(Sports Focus) Feature: China's women's volleyball team celebrates perfect ten
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E-mail Xinhua, September 28, 2019
OSAKA, Japan, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- No yelling. No waving fists. Gathering in a circle was basically all the celebration by China, which seemed too calm for the champions.
With their tenth win at the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup, China has already secured the title with one game still to play.
This is China's tenth title across volleyball's three major competitions, following three Olympic golds, two World Championship crowns and four World Cup titles.
In fact, the World Cup is where China stood atop the podium at an international volleyball tournament for the first time in 1981. 38 years on, 1981 spiker Lang Ping is now the head coach that has led the Chinese team to back-to-back titles.
"Every time we put on our national team jersey, we fight for the same goal: to see our national flag raised to our national anthem [at the podium ceremony]," Lang said after the first match at the 2019 World Cup.
She has kept her word, just like she did 38 years ago, when she saved a match point for China with her powerful spike in the deciding match to tie the game at 15-15, which was followed by two kill blocks by her teammates enabling China to lift the trophy with seven wins in as many games.
The 38 years since have witnessed the rise and fall of the Chinese team, but the team spirit, which priotizes a refusal to give in, has inspired one generation after another, both within the team and across the country.
BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS BEHIND THE GOLDS
Hard work is what turns talent into ability.
This year, the World Cup has been played across different cities, and Team China had training sessions even on traveling days when some participating teams chose to rest up after a tiring flight. Landing in Osaka at 14:30 on September 25, the Chinese players showed up in the Maruzen Intec Arena at 16:00 for practice.
Even so, each team was only given 90 minutes for training in the competition arena, which was not deemed enough in the eyes of coach Lang. Team officials had to negotiate with the organizing committee to use time given up by other teams or rent a court in another arena.
"Coach Lang focuses on details of the technique in the training sessions, and I feel our team has become more balanced," captain Zhu Ting told Xinhua after a straight-sets victory over the Dominican Republic.
This committed approach explain how China managed to turn the table against the United States at the World Cup.
Three months ago, China suffered a chastening 3-0 defeat to eventual champions USA in front of their home crowd in Jiangmen in the Nations League.
But when the two teams paired off in the World Cup, Zhang Changning jumped high for a smash to convert match point which gave China a 3-0 clean sweep over their arch-rivals, paving the way for their title defense as the two teams were both unbeaten prior to their clash.
"Every player for China played very well. That was a great team win for China," USA coach Karch Kiraly admitted. "They played much better in service and reception, and our reception was not so good. But China do lots of things really well, they have improved their game from the Nations League."
A similar story of revenge occurred at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, where China shrugged off a 3-1 loss to the hosts in the group stage, and wrapped up a 3-0 victory to take their first volleyball Olympic gold.
The win firmly established China as a powerhouse on the global stage, as the team claimed consecutive titles after winning the 1981 World Cup and the 1982 World Championship. The team went on to defend their crown at the 1985 World Cup and the 1986 Worlds, ushering in a golden era of Chinese volleyball founded on hard work and determination.
Back in 1972, the Chinese national team's first training center in the southeastern city of Zhangzhou was made of bamboo.
"It consisted of five bamboo scaffold courts with cement floors. The players were bleeding every time they fell down as gravel scraped their arms and legs," recalled Zhong Jiaqi, former head of the Zhangzhou volleyball training center.
"Back then, every player was required to save 70 percent of the 200 spikes by the coach in order to strengthen the defense," Zhong continued.
The tough conditions helped iron the unbending wills of the players, paving the way for five consecutive major titles from 1981 to 1986.
This steely resolve was passed onto younger generations. At the Athens Olympics in 2004, China recovered from two sets down to edge Russia for gold, even with star spiker Zhao Ruirui out injured, and last time out at Rio in 2016, China shook off a slow start to defeat Serbia 3-1 in the final for their third Olympic gold.
"Never giving up, especially in adversity. I think that's what the spirit of Chinese women's volleyball means," Lang said at Rio 2016.
The current squad also keep that to heart: setter Ding Xia fell to the ground for a dig and one second later, she was shouting "I'm on it." Gong Xiangyu came to Japan with a damaged finger, but still tried her best to save every ball even during training. 32-year-old Yan Ni was surrounded by rumors she might have to retire with a shoulder injury, yet she was always there blocking in front of the net.
"The spirit of Chinese volleyball comes from every minute, every play, every day of training," said captain Zhu Ting, who rose to the occasion time after time at the 2019 World Cup when China encountered difficulties.
PASSING THE FLAME
Captain Zhu fired an ace that pierced through the Netherlands' defense, letting out a yell with her fist clenched. It was her fourth point in a row to put China 4-0 ahead in the fourth set, after the defending champions surrendered one set to the Dutch in Friday's match.
"I felt that we lost focus in the third set, so I hoped I could help lift up our team performance by scoring points myself so that we could be more concentrated in the rest of the game," the MVP of the last World Cup explained.
It was actually a rare thing to see at the World Cup this year. With fellow Rio 2016 veterans Zhang Changning and Yuan Xinyue sharing the attacking responsibilities, Zhu could forget about how she had to spike off the blocking that targeted her for the majority of the 2018 World Championship.
But when the team struggled, Zhu was always there, ready to unleash a super spike or tip a smart dink, doing whatever was needed to carry the team forward.
It vindicated her choice to play for Vakifbank in the Turkish league in 2016, when she left China in tears waving goodbye to family and friends, and came back after three seasons with multiple club honors, individual awards and a big heart.
Now she has become a national volleyball icon, just like "Iron Hammer" Lang did in the 1980s. As for Lang, she took over the flag from her former coach Yuan Weimin, who was behind China's rise in the beginning.
However, for Lang, life after retirement was far from easy.
Pursuing her studies in the U.S., Lang, for a period, had to play volleyball for a living.
"The eight years living overseas strengthened my mentality and made me completely leave behind all the world titles I had won. Without that experience living as a nobody, my life would never have taken another successful turn," Lang recalled in her biography.
In February 1995, Lang succeeded Yuan as China's head coach, and guided the team that had finished only eighth at the 1994 World Championship to a silver medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
After leaving Team China for health reasons, she gained experience coaching clubs in Italian and Turkish leagues, before leading the USA to finish runners-up at Beijing 2008.
Returning to lead China in 2013 after the team disappointed at London 2012, at Rio 2016 Lang became the only person, male or female, to win an Olympic gold both as player and coach.
"The team in the 1980s not only had big success, but left legacies in terms of training methods and team-building," said Lai Yawen, part of China's Atlanta 1996 team who served as assistant coach for more than a decade. "After coach Yuan, they were carried on by coach Lang and Chen Zhonghe [who led China to gold in Athens], with new ideas and modern technologies added. This has been a firm support for the Chinese national teams throughout the years."
From coach Yuan to coach Lang, and spiker Lang to spiker Zhu, the flagbearers may have changed over time, but the craving for championships and the steely desire and determination remain the same.
THE TEAM BEHIND THE TEAM
Volleyball is a team sport and behind the on-court team, there is always a supportive coaching team and staff. Supporting the 16 players at the World Cup was a 16-strong team of coaches, analysts, a doctor and a therapist.
Lai was one of the members. Shouldering responsibilities as both vice director of China's Volleyball Management Center and as assistant coach, she has been one of the busiest people at the World Cup. Apart from coordinating between coaches and players, Chinese coaches and foreign coaches and sometimes within Chinese coaches, she also has to do chores such as buying yogurt for the players, keeping in mind everyone's favorite flavors.
Therapist Daniel Wai Hong thoroughly checks each player's physical conditions every year before the new season starts and offers suggestions for treatment. He joined the team after China played five matches at the World Cup and assessed the conditions of players to lower the risk of injuries.
During Rio 2016, assistant coach Yuan Lingxi headed for the arena at 6am every day to film the matches and would return to the Olympic Village at 2am when he would start analyzing China's opponents and file reports.
Former men's national team member Yuan Zhi joined the women's team as assistant coach after his retirement in 2017. He talks little, but speaks with a different style of spikes in imitation of key opponents.
"There are also those who appear in front of the public and those who contributed behind the scenes, and we are the latter ones," said Wei Yongji, who has been the team doctor since 1993, apart from a brief absense from 1999 to 2000.
There are many Lais, Yuans and Weis that are not known by the public, but who remain indispensable for the team to overcome difficulties and reach their peak.
"The spirit of Chinese women's volleyball is a team spirit," coach Lang once said.
There is a large banner in the training center of the women's volleyball team in Beijing, which reads "The moment stepping down from the podium is the moment to start from zero." Having won their tenth major title at the World Cup, Team China is ready to take a fresh start towards Tokyo 2020, now just nine months away. Enditem
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