Darkstone Code
Chapter 158 - 0157 Athletes

Chapter 158: 0157 Athletes

"Mr. Lynch!" Upon seeing Lynch’s brief surprise at the counterpart’s youth, the newly hired coach quickly walked over, tightly grasped Lynch’s outstretched hand, and shook it vigorously and enthusiastically twice. "Your youth and achievements make me feel ashamed!"

This coach is quite articulate; he didn’t directly praise Lynch but instead adopted a self-deprecating and belittling approach to highlight how remarkable Lynch’s achievements at such a young age are.

This is a very effective way to flatter someone that can also make people feel good. Kane, standing on the side, glanced at the enthusiastic and cheerful head coach and couldn’t help but think of the unofficial introduction from the United Transport Association’s officials—this was a tyrant coach.

But as it turns out, even tyrants have moments when they bow their heads, especially when they have needs.

Of course, the coach’s words aren’t entirely flattery either. Everyone knows running a professional club is an expensive affair, even if their team currently doesn’t have any star players and is composed of ordinary individuals, it’s still very costly.

The equipment and consumption for each team member amounts to a significant sum, along with maintenance of the venue and staff salaries, even if they don’t have a single star player, Lynch must face various expenses amounting to tens of thousands of dollars monthly.

In the eyes of the head coach, Lynch’s current age might not even necessitate going to university; achieving such accomplishments at such a young age to run a professional club, regardless of his background or bootstrapped capability, is indeed respectable.

"Let me introduce myself, my name is Mordoc, you can call me Moore or Momo," Momo is a pronunciation, and he’s actually hiding another title for himself—tyrant.

Lynch nodded, "Coach Moore..." He glanced at the people lined up by the roadside with curious eyes, then asked, "How’s the selection going?"

Mordoc nodded with some satisfaction, "We’ve picked a batch of promising lads, as long as they don’t slack off, they’ll soon adapt to this sport. As for the girls..." He looked at Lynch and the inquisitive Reynolds beside him, "Maybe you can give me some advice, boss."

It was quite a sly answer, and Reynolds immediately looked at Lynch. Undoubtedly, he was very interested; Lynch didn’t refuse, nodded in agreement, and incidentally made a call to Fox and his son, asking them to come over.

The Fox father and son had promised to also form a women’s rugby team, and now is a good opportunity to let them understand the selection process and coaching staff, serving as a warm-up.

Soon, a group of people sat in the office. After reviewing the women’s selection process for a while, Lynch quickly called for a stop.

Mordoc simply assumed Lynch needed an excuse to have some pretty girls around him; he underestimated Lynch’s vision. Women’s rugby as a professional sport isn’t a field for him to chase beauty; it has other functions.

Many of the girls came for the interview were indeed beautiful, but they appeared to be fragile types that might be suitable as vases, but in high-intensity, conflict-oriented sports, they might not survive a season.

"Boss, do you really intend those girls to play on the field?" Mordoc looked at Lynch incredulously, feeling as if this handsome young man’s bones were somewhat... bloodthirsty, or something else.

He found it hard to imagine what the scene would be like seeing a group of beautiful girls in protective gear running and colliding with each other. In this pitiful world, there’s no phrase like "beauty in disaster" to describe such a shocking scene, yet it’s imaginable.

This sport, since its invention, hasn’t contemplated including girls.

Moreover, even male athletes often end up injuring themselves or others during matches; rib fractures and tibial fractures are commonplace for them.

Potentially, a simple collision could break several bones, those girls certainly wouldn’t endure it.

"Coach Moore, I must remind you, this is a bias against women!" Lynch slightly criticized him from a high moral ground, "The Association for Women’s Rights Protection is very interested in my initiative for women’s professional sports. They might frequently have their people here for close-up match and training observations, so you need to change some of your thinking."

Mordoc apologized for his thoughts without hesitation; his stance was so low, firstly because the whole club was still in a phase of adjustment, Lynch seemed difficult to get along with, but he didn’t involve himself in daily matters.

Kane usually managed things; Kane was a well-spoken person, and he felt he could cooperate with Kane for a long time.

Secondly, he brought his team after resigning from the Motion University. If he broke off with Lynch right now, both he and his assistant coaches would have nowhere to go in the short term.

The professional league hasn’t finished; no one would change coaches midway. With the university enrollment season approaching, contracts that need renewal have already been renewed, leaving no extra positions for him. If he doesn’t want to starve at home for a year or two, or even longer, nor face complaints from the assistants around him, the best way is to integrate into this club, which also aligns with his initial dream.

Lynch gestured to Mordoc for being overly cautious, then talked about girls most suitable for this sport, "I discussed these issues with the people from the Association for Women’s Rights Protection before; perhaps we could initiate an open selection, at least selecting some suitable girls from this city to participate in the tryout."

"Our target group includes educated, culturally grounded, healthy, pretty, and sunny girls..." he looked at Little Fox, "Can you draft a plan for me? I’ll take it to discuss with the people from the Association for Women’s Rights Protection, ideally focusing on female college students."

Girls who’ve received higher education prefer this setup; they indeed want to pursue equal rights with men, importantly, the fact that these girls can afford college indicates their families are at least affluent, allowing them to support the women’s rights movement financially if necessary.

Directly instructing Little Fox is a first, but neither Little Fox nor Old Fox had much objection, the former directly nodded in agreement, "I’ll come up with a plan soon."

Little Fox studied management during university, and planning projects was part of his learning, which made this quite easy for him.

After discussing some details, Lynch, Kane, and Mordoc left alone, leaving Reynolds and the Fox father and son together; they could find some common topics.

Lynch and his group went to see the selected lads, who would become the backbone of the club.

For Mordoc, a strict examiner who went ’hands-on’ during the interview process, the lads felt somewhat apprehensive with mixed emotions. Mordoc’s way of assessing their qualities through direct physical touch was rather peculiar, especially in today’s widespread incidence of sports; issues regarding sexual orientation remain a serious topic.

This is easy enough to understand; the women’s rights movement gains social support because several female deities hold significant authority in common religions, like the War Goddess.

However, those deities in religion and Faith would rather be fetishists than deal with orientation issues, resulting in a lack of foundational support in this regard in society.

The lads were wary about Mordoc’s touch.

These lads were strong, their muscles prominent; Mordoc was quite enthusiastic about them, saying, "Their physical and muscle form is more comprehensive than athletes who’ve undergone rigid training in college."

"This also indicates their adaptability is stronger; as long as they understand and master the rules of rugby, they can start playing matches very soon!"

Mordoc stood outside the crowd, hesitated for a moment, then promised Lynch, "If nothing unexpected happens, next year our club can return to the professional stage."

Besides organizing various professional leagues, the United Transport Association also hosts a relatively professional amateur league. As long as they reach the top three, they can be promoted to the lowest level of the continental professional league; this goal doesn’t seem difficult to Mordoc.

Currently, there are only twenty-two teams in this amateur league, about ten fewer than before; this is also related to the current economic downturn as many amateur clubs have closed, making it easier for amateur teams to impact the professional league.

Moreover, many amateur teams now don’t plan to enter the professional league; entering it means higher expenses, even without raising the salary standards for these ’professional athletes,’ merely frequent competitions everywhere would become a financial burden.

Looking at these lads, Lynch had some thoughts, "We need at least three complete teams, adopting a competitive position strategy to fight for starting in the official team through some internal matches. I believe you’re an expert and can understand my intention!"

Mordoc nodded; he understood talent reserve, so he nodded, though he didn’t actually understand.

Lynch’s purpose wasn’t merely for talent reserve but to curb potentially rising wages in the future. Once some become irreplaceable, their pride slowly turns into arrogance, aspiring for more which isn’t rightfully theirs, like higher salaries.

The constant competition will make them always aware their jobs and salaries aren’t stable, and they aren’t irreplaceable. Once they lift their butts to put forward some demands, someone will instantly replace them.

Having too many athletes seems to increase monthly salary payments, but it can actually limit the constant rise of star player wages in the future.

But even if Mordoc didn’t understand, it didn’t matter; knowing what to do suffices.