Chapter 113 Badminton is all about hitting back and forth
Tuesday afternoon, the last physical education class.
Teacher Niu, who had disappeared for a whole week due to illness, suddenly recovered.
As usual, Niu Wengang appeared on the playground as promised.
Seeing that Teacher Niu looked fine, even the naive classmate Xu Cailing realized that there must be some ulterior conspiracy behind this incident!
Anyway, it's over. As long as Teacher Niu is still alive, at least I won't be skipping PE classes anymore...
"Xu Cailing, organize the team and lead everyone to run four laps on the playground."
"Oh, good!"
Compared to the time when we had to learn radio gymnastics before physical education class, we now have to run two more laps before class. Now we have to run four laps, which is 800 meters.
But it’s only 800 meters. After running, you don’t have to do radio gymnastics. You can just do whatever you want – except you can’t go back to the classroom.
Liu Zhiyi felt that this rule was specially set for her.
It’s a free activity, why can’t we go back to the classroom? How can it still be called a free activity if we can’t even go back to the classroom?
The girl sighed and thought about the philosophical question of 'freedom' while running.
Liu Zhiyi jogs with Fang Wei every morning. Now, running 800 meters is no longer a difficult task for him and his physical fitness has improved greatly.
For Xu Cailing, who already had good physical fitness, running 800 meters was even easier. In addition, the weather was much cooler now, so at this running speed, she didn't even sweat after finishing the run.
Soon, after four laps, everyone gathered in front of Teacher Niu.
Looking at the different sports performances of the students in the class, Teacher Niu said helplessly:
"I heard that your class had the best results in the midterm exam, but why are your physical fitness so poor? You're so tired after just running 800 meters?"
"Exercise more often, your body is the capital of revolution!"
"Okay, nothing more to do, let's disband."
"You are not allowed to go back to the classroom. Come back and gather five minutes before the end of get out of class!"
"understood--"
"Xu Cailing, take a few people to the gym. Remember what sports equipment and balls you take and put them back before the gathering."
"it is good!"
Teacher Niu waved his hand, and the students in Class 2 who were lined up in a queue dispersed.
A few boys first ran to the basketball court to reserve seats, and then some students also ran to the ping-pong table to reserve seats. Some students like Liu Zhiyi who were not interested in sports walked and chatted in groups of three or four on the campus.
Xu Cailing and Fang Wei went to the gym together.
For most parents and teachers, sports are just fun.
Most of the students on the island come from average families, and few bring their own sports equipment to physical education classes. They usually use the school’s sports equipment.
In the gym, many commonly used sports equipment such as basketball, football, table tennis, badminton, and skipping rope are in tatters.
I don't know how many classes of students have used it, and the school is reluctant to spend money to replace it with a new one, especially the badminton. The hair has all fallen off, leaving only the ball head and the bare hair shaft.
As for basketballs and footballs, the leather was almost peeling off, but they were still in use as long as they were not leaking. The rubber pads of the table tennis rackets had all fallen off, leaving only a piece of wood. Some of the badminton rackets had broken strings and some of the poles were crooked...
Perhaps it is not an exaggeration to call such sports equipment scrap garbage if placed in a university in a big city.
But here, it is one of the few "toys" for young boys and girls. Even if it is tattered, everyone still has fun playing with it.
There were students from other classes taking physical education class together today. In order to help everyone grab as many sports equipment as possible, Xu Cailing took the lead, ran very fast, and rushed into the gym in a flash.
Fang Wei followed her and soon heard Xu Cailing's loud shouting.
"Wow!!"
"What's wrong? Have all the good ones been taken?"
"No! Look!!"
When Fang Wei walked into the gym and saw the sports equipment in front of him, he finally understood what Xu Cailing was surprised about.
“They are all new!!”
Xu Cailing was stunned, as if she had entered a treasure trove. Her eyes were not enough. She looked left and right in surprise, sizing up the dazzling array of new sports equipment in the gym.
New basketballs, new footballs, new table tennis rackets, new badminton rackets...
As an avid sports fan, it is hard to describe Xu Cailing's feelings when she saw these brand new sports equipment. It felt like she was wearing new clothes for the Chinese New Year!
She picked up the basketball and patted it. The rough grain of the surface was clear and elastic;
She picked up the badminton racket and swung it, the texture was even, the paint on the pole was intact, the wires were tightly arranged;
She opened the can of ping-pong balls and accidentally dropped two new balls. The bright orange-yellow balls bounced bouncyly on the floor, with no signs of deflation and then being restored to their original shape after being scalded with boiling water...
“They are all really new…”
Seeing this, Fang Wei was also surprised.
It's not that all of them were replaced with new ones. The old, broken equipment was still left in the gym, piled in the corner, but it had completely fallen out of favor and couldn't attract any attention at all.
"Has the school made a fortune? They can afford to buy so many new equipment!" Xu Cailing was extremely excited.
"That means the school is slowly starting to pay more attention to sports." Fang Wei said with a smile.
After all, he is not a school leader, so Fang Wei doesn't get any information. But he can imagine that he will be willing to spend the money to replace new sports equipment, which may be a new beginning.
The Olympic fever has just passed, and this year the national team has achieved quite excellent results, setting off a nationwide sports craze.
If we wait until July next year and the news of the successful bid for the Olympic Games comes back, the education system that benefits students with special talents will definitely be implemented on the island.
"Great, great!"
Xu Cailing didn't think that far. When she saw these brand new sports equipment, she just felt numb and itchy all over her body. She had to play with them immediately.
The girl pulled the cart over and put two new basketballs, a new football, several new badminton rackets, new table tennis rackets...she didn't want any of the old things, just new ones.
Just like shopping in a supermarket, after sweeping everything away, he felt satisfied and left the gym with Fang Wei, pulling the cart.
When they arrived at the playground, the other students were also very excited to see these brand new sports equipment. They swarmed up to share them, and then ran back to the playground excitedly.
"Let's play badminton today!" said Xu Cailing.
She took four new rackets and two new white badminton rackets.
"Not playing basketball anymore?" Fang Wei asked.
"I've never played badminton before. I just happened to have a new racket. Let's play badminton today!"
The girl's sports hobby is to try her hand at all sports, including basketball, football, badminton, and table tennis. She will try all of them if she has not played them before.
Fang Wei didn't care. As a playmate, he would play whatever Cai Ling asked him to play.
"Ah? Aren't you playing basketball today? I just threatened them, saying that the Pineapple team beat up the Baitan team today!" said A Sheng.
"Let's play some other day. Come on, let's go play badminton together!"
"I won't go. It's just girls playing. It's boring. I'd rather play basketball!"
Fang Wei: “…”
The road is narrow! A Sheng!
Fang Wei ignored him and went with Cai Ling to play with the group of pretty girls, taking his badminton racket.
The school has a badminton court, but it’s the same as not having it. There are just a few lines drawn on the concrete floor, and there is no net in the middle.
On weekdays when the weather is good, teachers will pull a rope between two poles to dry sheets or bacon and sausages on it...
Xu Cailing found Du Peipei, and Fang Wei's former desk mates Ye Xiaoli and Wang Qiaoyun to form a badminton team.
"One, two, three... five, one more to go!"
Xu Cailing counted them, then turned around and saw Liu Zhiyi sitting under the shade of a nearby tree, quietly memorizing words by herself. "Zhiyi!"
"..."
"Knowledge!"
"……Eh?"
Liu Zhiyi raised her head and saw Xu Cailing and Fang Wei waving at her.
She came over curiously.
"what's wrong?"
"We are still short of one person. Let's form a team to play badminton. That's three teams!"
"Ah... I don't know how to fight."
"It's okay, we don't know how to do it either!"
"Why don't you guys just play, I'm a good cook..."
"Oh, now I'm here!"
Xu Cailing grabbed her and said to her, "It's a battle between classmates! We are exactly three groups!"
Liu Zhiyi was stunned: "A battle between classmates?"
Xu Cailing pointed at Fang Wei again, "Well! Peipei and I are in one team, Xiaoli and Qiaoyun are in one team, and you and Fang Wei are in one team. We just happen to be sitting at the same table! Come on, come on."
"..."
Liu Zhiyi blinked his eyes. If he was on the same team with Fang Wei... then they could play for a while.
"Well, I'm a noob! If I don't fight well, don't laugh at me."
"Hahaha! We are rivals now. If we lose, we have to change players. You should tell Fang Wei this!"
Liu Zhiyi then looked at Fang Wei.
Fang Wei waved the racket in his hand and said with a laugh: "Lie down, I'll take you flying!"
"How do you lie down?"
"…I don't mean to really lie down!"
Fang Wei was speechless, and asked them to come over and play rock-paper-scissors to decide the order of performance.
"rock-paper-scissors!"
"rock-paper-scissors!"
After two rounds of rock-paper-scissors, Fang Wei's group and Cai Ling's group won, and Ye Xiaoli and Wang Qiaoyun watched the game on the sidelines.
"Here, the racket."
Fang Wei handed the brand new badminton racket to Liu Zhiyi.
Although Liu Zhiyi said that she doesn't know how to play, it doesn't mean she has never played it. She used to play badminton with her mother in the community, but she was really not very good at it.
Xu Cailing and other girls had never played badminton before they entered junior high school.
Du Peipei, Ye Xiaoli and Wang Qiaoyun were better off as they had played it in previous classes and could easily get the hang of it. Only Xu Cailing was playing it for the first time.
During the Olympics, everyone watched the badminton matches. Cai Ling said that this time they were going to play for real, and the so-called "real" meant playing according to the rules.
But the rules are set by themselves. The Badminton Federation has no say!
"Then how do you want to play?" Fang Wei asked.
"We play seven balls! And they cannot go out of bounds or fly under the net!" said Xu Cailing.
Of course there is no net, but thanks to the teacher who usually hangs sheets here to dry, a clothesline is hung between two poles, which serves as the net.
"OK, let's get started. I'll serve you first."
Fang Wei waved his racket and stood on the left half of the court, while Liu Zhiyi stood on the right half of the court.
There are no such things as positioning, footwork, or serving rules. The only criterion for judging victory or defeat is whether you can hit the ball, receive the ball, and whether it goes out of bounds.
Xu Cailing stood directly opposite Fang Wei, and she was responsible for serving.
Du Peipei said: "Cai Ling, Fang Wei looks very strong, can we beat them?"
"Of course, Pepe, you take the ball on your side, and I'll take the ball on my side."
"it is good."
Then the game began.
Xu Cailing threw the badminton high up, then waved her hand and hit it!
[call--]
There was only the sound of a badminton racket cutting through the air, but no sound of the ball hitting the ball.
The badminton fell from high up, hit her head with a thud, and then fell at her feet with another thud.
Fang Wei: “…”
Liu Zhiyi: “…”
Dupepe: “…”
Ye Xiaoli and Wang Qiaoyun who were watching the game said: “Hahahaha!”
Xu Cailing: "Ahhh! This ball doesn't count! I didn't even touch the ball! It counts only if you touch the ball but don't hit it!"
The girl bent down dejectedly to pick up the badminton, threw it high again, and swung it hard.
[Bang!]
This time it hit!
The strength, height and angle are all quite good - for the opponent.
There is no rule for diagonal serve. Seeing this beautiful ball flying in front of him, Fang Wei took a step back and then swung his racket to smash it! !
[Bang! !]
The badminton fell back to Xu Cailing's feet.
"Ahhh! This ball doesn't count! You can't just smash the ball when someone serves it! You have to hit it back first!"
"...??"
A question mark popped up in Fang Wei's head: "Is there such a reason?"
"Yes, that's how it should be. Otherwise, how can we receive the call?" Even teammate Liu Zhiyi felt that Cai Ling was right.
"Yes, yes, badminton is meant to be played back and forth. This definitely won't work."
The other three girls said the same thing, and added: "And when serving, you can't steal the other person's backcourt, you have to hit it in front of them."
Fang Wei: “…”
Alright alright.
Fang Wei never thought that he, who knew the rules best, would become the person who knew the rules the least.
Xu Cailing serves again.
This time, Fang Wei did not smash the ball. Instead, as she wished, he slowly hit the ball back to a position where she could receive it.
Then Xu Cailing hit the ball back again, and this time the ball also flew very high and floated to Liu Zhiyi's position.
Liu Zhiyi raised her racket and, like a little girl, gently hit the ball back, sending it flying to Du Pepe.
Dupe also swung his racket.
empty.
"One to zero!"
(End of this chapter)
