian, who were at target positions A1 and E8 respectively.
The referee blew the whistle and they walked to the shooting line together and took their positions.
Before Song Yang put the arrow on, he looked back and found Li Xun standing behind him, and he chuckled.
This was not because Li Xun was biased. In fact, the position of the coach was very particular. Wu Jianian and Yu Shenwei had participated in such small competitions many times, so the possibility of poor performance was very low. However, this was Song Yang’s first time, so Li Xun’s task was to help him adjust his mentality and get into the state.
Li Xun raised his eyebrows and reminded: “Pay attention to the target and shoot the one in the upper left corner.”
Song Yang made an “OK” gesture.
The first round of 12 arrows takes 240 seconds to shoot, which means that the average shooting time for each arrow is 20 seconds.
The indicator lights came on and the athletes put their arrows on the bows and pulled the strings at the same time. It was a magnificent scene, a bit like a scene in a martial arts film.
The fastest one had the second arrow on the bow in less than ten seconds.
Song Yang shot the first few arrows well, but the time he took to aim at the target was longer than that of other athletes. It took him about 16 seconds from nocking the arrow to finishing, which was very dangerous.
Li Xun praised him for his beautiful moves in order to help him calm down, but he was actually a little anxious and kept an eye on the countdown board on the opposite side.
Because exceeding the time limit is considered as missing the target, it will be counted as 0 rings, which is a major mistake.
However, all the athletes were standing on the same line of sight, and even if Li Xun didn’t say anything, Song Yang could still see them raising their bows and arrows from the corner of his eye. It was like seeing a classmate handing in his paper early during an exam, and his emotions were involuntarily diverted, and he always felt that he was much slower.
This is a sense of urgency that his usual training never gave him.
All sports involve two key factors: physical fitness and mentality.
Once your thoughts are disturbed, the outcome is always unsatisfactory.
Song Yang’s seventh arrow missed the target by a little bit. When the arrow hit the target, he gasped. It was only 8 rings.
He subconsciously glanced at the targets of several athletes nearby. Everyone’s arrows were within the yellow circle, either the 10th ring or the 9th ring.
Li Xun was experienced and could tell from a glance that Song Yang was in a strange mood. An alarm went off in his mind and he immediately comforted him, “It’s okay. Don’t worry. There’s plenty of time. Go at your own pace next time.”
Song Yang hooked the arrow with his backhand, adjusted his breathing, put the arrow on the bow and raised the bow. This time the aiming time was extended by a few seconds than before.
With a muffled “dong” sound, Li Xun leaned forward to check the number of rings and clapped his hands: “Beautiful!”
The praised little sheep gained more confidence and gradually got into the best of the situation, performing steadily in the later stages. After two rounds, there was a short break, and the contestants put down their bows and arrows and relaxed on the spot.
Li Xun calculated the total score earlier than the referee, a total of 655 rings, but three arrows seemed to have crossed the line, making it impossible to determine the number of rings.
According to the rules of the competition, any arrow that touches the line will be scored with the higher value, but whether it touches the line or not depends on the judgement of the referee. However, even if it does not touch the line, given the current situation, Song Yang has performed at the level he should have.
No, it should be considered an exceptional performance, because they usually only have a target paper in the center during training.
Li Xun said: “It should be 655 rings.”
“Is this result okay?” Song Yang asked.
“That’s great,” Li Xun smiled and patted his shoulder, encouraging him, “Believe in yourself, your score is really not bad. As long as there are no mistakes like missing the target or exceeding the time limit, there will be no problem in getting into the top 48.”
His words relaxed Song Yang’s tense nerves, and his performance in the next 30 meters was relatively stable, achieving an upper-middle level in his usual training, with 315 rings and a total of 970.
Li Xun took out a booklet from his pocket, which recorded all of Song Yang’s achievements in all-around training at school.
If he remembered correctly…Song Yang’s best score in the first three rounds was around 965 rings.
Yes, that’s right!
Li Xun closed the booklet, stood with his hands behind his back, and a happy smile appeared on his lips. Maybe Song Yang could break his record today.
The referee blew the whistle and the contestants returned to their positions. After shooting more than a hundred arrows, everyone’s faces showed some signs of fatigue, but Song Yang was still in high spirits.
Before he raised his bow, Li Xun reminded him quietly: “Pay attention, this is the fourth target, don’t aim at the wrong target if you are not careful.”
“good.”
As soon as the reminder was given, the boy next to Song Yang let out an “ah”, turned around and stuck out his tongue at the coach: “What should I do?”
He shot at the third target.
“What to do? Just keep shooting!” the coach behind him growled.
Li Xun looked over and saw that the boy seemed to be competing for the first time as well. He was not mentally strong enough and was easily defeated by an arrow that missed the target and the stern attitude of the coach. He only scored 5 rings with the second arrow.
Even though this is just one of hundreds of arrows, it affects the entire body and it is extremely difficult to make up for it.
Li Xun only took a quick glance and turned his attention back to Song Yang, but a few seconds later, the coach next to him suddenly yelled, “What the hell are you doing!”
The boy who was scolded dropped his arms in a daze.
Even if an athlete was concentrating most, it was difficult not to look over there. Even if he was distracted for a short moment, Song Yang failed to hook the bowstring properly when he put the arrow on. Before he could raise his bow arm, the arrow had already been shot out.
At that moment, he was so scared that his scalp went numb, and two capital bold words flashed through his mind – “It’s over”.
The arrow fell two meters away, and the tip of the arrow happened to hit a yellow line.
Li Xun had never encountered such a situation in his more than ten years of work, and he was stunned.
According to the rules, if the arrow falls within the three-meter line, it should be considered a shooting error, no points will be counted, and the shot is allowed to be re-shot. However, Song Yang’s arrow fell too coincidentally, with most of it outside the line and a small part inside.
The master and the disciple stared at each other.
Just as Song Yang was about to walk over to pick it up, Li Xun shouted, “Don’t worry about it, shoot the next one first!”
After he said that, Song Yang was no longer sure whether the arrow counted as a point or not. His heart was beating so fast that it almost jumped out of his throat.
He blamed himself and felt annoyed.
As a bystander, Li Xun was more likely to calm down. Not only did the arrow not get released, it also wasted a lot of time. Song Yang was slow at aiming at the target and would exceed the time limit if he was not careful.
He said to Song Yang: “It’s okay, I’ll take care of it, just pay attention to the time limit!”
Then go straight to the referee area to find someone to make the decision.
Fortunately, it was a friendly match between schools, and there was no conflict of interest involved. The referee took a quick look and said, “No problem, just let him shoot with another arrow, and we can pick up the other one later.”
Li Xun raced against time to convey the original words. At this time, there were 15 seconds left in the countdown and Song Yang had one last arrow left in his hand.
Li Xun frowned. The reason why he didn’t deliberately adjust Song Yang’s aiming time before was because he firmly believed that everyone had different habits. In the Olympic arena, there would occasionally be athletes who shot the arrow at the last second. As long as they could shoot all the arrows at the highest level within the specified time, they would be in the best competitive state.
But judging from Song Yang’s performance today, this is problematic.
Even a one in ten thousand chance of an accident could result in all previous efforts being wasted.
It must be changed in the future.
Two seconds countdown.
And Song Yang was still aiming at the target.
Many people believe that when athletes are shooting arrows, their vision is focused on the target. In fact, this is not the case. For professional athletes, the field of vision is “the arrow is real and the target is virtual.”
Everything except the arrow is virtual.
So when Song Yang was concentrating, he couldn’t see the countdown clearly and had to rely entirely on his feeling.
At this moment he is waiting for the signal plate to land – the signal plate needs to be pressed by the athlete in advance. When the athlete pulls the bowstring and adjusts it to a certain angle, it will sound. The sound of the signal plate means that the best launching angle has been reached. In the competition, you must wait until the signal plate sounds before you can release the arrow.
Quick, quick, quick, quick, quick…
Li Xun was so anxious that his head hurt, but he couldn’t shout out loud, so he could only recite it silently over and over again.
Such a trivial game made him so nervous that he broke out in a sweat and his heart almost stopped beating. He finally understood why eunuchs in ancient times were always more anxious than the emperor.
Song Yang was the last one to hand in his homework, and countless pairs of eyes looked over like searchlights.
“despair!”
The signal piece landed, and almost at the same time, the black arrow hit the target.
The countdown is over.
Li Xun let out a long sigh of relief.
It’s really annoying.
He wasn’t this nervous even when he shot his last arrow.
After the referee pulled out the arrow, a new round began. Fortunately, there were no problems afterwards. It was just that due to insufficient muscle endurance, Song Yang’s arms kept shaking. The last few arrows did not perform well and he still hit 6 rings.
The total score was 1249, which was 1 ring higher than his personal historical record.
This was far from what he had expected.
After a group of games ended, Li Xun found a place to sit down and recorded some problems Song Yang encountered in the game.
1. Lack of concentration and easily distracted.
2. Not understanding the rules of the game in detail. (Players are not allowed to pick up arrows during the game, which wastes time)
3. Aiming at the target for too long.
4. Insufficient muscle endurance.
5. Easy to get nervous.
Li Xun spun his pen and wrote the last line: Join in the fun before the game! Look at the beauties! Little pervert!
“Master! What are you writing?”
A clear and enthusiastic young voice floated from behind.
“Snapped!”
Li Xun quickly closed the booklet and changed the subject: “Aren’t you going to the bathroom?”
“I can’t pee.” Song Yang leaned on the back of his chair, “Are you keeping score? Let me see.”
Li Xun forced himself to change the subject: “Are you thirsty? Do you want some water? There is a water dispenser over there.”
“Ah.” Song Yang slapped his thigh suddenly, “I was wondering why I felt like I forgot something when I went out this morning. I left the water cup on the table… Never mind, let’s talk about it after lunch.”
Li Xun bent down and picked up his water cup from the ground: “Do you want to drink?”
Song Yang was flattered and took it with both hands. The weather was cold, so Li Xun changed to a frosted black thermos cup. A small tea bag could be vaguely seen inside, and it smelled like peach.
He took a sip and found the taste was lighter than he had imagined. There was basically no tea flavor, it just smelled fragrant. If he guessed correctly, it should be peach oolong.
“No wonder your mouth smells so sweet.” Song Yang said.
Li Xun was amused by him: “Can you stop sniffing around with that dog nose of yours? It makes me embarrassed to eat stinky tofu.”
Song Yang: “I didn’t sniff around, I just smelled your scent.”
Li Xun: “Then go smell someone else’s.”
“I don’t want it,” Song Yang smiled with his eyes curved, “I think you smell good.”
Eyes from all directions gathered around him.
Li Xun couldn’t help but raise his hand and smell it.
What does it smell like?
Why couldn’t he smell it himself?
