Hello everyone, I am the Sino-British mixed-race Xie Luyi~ In the last episode, I mentioned that my father, Jack Simith (also translated as Jie Ke Shi Mi Fu), due to injuries during his playing career, studied at the coaching training courses recognized by the English Football Association and FIFA during his recovery and off-season, and successfully graduated with a highly valuable coaching certificate~ When he first started as a coach, he was not valued in the UK, so he made a bold attempt.
Good coaches had already clustered in Europe, so he sought corresponding positions in the Far East. Compared to mainland China, Hong Kong, which had not yet returned at that time, was more convenient to access.
Upon arriving in Hong Kong, fortunately, the club sent someone to pick him up, along with a translator~ Shortly after arriving at the company, the club manager negotiated the salary and benefits, which made my father very satisfied; however, after looking at the youth training schedule provided by the club, my father couldn't help but question it. He believed that although Asians were temporarily at a physical disadvantage, frequent training could easily lead to injuries, which would not only hinder schoolwork but also be detrimental to development in football; he thought of people as barrels, where the longer the short board, the greater the load it could carry, but no matter how it was repaired, it was never solid.
A foreigner naturally does not understand much of the so-called "human affairs," so my father boldly offered suggestions to the club, believing that contemporary young players are also students and fully capable of walking on two legs; youth training in various European countries has always emphasized quality over quantity~ Willing to invest in youth training classes not only provides the team with an additional revenue stream but also allows students to develop good physiques. The club's selection of personnel naturally prioritizes talented young players. My father's suggestions were adopted by the club, which also allowed him to train the local coaches.
However, in the first class, tardiness was rampant~ There were many sleeping in class, and those who were playing with their phones need not be mentioned. My father taught the entire class in English, and although he communicated with the translator, the translator took advantage of his lack of understanding, providing little help. Moreover, the translator was almost clueless about football terminology.
After this class, the club manager first checked the notes, and the translated content made my father feel it was below expectations. He then requested to change to a translator who understood football terminology. Meanwhile, as my father's Cantonese teacher, the translator met my father for the first time in the company cafeteria, which happened to be afternoon tea time~ They each ordered a cup of silk stocking milk tea, an egg tart, and a half-cut chicken bun. My father listed all the football terms in his notebook, asking the translator to write down the Chinese next to each one, and he made sure to ask for the pronunciation of each word clearly, even providing English words that sounded very similar for accuracy.
Regarding the theories my father discussed, many might raise questions upon seeing this. After all, practice is the only standard for testing truth, so the few young players were divided into classes, allowing all the coaches who took notes and those who did not to lead separate teams. My father complied with the club's arrangement and was assigned a group to train under him, and then they would compete to see whose team would ultimately win the championship, after which bonuses would be awarded to the young players in the team.