Chapter 13: A Sports School Student... Who Loves to Study?

No one expected that a fifteen-year-old boy would become the central figure of this year’s Xiangshan City Middle School Sports Meet. Especially after he shattered the city’s middle school 100-meter record just moments ago, and then, within two hours, claimed the championship once again. Not only that, he broke his own personal bests from the preliminaries and semifinals all over again.

Winning both the 100 meters and 200 meters back-to-back, some sharp-eyed coaches from the sports school had already started trying to gather intel, hoping to recruit the prodigy known as Su Shen. Unfortunately, both Su Shen and Yang Yongqiang politely declined all offers, because when asked, Su Shen simply said he chose to join the local Xiangshan sports school and had no plans to go to any neighboring cities.

The reason was simple: it’s closer to home. At least Guyi Village still belonged to Xiangshan City. Going elsewhere would make returning home inconvenient. This reason was solid and reasonable—no one could argue with it.

Though it made perfect sense for a fifteen-year-old to make such a choice, it still sounded oddly reminiscent of a famous line from the popular anime Slam Dunk, spoken by Ryukawa.

But this was just a local competition; the coaches could only sigh in regret and let it be. If they had known Su Shen’s record from his previous life, they might have been willing to give anything to see whose training methods really dug deeper.

After finishing an interview with the city television station, Coach Ning Debao watched Su Shen walk out and said, “Xiao Tian, next week I’ll come to your home and get in touch with your school. You should tell your parents in advance.”

Su Shen nodded. He knew this was inevitable. He had prepared for half a year, all for this very moment—to train at a more professional place and improve as quickly as possible.

The younger he was, the greater his chance to break his original best of 9.827 seconds. To bring honor and pride to East Asians and Asians alike.

Coach Ning Debao said, “Double crown champion, do you have any other requests? Feel free to tell me. I can apply to the sports school leadership for you. You’re the only promising talent I have now—I won’t let you be mistreated.” He expected Su Shen to ask for better accommodations or something similar, but Su Shen’s reply was thunderous.

“Coach Ning, I want to study. In the future, I plan to continue to university. I hope the school can get me some foreign magazines—I want to read more and learn more.”

This was likely the only breakthrough Su Shen had made academically since arriving—the improvement in his English. Because of his long-term research into cutting-edge foreign scientific achievements and constant communication with his head coach Randy Huntington, he had forced himself to build a solid foundation. It was more than enough to handle middle school-level English. Yet he remained low-key, never showing off in class or trying to prove himself right away. Instead, he quietly spent his pocket money and New Year’s gifts on magazines.

Aside from athletics, English was the subject he devoted himself to most.

His dedication was so intense that his parents nearly dropped their jaws, wondering if their son’s brain was fried. Seeing him study English so diligently during the long summer break, they half thought he might be sick.

In Guyi Village these days, very few students seriously studied foreign languages, so it was natural for parents to be puzzled.

But there was no other way—advanced sports science was truly rooted in Europe and America, and if you didn’t learn English, you simply couldn’t keep up.

He had started late himself; before 2017, his English was almost nonexistent, so he had to catch up fast.

It wasn’t that he loved English especially—it was a necessity to understand the specialized and complex terminology of professional sports science.

There was a serious shortage of this skill in China. Since he was here, he wanted to be a pioneer, raising the professional standards of Chinese sports and cultivating fertile ground for growth.

This was within his power.

To do so, his primary tool now was English.

But in Guyi Village, getting hold of SCI-certified journals was extremely difficult. Occasionally, a few would come through, though often outdated. China still lacked any SCI-level sports journals; the only one available didn’t even cover specific events. That was something that only started happening in the Magic City after 2010.

Meanwhile, abroad there were thirty or forty SCI sports paper journals. Reading and researching them was undoubtedly beneficial.

Su Shen’s greatest trait in his previous life was his love of deep thinking and research.

He understood that science and sports were inseparable, so he hoped to use school resources to access more professional publications.

He had no idea how surprising this request would be...

Coach Ning Debao was utterly dumbfounded.

What?

This guy...

Is he really a sports school student?

Asking to study?

And to read foreign journals no one had even heard of?

Honestly, this was the first time Debao had ever encountered such a thing, even though Su Shen was still only a prospective member of the Xiangshan sports school, not officially enrolled.

This one sentence left the experienced and savvy Debao stunned into silence. The atmosphere momentarily froze; she couldn’t say a word.

But she couldn’t show weakness in front of the boy—how else could she coach him?

Clearing her throat lightly, she turned to Yang Yongqiang and asked, “Yongqiang, has Xiao Tian always liked reading?”

Yang Yongqiang, who normally just focused on Su Shen’s training and wasn’t involved in the school’s curriculum, could only shake his head blankly. He barely understood Su Shen’s habits.

And honestly, was he any less shocked than Debao?

In this era, not just head coaches but even ordinary families instinctively believed that kids who pursued athletics didn’t really like studying.

It was a classic stereotype.

The idea of well-rounded, highly educated athletes was only a slogan that came much later.

Even Debao and Yang Yongqiang, after graduating, hadn’t researched much about the latest foreign developments.

So Su Shen’s attitude was even more astonishing than the records he’d just broken.

“Well, we can consider it. If the boy wants to study, we support that. After all, the sports school is a school too. We do have cultural classes,” Debao said, fully aware of the level and style of those cultural lessons.

“Anything else you want?” She was determined to secure Su Shen’s future.

“No, that’s all. I just want to read more professional books. I want to continue my studies in the future.”

Debao was speechless.

Continue studies?

Did he want to pursue a master’s degree or something?

This wasn’t due to lack of experience—it was just that Su Shen’s request caught her completely off guard.

“Thank you, Coach Ning,” Su Shen said happily. The genuine smile on his face was unmistakable.

After the awards ceremony and a long speech from some minor official, Yang Yongqiang took the last bus back to town. Only Ning Debao remained, standing there in a daze.

She kept muttering to herself, “A sports school student who actually likes studying... This kid... really is something special.”

Originally, Su Shen just wanted to make a good impression on Debao, but little did he know, that impression had left a far deeper mark than he intended.

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