Chapter 7: Heaven Opens Its Eyes
Under the threat of his father, Qi Zhen had to continue practicing hurdles honestly and eventually became China's first hurdler. Later in his memoirs, he thanked his father for his approach at that time. However, Gao Jun, who deeply loved Chinese football, felt very disheartened when he learned about this. It was understandable that a father would consider his son's future, but an important figure in Chinese football was also so stubbornly opposed to his son entering the profession. What hope did Chinese football have?
It's precisely because he knows how difficult it is to turn a top-notch hurdler into a football player that Gao Jun values this young boy who has come to him, especially since Xie Wenjun is different from Qi Zhen in some ways. He is only just 10 years old now, and his malleability is undoubtedly much greater, making him even more worthy of Gao Jun creating a customized career plan for him, although most of it cannot be revealed to him for the time being...
Considering Xie Wenjun's current technical foundation is still very weak, Gao Jun did not immediately try to change his position, lest he perform poorly on the front court and lose interest in football. Instead, after each day's training ended, he would accompany him for one-on-one and shooting practice, first with Xie Wenjun as goalkeeper and Gao Jun attacking, then reversing roles. This slowly cultivated Xie Wenjun's most basic attacking ability, and also helped Gao Jun get used to his new body and recover his peak skills as soon as possible.
In addition, Gao Jun also opened a small stove for Xie Wenjun, teaching him various simple and practical techniques such as passing, dribbling, receiving the ball, passing, passing in midfield, and shooting. It is worth mentioning that these movements have been specially screened by Gao Jun to ensure that they will not affect Xie Wenjun's congenital spinal fracture and will not induce related injuries.
But what Gao Jun didn't expect was that not long after, in a thorough physical examination at the Chongming base, Xie Wenjun surprisingly didn't have any problems, and the lumbar vertebra fracture in his memory didn't exist on this Xie Wenjun. After learning about it, Gao Jun naturally became even more delighted, couldn't help but sigh that heaven had opened its eyes, and from then on he was even more meticulous in giving Xie Wenjun small tasks, making him grow faster and faster...
Actually, spinal bifida is a very common congenital defect in China, with a high incidence of several percent. Except for a few severe cases, the impact is not great, as long as it's not a job that frequently receives strong impacts on the affected area. The main cause is the lack of folic acid in the mother's body during conception and early pregnancy (it's useless to supplement after finding out you're pregnant, it must be sufficient at the time of conception). This leads to incomplete development of the fetal neural tube, but it's not a certainty, only a probability of several percent. Therefore, it's not surprising that some minor changes in this space-time could have spared Xie Wenjun from this congenital disease.
Without this congenital defect, Gao Jun was almost certain that if Xie Wenjun still learned hurdles like in history, the possibility of surpassing Liu Xiang would be very high. However, in the eyes of Gao Jun who loves football, having another hurdle king in China is far less valuable than having another world-class soccer star, and this is also true for Xie Wenjun. Due to the huge influence of football, if he can really become a world-class soccer star, his reputation and benefits will not be worse than those of a hurdle king. Moreover, Liu Xiang's wealth is largely due to being the "first" one, and even if Xie Wenjun learns hurdles and surpasses him in performance, he won't get that much fame and fortune. Therefore, no matter what, Gao Jun still insisted on cultivating Xie Wenjun into an excellent player. After changing his position to offense, Xie Wenjun's interest in football quickly recovered, and for a young player, nothing can motivate him to progress faster than interest...
It is said that Gao Hong, although rarely dribbling past opponents in matches, was only because he was too slow, and even if he did get past someone, it wouldn't have made much of a difference. However, if we're just talking about dribbling technique, Gao Hong's skills were extremely high, and from a young age, he had been diligently practicing, at least domestically, to the point where he could be considered second-rate. His long-range shooting and free kick abilities were also similarly skilled, only his crossing and defensive techniques hadn't been practiced much...
In training, Gao Jun found that Xie Wenjun learned various skills very quickly. At the same time, he practiced more diligently and seriously than ordinary goalkeepers when it came to attacking techniques that interested him, which made Gao Jun even more confident in his future.
A month later, Xie Wenjun finally mastered the signature move "Big Step Tread Ball" of his former club teammate Xie Feng, a technique that looked simple but was actually difficult to master as it required precise control over the force of the tread. At this point, Gao Jun took advantage of his opportunity to meet Xu Genbao in person and explained the situation to him. Although Coach Xu treated everyone equally, having the boss of the base as his guardian had its advantages...
Xu Genbao was furious when he found out that a promising young player, who could run 100 meters in under 12 seconds at the age of less than 10, had been assigned to be a goalkeeper. To avoid wronging the youngster, Xu arranged an internal training match at the base, where Xie Wenjun played as a winger instead. As a result, Xie single-handedly tore apart the defense line of the 89-age group...
To know that Xie Wenjun is not just fast, but also has a significant advantage in height, jumping ability and strength compared to his peers. In the 89 age group, only Cai Hui Kang, who is also relatively early in development, can barely keep up with him, but still lags far behind in terms of speed and agility. With Gao Jun's offensive skills, it's no wonder that he can dominate on the court. After all, there is no concept of overall defense in youth teams yet, so his one-on-one advantage is greatly magnified...
The game had only seen half, the temperamental Coach Xu couldn't help but fire the stupid coach who selected the goalkeeper based on height alone. He stayed in the base for three months, carefully observing and adjusting players who were not suitable for their positions. Gao Jun, who contributed to this, was also valued by Xu Genbao, but at that time, Gao Jun had already been promoted to the 87 age group due to his outstanding performance after entering the 88 age group, and unexpectedly met two former apprentices...
Note 1: Due to traditional habits, Chinese women rarely increase their intake of vegetables and fruits during pregnancy, and may even decrease it. However, the required amount is three times that of normal times, so almost all are severely deficient in folic acid. The incidence of diseases such as spina bifida and other neural tube defects is also about one-tenth, which shows that the probability of fetal neural tube development due to lack of folic acid is not 100%.
