"Next, let's invite the founder of the training camp, Mr. Huang He of Jiangnan Group, to give us a speech!" The next day, the entire training camp naturally held another opening ceremony.
There isn't much to say about the process. The only highlight was probably Mr. Huang's speech.
Right from the start, Mr. Huang was very direct with all the players, saying, "Although you are all children, and many of you may not understand what I'm about to say, I still want to tell you the truth."
"The reason I'm holding this training camp is to get my child into the world. That's my goal, but I don't know what your purpose for being here is."
"Of course, I know many of you don't want to stay here. You're only here because of your parents' orders. I also see many of you are crying right now, and I understand your sadness."
"So, over the next 15 days, you will undergo the most systematic training and testing, and only 1,000 people will be able to stay in the end. During this time, whether you are 5 or 10 years old, I hope you will all ask yourselves one question: Do you truly love football and are you willing to strive for it as your lifelong dream?"
"If you are willing, then stay, train hard, and prove yourselves with actual tests!"
"If you are not willing, you can quietly tell your teacher your thoughts, and we will inform your parents that it was due to your physical condition not meeting the requirements of our training camp, not because you didn't try hard enough that you couldn't stay."
"Please remember, if you pass the final selection, you will be confined to a training camp for the next 5 years, repeatedly training football. This will undoubtedly be a very cruel and torturous process, a complete suppression of your natural instincts as children."
"So, please don't feel ashamed if you find you can't endure it, because it will be even more embarrassing to be screened out after you've truly begun the closed-door training."
"What you need to do is spend the next 15 days carefully experiencing your connection with football and asking yourselves if you want to play football for the rest of your lives. That is the most important thing!"
"Alright, that's all I have to say. I reckon many children won't understand what I'm saying. You can ask your respective teachers, and they will explain my meaning in detail!" Huang He said with a smile, concluding his speech.
As it turned out, the younger children didn't understand what Mr. Huang was saying, so they didn't actually go to the teachers to cry and ask to leave due to poor physical condition, even if they didn't like football.
The older children, around 10 years old, did understand Mr. Huang's words. Some of them did go to the teachers to express their desire to leave, and quite a number of them did, accounting for about half of the total.
But Mr. Huang considered this an excellent outcome. Even if these children didn't leave now, they would leave when the closed-door training began in the future. So, it was better to keep the children who were willing to endure the grueling closed-door training and truly loved football.
In Mr. Huang's view, although talent seemed to be more important than interest, without interest, talent would only be wasted.
There's no need to dwell on the subsequent training process. Huang He directly invited scouts and training teams from the top clubs in the five major leagues to help discover geniuses and conduct training.
And during these 15 days, the number of people eliminated each day was astonishing.
This was because the training camp allowed the young players to leave at any time, and they would even thoughtfully help them leave by citing reasons of physical condition not meeting standards, to avoid the young athletes being embarrassed in front of their parents.
This led to a large number of participants leaving from the very first day.
On the first day, over 300 children found their instructors and requested to leave. In the following seven days, hundreds of children voluntarily asked to leave each day. The peak was on the fourth day, when over 1,000 children chose to leave.
This was because on the third day, the training camp conducted its first continuous training session lasting four hours, which caused many children with poor stamina or endurance to cry uncontrollably. Some even fainted during the session.
Fortunately, the training camp was well-equipped with doctors and medical equipment, and these children were rescued immediately without any further complications.
However, such a training intensity clearly frightened many children. Especially when their coaches clearly told them that the standard daily training intensity after the official long-term closed-door training began would not be less than the intensity of that day, thus leading to over a thousand children choosing to leave that day.
It's worth mentioning that the media also treated this as major news. Over a hundred reporters continuously waited outside the training camp, eager to capture how many children left the camp accompanied by their parents, and to interview these children to understand the situation inside the training camp.
As a result, almost all the content of the training camp was simultaneously broadcast on television and the internet by the media, sparking a nationwide passion for following the story.
However, they weren't following a TV drama, but rather the stories unfolding within the training camp, and which 1,000 trainees would ultimately be selected. Many media outlets offered high prices for exclusive, first-hand news from the training camp, promising substantial rewards.
But no matter how strong the media mobilization tactics were, they couldn't compare to YTV. Because of YTV's consistently good relationship with Jiangnan Group, their news documentary film crew had already entered the training camp, analyzing all the trainees from the first day. Even Huang Fan, the child, would reveal his true appearance to the media for the first time.
Furthermore, YTV also reached a long-term cooperation agreement with the training camp. The four years of closed-door training would be presented as a monthly documentary series of news and factual reports.
Of course, YTV also paid for this. Although not much, only a few million a year, the training camp had genuinely begun to generate profit.
Although a large number of children couldn't bear the training and withdrew in the first week, by the second week, fewer children chose to quit.
Firstly, those children who lacked the physical stamina or willpower had already left. Secondly, since they had already persevered for a week, it would be a shame to not continue for the remaining week.
On the last day of the training camp, a city-wide marathon was organized. All the children in the training camp had to complete a 10-kilometer marathon within the city, under the public gaze. This was another extremely rigorous test for all the children.
But the children found the process unexpectedly glorious. Because on the sides of the streets, countless people who had been continuously following the news had spontaneously gathered, cheering them on and shouting their encouragement with all their might. For the first time, these children seemed to experience the joy of being noticed.
That evening, a detailed evaluation report was delivered to Huang He and the entire foundation organizing committee.
This evaluation report was over 200,000 pages long, as each child had nearly 40 pages of detailed assessment, including their stamina, physical fitness, willpower, football talent, and so on, all supported by very thorough data.
Of course, Mr. Huang himself couldn't possibly read all the reports. The work team had thoughtfully compiled a ranked list, scoring the children in a digitized format to help Mr. Huang understand their specific situations.
"Huang Fan is only ranked 921st?" Seeing the final ranking results, Mr. Huang's expression was somewhat distressed, as his beloved son was only ranked 921st, narrowly missing out on the top 1,000 list.
"Yes, that's right. Huang Fan is actually very excellent in terms of physical fitness, his willpower is also outstanding, and he has a good ability to judge the trajectory of the ball. However, in other specialized talents, he is not as outstanding. Dribbling, breaking through, and ball control are all at an above-average level, unable to reach the level of the top children!" the head of the testing team explained softly, with a hint of fear.
"You don't need to be afraid. I was perhaps expecting too much from this child. Come to think of it, Huang Fan is just an ordinary child. To be ranked 921st out of millions of children participating in a national selection is already an incredible feat. I have no reason to have higher expectations for him!" Huang He sighed, and the head of the testing team felt as if they had been granted a great amnesty.
But Huang He then asked, "However, regardless of Huang Fan's talent, even if he were ranked last, he must enter the national team and participate in the World Cup."
"So, I really want to know, for this child's talent, what position is he most suited for in a team?" Huang He asked.
"Yes!" the person in charge immediately replied. "The positions in a team can be broadly divided into forwards, attacking midfielders, defensive midfielders, defenders, and goalkeepers."
"Forwards require the highest level of skill, needing a player to be very well-rounded. Huang Fan might find it difficult to excel in this role."
"Attacking midfielders are slightly easier, but they have very high demands on passing and dribbling, as they are actually the initiators of the entire attack. So, Huang Fan is also somewhat... not quite suitable."
"Defensive midfielders and defenders are relatively better. Defensive midfielders can help in counter-attacks, while defenders focus on defense. Huang Fan could have opportunities to perform in both positions with more training."
"But I believe his best position is as a goalkeeper. This is because goalkeepers are not required to have all the abilities that other players need. However, they require a person's judgment and quick reflexes. And these two points perfectly match Huang Fan's talent."
"During the training, we organized four goalkeeper tests, including penalties, fast breaks, set pieces, and tactical fouls. Huang Fan's data performance in these areas was excellent. Especially in defending penalties, he saved 8 out of 20 shots, which is a top-tier result among all goalkeepers. Only one person saved one more ball than him."
"Therefore, I believe Huang Fan should focus his efforts on the goalkeeper position, and in the future, during his training, we will strengthen him in this position across the board!" the person in charge said.
"Very good, goalkeeper it is. This position is very suitable!" Huang He was very satisfied with this outcome.
So, in a football match, the goalkeeper is often an overlooked role. But once a goalkeeper makes a brilliant save, they can easily achieve highlight moments.
After all, there are 11 players in a team, but only one goalkeeper, making it easy for them to stand out.
"Then I will go and make the arrangements!" the person in charge said nervously.
"Wait!" Huang He suddenly called out to the person in charge. "What is Huang Fan's ranking among all the children with goalkeeping talent?"
"Fourth!" the person in charge replied.
"Very good, then send the top three out of the training camp!" Huang He said expressionlessly, without hesitation.