Chapter 160 The Road Ahead

"Are you certain? Old Xu, Beihai is a lot colder than our place, haha."

"Certain. Cold is fine, I'm not worried about that. Northern Mining is no small company either; they aren't going to treat me unfairly when it comes to conditions. But I do have one thing to tell you—I need to take two young lads with me."

"Well, Old Xu, you've got some nerve poaching right out of my yard. Don't tell me you're planning to take Turgun as well?"

"How could I? I'm not crazy. That's just a second-tier league team. Even with a major conglomerate like Northern Mining backing them, I can't pull a stunt like that. Honestly, though, I still feel it's a crime and a waste for the Little Rabbit to stay in the domestic leagues."

"Then who are you planning to take?"

"Wang Zhaohui and Si Junwei. I'm taking just those two. They can practically be considered graduates by now. Later on, I'll go talk to them."

"Alright. As long as they agree themselves, I have no objections. Following you is still better than heading into a completely unfamiliar environment."

Inside the auditorium, the leaders of the Frontier Sports Delegation for the National Games were delivering speeches, while Wang磊 and Xu Hui sat unconcerned in the corner of the second row, chatting away.

The National Games had just concluded. Upon returning to Urumqi, Wang Lei and the team found themselves spinning in circles from one meeting to another. As the contributors of the best results achieved by the Frontier Sports Delegation in these National Games, Wang Lei and his squad were undoubtedly the hottest commodities. Yet, at the same time, various parties eyeing the Frontier Youth Team had already made their moves.

What surprised Wang Lei slightly, however, was that the first person confirmed to leave the team was not Turgun—hailed by outsiders as the greatest harvest of this National Games' youth basketball tournament—but rather the team's assistant coach, Xu Hui.

Beihai Mining Group Corporation was an ultra-large-scale mining company under the jurisdiction of the Beihai Special Administrative Region. With the economic development of the Beihai Special Administrative Region improving day by day in recent years, coupled with the republican leadership's advocacy for more local enterprises to invest in cultural and sports undertakings, the Beihai Mining Group Corporation intended to establish its own comprehensive sports club.

According to regulations, all newly established sports clubs had to start competing from the lowest tier of the league. Although the Republic's basketball league did not have a promotion and relegation system, it similarly required affiliated teams to play a full five years in the second-tier league with stable results before becoming eligible to enter the evaluation pool for new additions to the premier league.

Being a startup club, Northern Mining was rather ambitious and had no desire to merely linger and muddle through in the second tier like others. Coincidentally, the Frontier Youth Team had been performing brilliantly at the National Games. Northern Mining had indeed considered extending a direct invitation to Wang Lei, but after evaluation, they figured that given Wang Lei's current renown, he would probably be unwilling to go to that bitter, freezing land. Thus, they settled on inviting Xu Hui instead, with the condition that Xu Hui must bring outstanding players from the Frontier Youth Team along with him.

Wang Lei understood Xu Hui's desire to leave for Beihai. Although there was an age gap of over a decade between them, their mentalities were relatively open-minded, and Wang Lei understood Xu Hui's aspiration to achieve genuine accomplishments.

As for Xu Hui's wish to take Wang Zhaohui and Si Junwei to Beihai, Wang Lei considered it a fine choice as well. Given the capabilities of Wang Zhaohui and Si Junwei, rashly joining a top-tier team would yield zero opportunity to be heavily utilized. They were currently at a stage where they desperately needed a high volume of matches to accumulate experience. Going to a newly established team was very appropriate, and it would also spare them from many locker room politics—after all, the two of them could be considered head coach Xu Hui's direct protégés.

In Wang Lei's ears, the passionate speech of the leader on stage resounded, but his mind had already drifted off to unknown places.

As the head coach of a non-permanent team, Wang Lei was well aware of the team's subsequent plight. Once this wave of so-called reward ceremonies concluded, if the players could not find suitable teams to take them in, they would likely have to return to school to continue their studies or find proper jobs to support their families.

As for Wang Lei himself, he knew well that if he failed to join a team, he might end up sitting idle in an office at the Frontier Sports Management Center.

Yet Wang Lei did not dwell much on his own future. If worst came to worst, he could simply step out and return to dabbling in music or the like; in short, he didn't have to worry about lacking a way out. What truly concerned him were the players on the team, none of whom had settled destinations yet.

The paths for Cai Aihong, Sun Dexun, and Hawur were quite easy to arrange. Teams had already reached out to contact them before the youth group final of the National Games. However, Wang Lei had refrained from letting those teams approach the players directly at the time—after all, the finals were imminent, and he did not want the players' focus and form to be compromised by such matters.

Even though there were still plenty of teams eager to acquire these players, Wang Lei felt that many of them were simply unsuited for these fellows. For one, these interested parties were either mid-to-lower tier teams or outright second-tier clubs. Given the abilities of these three lads, playing as starters on such teams would be fine; but if they failed to secure starting roles, it would be a sheer waste. Given their rather unconventional traits, the three of them could entirely carve out a rotational role on a premier league team.

Secondly, Wang Lei believed it unwise to make these three undergraduates—who had yet to graduate—abandon their studies mid-stream to join a club. Rather than doing that, it would be far better to wait directly for the following year's Republic League draft. While that would carry a slight risk, it was much more suited to these three youngsters, and players entering through the official draft tended to receive greater emphasis and attention from teams.

Aside from these individuals, the prospects for the other role players on the team were likely grim. They would either have to try their luck at random second-tier or semi-professional clubs, or resign themselves to quietly continuing their education to scrape together a living. There was no helping it; while the Frontier Youth Team might have displayed formidable strength at the National Games, in reality, very few players possessed standout individual capabilities. Within the single province of Xinjiang, these role players might seem decent, but once placed on a nationwide scale, they truly amounted to very little. Striving to become a genuine professional player still entailed taking significant risks.

Wang Lei had to fret over these matters to varying degrees. After all, it was he who had "coaxed them in" to begin with; if he were to wash his hands of them now and wash away all responsibility, it simply wouldn't bear speaking of. But what worried Wang Lei the most was Turgun.

The Little Rabbit's capability was beyond doubt; he could start for virtually any team in the country. However, his age presented a problem. Anyone under eighteen was ineligible to enter the draft, nor could they sign professional contracts with professional clubs. Yet, if Turgun were simply made to continue his schooling now, Wang Lei worried it would inevitably breed complacency in the youngster, while also wasting precious time. Figuring out how to find a "job" for Turgun where he could actually play matches and participate in normal training sessions remained a monumental problem.