Counterattack: Why did the Chinese women's volleyball team reach the Olympic finals?

The women's volleyball team won! After 12 years, they reached the Olympic finals again.

As a former "iron hammer" and a representative of the golden age of women's volleyball team in the 1980s, Lang Ping has shouldered the important task of leading the Chinese women's volleyball team out of the trough and back to the top since taking over the leadership in April 2013. In 2015, the Chinese women's volleyball team regained the World Cup championship. The last championship, which was 11 years away, allowed people to see the transformation and possibilities of the new women's volleyball team. As a result, people began to look forward to whether this new team born in the 1990s has returned to the top of the world volleyball world under Lang Ping's training; their competitive and mental state are once again reminiscent of the old women's volleyball team and the long-lasting " The spirit of women’s volleyball team.”

And this time, Lang Ping and these girls have done it.

However, after defeating the host Brazil in the last game, Lang Ping also said: "Don't talk about the spirit of the women's volleyball team just because we won a game, we must also see the process of our hard work. The spirit of the women's volleyball team has always been there. You can’t win by spirit, you must also be technically sound.”

On July 24, after returning to Beijing from the Beilun Sports Training Base, Lang Ping didn’t even bother to go home and went directly back to the Chinese Women’s Volleyball Team with his teammates. The resident Tiantan Apartment. After completing a half-month closed training camp, they will spend the last week here before heading to the Rio Olympics.

“I always feel that there is not enough time now.” I just arrived at the station in the afternoon, and Lang Ping arranged a video study for everyone in the evening-they had to observe and analyze past games to prepare for the first game on August 6 In the group stage, prepare for the match against the Netherlands.

This kind of study is an ordinary homework for the team members. Thinking of the upcoming expedition, the young girls' morale was very high. As the head coach, no one knows better than Lang Ping what kind of unusual journey they are about to embark on: in the group stage, the Chinese team was divided into several world powers including the Netherlands, the United States, Italy, and Serbia. The "death group" of the team; and among this team of 12 people with an average age of less than 24 years old, only 3 people have Olympic experience.

This is Lang Ping’s fourth Olympic trip. From winning the gold medal as an athlete at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 to leading the Chinese team and the US team to win silver medals as head coach in 1996 and 2008, she no longer needs to prove anything to people. But this time, she still went all out.

“When I think back to my first trip to the Olympics, it seems like just yesterday, time flies by so fast. Setting off again, this Olympics is a dream and a promise for us, and it may be of even greater significance. Come on, girls!" Lang Ping wrote on his Weibo.

As a former "iron hammer" and a representative of the golden age of women's volleyball team in the 1980s, Lang Ping has shouldered the important task of leading the Chinese women's volleyball team out of the trough and back to its peak since taking over the leadership in April 2013. In 2015, the Chinese women's volleyball team regained the World Cup championship. The last championship, which was 11 years away, allowed people to see the transformation and possibilities of the new women's volleyball team. As a result, people began to look forward to whether this new team born in the 1990s has returned to the top of the world volleyball world under Lang Ping's training; their competitive and mental state are once again reminiscent of the old women's volleyball team and the long-lasting " The spirit of women’s volleyball team.”

In Rio, these young girls are expected to usher in the "third golden era" in the history of women's volleyball.

The new women's volleyball team is impressive

Before the Chinese women's volleyball team competed in the Rio Olympics, the media were most curious about who would be on the final 12-person Olympic roster. When asked urgently, Lang Ping would say, "Everyone except Zhu Ting has not decided yet." Zhu Ting's participation in the Rio Olympics may have been "decided" even two years ago.

At the Women's Volleyball World Youth Championship before 2013, Zhu Ting won three awards for best score, best smash and most valuable player (MVP), and became famous in one battle. The FIVB used the term "incredible power" on its official website to describe Zhu Ting's emergence.

For the Chinese women's volleyball team, 2014 is a crucial year in the Rio Olympic cycle. After the national team's large-scale trial training in 2013 and the women's volleyball league, Lang Ping conducted training on the national team members. After reorganizing, the main members of the new national team were finally determined. Zhu Ting's name undoubtedly appeared on the training list of the 2014 Chinese Women's Volleyball Team.

At the same time, the coaching staff of the national team has also been updated, and a brand new international medical security team has emerged. Compared with the hastily formed team when he took office a year ago, Lang Ping already has a clear mind at this time.

The only true veterans left are setter Wei Qiuyue and secondary attacker Xu Yunli, plus the rising main attacker Hui Ruoqi, secondary attacker Yang Junjing, supporter Zeng Chunlei and free agent Shan Danna who have risen during the London Olympics cycle. Among the nearly 20 team members, only 6 members who participated in the 2012 Olympic Games are retained. The youngest, two-meter-tall Yuan Xinyue from the Bayi Women's Volleyball Team, was born in December 1996. This means that starting from 2014, the Chinese women's volleyball team has truly embarked on the path of comprehensive rejuvenation, and it also shows Lang Ping's determination to lead the women's volleyball team to achieve rejuvenation.

Soon, the young team began to see improvement. At the World Championships in the same year, the Chinese women's volleyball team won the runner-up, which was the Chinese women's volleyball team's best result since 1998.

This year, Zhu Ting, the main attacker born in 1995, surfaced in the national team. Not only was she selected for the best team, but she also won the title of best main attacker again. At this time, she has established herself as the world's top attacker. The young player Yuan Xinyue, who is under 18 years old, also made a splash at the World Championships and won the Best Newcomer Award selected by the "Sports Players" that year.

After coaching for just over a year, Lang Ping has successively discovered two newcomers with outstanding results, and fans have begun to look at the new women's volleyball team with admiration.

The following year, the young Chinese women's volleyball team took back both the Asian Championship and World Cup titles. This team, which has been away from the spotlight for a long time, is back in the spotlight again.

2015 World Cup

During the preparations for the World Cup, Chinese girls had frequent accidents due to injuries and other reasons, and the victory was hard-won. When he won the championship, Lang Ping, who had already experienced hundreds of battles, couldn't help but shed tears. "As strong players, we must face all kinds of difficulties." Facing the camera, looking back at the various ups and downs encountered before the game, Lang Ping choked up again.

Lang Ping once said of Zhu Ting: "Although I am not willing to compare Zhu Ting with myself, because times are different and the requirements for athletes are higher now, but I feel that Zhu Ting's offensive level has been Far more than me." This was the first time that Lang Ping took the initiative to compare an active athlete with his deified self.

Is the "women's volleyball spirit" outdated?

Before winning the World Cup, the Chinese women's volleyball team had been silent for many years. After the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the women's volleyball team has been in a sluggish state, even finishing 10th in the 2010 World Championships.

Every time a competition fails, there are constant voices saying that "the women's volleyball team has lost its spirit."

As early as the 1960s, Japanese volleyball coach Hirobumi Ohmatsu's concept of "three obediences and one major" was introduced into the country. It is precisely by relying on the method of "taking it hard, being strict, starting from actual combat, and conducting heavy exercise training" that the Japanese women's volleyball team he led set a miracle of winning 175 consecutive games, and the Japanese women's volleyball team also won the reputation of the "Witch of the East".

In the 1970s, Yuan Weimin, then the head coach of the women's volleyball team, followed Dasong's ideas and began to conduct "devil training" for the women's volleyball girls.

In order to develop the ability to control the ball in his hands, he asked his male partner to hold the ball and smash it down from a high platform, while the team members stood in the corner to catch it. If they couldn't catch 3 good balls, they would Can't stop. Because there was no room to dodge, the team members were often hit with bruises all over their bodies. Once, the main attacker Cao Huiying was hit in the head by a ball and fainted on the spot. She was carried back to the dormitory and lay there for three days before she could get out of bed.

When practicing spiking, Lang Ping would dunk 300 times every morning, noon and evening. By the end of the practice, his hands would often become numb and his arms would become stiff.

The conditions at that time were very crude. At the Chenzhou training base, the volleyball hall is a "bamboo shed" built with bamboo. The girls are crawling and rolling on the ground, and their hands and legs are always bloody from sand and wooden thorns. Due to the lack of training equipment, when doing strength training, you can only put your hands on the iron frame and one person rides on the other person's neck to do squats.

Such arduous training allowed the team members to develop solid and comprehensive skills, and they were all scarred, but for the common goal of "winning the championship", everyone worked hard. Practice in general. On weekdays, whenever there is an injury, just put it on with tape and continue training. Everyone even joked that Chen Zhaodi, who puts on the most tape in the team, can use enough tape to make several pieces of clothing in half a year.

“Eat hardships that ordinary people cannot bear, endure anger that ordinary people cannot bear, and do things that ordinary people cannot do.

"Adhering to this creed, the Chinese women's volleyball team won an incredible "five consecutive championships" and became a model and pride of the Chinese people. It also became a symbol of China's take-off in the 1980s. Learning the "women's volleyball spirit" became a popular slogan across the country.

Chen Zhonghe

In the 1990s, as the old women's volleyball team retired one after another, the women's volleyball team entered a trough. In 2001, Chen Zhonghe took over the Chinese women's volleyball team that was in the trough. As a sparring partner and later an assistant coach to the head coach, he reiterated the "bamboo shed spirit" of the old women's volleyball team when he took office. In his opinion, facing a group of people with little competition experience and whose physical condition and basic skills are not as good as those of European and American countries. For young players, hard training is almost the only option to achieve results.

In people’s minds, Chen Zhonghe always looks smiling, but in the eyes of the team members, he is the best on the training ground. He is always very strict and will never take a break if he fails to meet the requirements. In order to cultivate the awareness of teamwork in the players, he also uses the training method from the old women's volleyball team: if one person does not practice well, the whole team will be punished together, which is often a morning training session. Each team member had to change clothes at least twice - the clothes they changed were soaked to the touch, as if they had just been fished out of the water.

“This is our training session. It needs to be more ruthless. Our conditions will be better than those of the old women's volleyball team, and the intensity will be about the same. "Song Nina told China News Weekly. In the first two years, as the setter responsible for organizing the offense, she and Feng Kun did not take a day and a half off. Originally, they trained 6 and a half days a week, and other team members could still take a half day off on Sundays. It's time to adjust, but they are always training.

The spirit is always in a state of tension, and the state will inevitably have ups and downs. On days when the training is not completed well, Song Nina suffers from insomnia almost every day and eats 3 meals a day. I took a sleeping pill, but I still couldn't sleep at night, and all I could think about was training.

Excessive training intensity did help the Chinese women's volleyball team achieve excellent results in a short period of time, but it also led to extremely high results. The injury rate and high incidence of injuries later directly affected the performance. Zhao Ruirui and other key players had to miss the game due to injuries at critical moments. This training method that tried to reproduce the "old women's volleyball spirit" was ultimately questioned. < /p>

It was not until many years later, when the "golden generation" reunited after retirement, that Chen Zhonghe confessed to his teammates that he was actually under great pressure at that time, Li Hui, a senior sports reporter of "Beijing Youth Daily". I still remember that at that time, Chen Zhonghe once described his daily state like this: "Every night when I lie in bed, I think about how to train the team members the next day. I think about it for two or three hours, and then I start training again before 8 o'clock the next day." Get up and start training for the day, and there is no day when you can relax. ”

Later, someone asked Chen Zhonghe why he had to practice so hard and if there was a more scientific way? Chen Zhonghe showed a somewhat complicated smile: “What is the most scientific way?” Getting the best results in the shortest time is the most scientific. "

"As the times change, the essence and true meaning of the women's volleyball team's spirit cannot be changed, but the way it is displayed should have something that keeps pace with the times. "Li Hui told China News Weekly, "For example, does it mean that injuries and hardship must be equated with fighting spirit? Is the fighting spirit just about continuing to practice after bleeding? ”

Inheritance and Innovation

After “pulling drawers all night”, in April 2013, Lang Ping took over the coaching staff of the Chinese women’s volleyball team for the second time. The situation she faced was similar to that of the Chinese women’s volleyball team. It was strikingly similar when she took over 18 years ago: the team was struggling, the morale of the players was low, and the tactics were shaky; while the performance was declining, the team was also mired in various doubts.

History seems to be reincarnating: In 2004, when After the Chinese women's volleyball team regained the championship at the Greek Olympics 20 years ago, the main players of the "Golden Generation", Zhao Ruirui, Feng Kun, Zhou Suhong, etc. suffered from injuries and suffered a serious decline in their condition at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. They failed to defend the title and win the bronze medal. With the retirement of the "golden generation", at the 2012 London Olympics, the new generation of women's volleyball team almost repeated the disastrous defeat of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and missed the semi-finals.

Lang Ping was once again invited back by the organization.

But Lang Ping at that time was completely different from 18 years ago, whether she was in the Italian volleyball club or coaching the US national team. While harvesting the volleyball culture of other countries, he has repeatedly achieved incredible results.

Afterwards, Lang Ping admitted that she had not thought about whether to regain the world championship. "My goal at that time was very firm, to train new players and coaches for the Chinese team. Yuan Touer (Yuan Weimin) and I He also said that I should be the last one who is still on the front line of the old women's volleyball team. I should pass on something and leave something for the Chinese women's volleyball team. We can't keep doing such a tiring and heavy job, but if we don't pass on the things of the women's volleyball team... It’s a pity. Everyone is powerless now that they are retired, and they still have a desire to train some young players and coaches to keep the Chinese women’s volleyball team at a high level in the world.”

The younger generation of players, mainly those born in the 1990s, introduced the concept of a "big national team" at the beginning of the team formation to maximize the scope of the investigation and discover new talents.

Since 2013, the team’s roster for each training camp has been more than 20 people, and almost all young players who have outstanding performance in the league can get the opportunity to enter the national team for trial training.

At the same time, she changed her previous practice of "conquering the world with one lineup" and boldly let go, arranging players of different levels and characteristics to train according to different levels of competition, "using competition as training." Although this forced the Chinese team to lose some games, this approach not only gave the main players enough time to rest and adjust, but also gave the young players a rare opportunity to practice.

Not only that, Lang Ping also combined his many years of experience in coaching abroad to expand the size of the coaching staff and introduced an international professional team including several foreign coaches to lead the players according to their different situations. Carry out physical training and injury rehabilitation training.

In the new generation of Chinese women's volleyball team in 2014, the most refreshing thing is the formal establishment of a medical security team joined by famous American doctors.

In fact, this famous American doctor has been associated with the Chinese women's volleyball team for a long time. When Feng Kun and Zhao Ruirui went to the United States for leg surgery in 2007, the chief surgeon, Sherwin S.W., was already well known to everyone. The famous surgeon from the University of Chicago Medical School served as team doctor for the U.S. women's volleyball team coached by Lang Ping during the Beijing Olympics. He is also a member of the Sports Medicine Committee of the United States Olympic Committee. This time he was hired by the Chinese Women's Volleyball Team and he and Lang Ping cooperated again after 6 years. Joining Sherwin S.W in the Chinese Women's Volleyball Team is American rehabilitation therapist Elizabeth Darling. She is a senior professional with many years of experience in the industry and coaching. This is also a landmark event in the internationalization of the new generation of Chinese women's volleyball team.

In the view of CCTV commentator Hong Gang, these breakthroughs in personnel and systems are all due to Lang Ping's unique advantages. "Let's bring in another person. He also knows that this is the right thing to do, but he can't do it. Either there are people or policies."

"In a sports team, if there are 12 players, The assistant coaches, physical fitness, doctors, and logistics provided behind should be at least 1:1, which is the minimum. But other coaches could not do it in the past, because other coaches did not have Lang Ping’s influence and ability to follow the leadership. Communicate." Hong Gang told China News Weekly.

In 2010, when Yu Juemin was coaching, the Chinese women's volleyball team was at a low point. At that time, the team did not even have a full-time physical coach. Once before a competition, an American physical coach was added to the team. Temporarily borrowed from the table tennis team. "There is no organization." Faced with such an embarrassing situation, Yu Juemin could only sigh.

Today’s Chinese women’s volleyball team has received unprecedented levels of protection and support.

The more relaxed mechanism has allowed many newcomers with great potential to stand out: Zhu Ting in 2013, Yuan Xinyue in 2014, Zhang Changning in 2015, Gong Xiangyu in 2016... under Lang Ping's training. After that, these players born in the 90s and 95s grew up rapidly, and even jumped to the main position at a rocket-like speed.

These team members, who are about the same age as Lang Ping’s daughter, sometimes can’t help but call her “Lang’s mother.” The team members have unlimited trust in her. "She gives us the feeling that there is a difference between on and off the court. On the court, she must be 120% energetic; off the court, she still has her own life. This feeling is also difficult for other coaches to give." Captain Hui Ruo Qi said.

"Going out"

Zhu Ting

Before the 2016 Rio Olympics, the focus on the Chinese women's volleyball team was focused on Zhu Ting.

In May, the Turkish Women's Volleyball League giant Vakif Bank Club officially announced that it would sign the 2015 World Cup MVP Zhu Ting for a transfer fee of more than US$1 million in the 2016-2017 season. This means that after the Olympics, Zhu Ting will go to Istanbul, Turkey.

This will be the first time that active members of the Chinese women's volleyball team appear in the world's top volleyball league.

In fact, as early as 2015, the Shanghai Women's Volleyball Team considered introducing Zhu Ting with an annual salary of tens of millions. Many clubs such as Tianjin, Fujian, and Beijing also expressed their intention to introduce Zhu Ting with a high salary, but they were all without exception. None were successful.

In addition to Zhu Ting, Shandong women's volleyball team Song Meili landed in the Turkish League 1 to play at the beginning of the year. Zhejiang women's volleyball team Yang Zhou and Li Jing also went to Indonesia to play. For the Chinese team members who are in their prime. , being able to go overseas to play is a big breakthrough. An agent who has been engaged in volleyball recruitment at home and abroad for many years once said, "The Chinese women's volleyball team is one of the top three teams in the world. The players are top-level and are very recognized by foreign clubs." Chinese women's volleyball players can easily get a job in foreign markets. There are “good-looking” contracts, but not many can successfully “go out”. "This year, many clubs have asked me for people, and there are many good job opportunities. I have also contacted domestic clubs, but domestic clubs will not let young players go, and foreign clubs do not want older athletes with injuries."< /p>

"Zhu Ting signed the contract under the arrangement of Director Lang." The agent revealed.

After the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Chinese women's volleyball team set off a wave of "study overseas." First, setter Feng Kun intended to play in Novara, Italy, and attacker Yang Hao also joined Perugia, another giant of the Italian Women's Volleyball League. A senior volleyball reporter told China News Weekly that at that time, the "study abroad" of national women's volleyball players was a somewhat sensitive topic, and there were few relevant reports.

In fact, the Chinese Volleyball League’s foreign aid policy has been open for many years, but many domestic players who want to study abroad do not enjoy this freedom. “Going global” remains an elusive task.

The reason is that local protection and National Games policies are obstacles that cannot be overcome. Due to the lack of sufficient reserve talents, good players must be "hidden". This has led to the slogan of "professionalization" being shouted for many years, but the player transfer system has not changed at all.

Li Hui believes that this is an urgent problem that needs to be solved in the market-oriented development of volleyball. "Up to now, the spirit of women's volleyball team still means investment and dedication. But in this project, from exposure to proficiency to excellence , it will take more than ten years, and the cost of injuries should be shown to young people that you can still get a good income and have a good future after paying so much.”

In April this year, the Chinese Volleyball Association announced its league reform ideas at the league summary meeting. The Drainage Control Center expressed that it hopes to solve the problem of difficult personnel mobility through the reform of the competition system. But in practical terms, how much can be achieved, and whether other players like Zhu Ting can realize their transfer dreams in their prime years - whether it is a domestic or international transfer, are still unknown.