On February 11, the Polish men’s volleyball team Gdansk club announced that Chinese player Zhang Jingzhang would wear the same No. 22 jersey as the national team and play in the Polish men’s volleyball league. Zhang Jingzhen also became another Chinese player who joined the high-level overseas league after Jiang Chuan and Zhu Ting. Chinese players are getting recognition from overseas clubs and getting overseas league contracts by virtue of their outstanding performance in the national team and league matches.
Successfully landed in overseas league matches recommended by the volleyball and local teams
recently, the national teams of Chinese men’s and women’s volleyball teams gathered in Fujian and Zhejiang training bases one after another to start a new year of training. Different from previous years, many main forces did not appear in the training base. Under the recommendation and operation of the Chinese Volleyball Association and local teams, the men’s volleyball team captain Jiang Chuan, the women’s volleyball team captain Zhu Ting, and the men’s volleyball league popular King Zhang Jingzhen and other players have landed in overseas league matches one after another.
This is a welcome step for Chinese volleyball to improve its level by sending high-level athletes to join high-level leagues. On the other hand, the level of Chinese men’s and women’s volleyball national team and league matches has also been recognized by overseas league matches. Previously, Zhu Ting, the captain of the Chinese women’s volleyball team, received an annual salary of one million euros in Turkey Women Volleyball League matches. Zhu Ting’s performance in the previous national team conquered the top overseas leagues. At the beginning of this year, Yao Di, who just represented the Tianjin Women’s volleyball team and won the champion of the Chinese Women’s Volleyball Super League, also got the contract of the Serie A scandiqi team and became a teammate with Zhu Ting.
Zhejiang player Zhang Jingyan, who performed well in the Chinese Men’s Volleyball Super League, arrived in Gdansk, Poland with the coach team on the 11th and will join the Polish Men’s Volleyball Super League soon. Zhang Jingyi’s jersey number in the club is still number 22 of the national team. The Polish Men’s Volleyball Super League is one of the three top men’s volleyball leagues in the world. As the first Chinese player to go to Bo Chao to play, Zhang Jingzhang faces great challenges. First, Bo Super League will limit the number of foreign aid players to three people. Secondly, Zhang Jingyi will also face the test of Europe’s strong block in the game. To this, Zhang Jingyan said that he took part in the competition with the attitude of learning.
The Serie A matches the third foreign aid from China this season. Miao Yiwen, born in 2000, served as the main attack and successor of Sichuan women’s volleyball team in the past two seasons. As the absolute core of the team, Miao Yiwen scored 6.59 and 5.86 in both the games and attack scores of women volleyball league matches in China, ranking first in both rankings. In the ranking of the effective score index of the main players, Miao Yiwen’s effective score index reached 4.37, ranking second only to Li Yingying. It can be said that Miao Yiwen is a Serie A team moved by his outstanding performance in the league.
There is a bitter and sweet fame and position in the road of staying abroad
going to overseas league matches is an opportunity and a challenge for Chinese players. Overseas club leagues gather experts from all over the world and various styles of play. On the one hand, Chinese players need to compete with opponents on the opposite side of the net, and on the other hand, they also need to compete with teammates for playing opportunities. Just like Zhu Ting, her fame and position are all played by competitions and results.
Under the active operation and recommendation of China Volleyball Association and local teams, the Chinese men’s volleyball team set off a climax of “staying abroad. Before the start of the Chinese men’s volleyball league, the Beijing Auto men’s volleyball team had already sent out many players, such as Captain Jiang Chuan, Wang Dongyi and Zhang Binglong, to compete with other teams overseas. At present, Peng Shikun, Yu Yuantai and Yu Yichen have joined Asian clubs such as Japan and Qatar to play basketball. At present, Jiang Chuan has gained a firm foothold in the Japanese men’s volleyball league with his football skills and efforts. He won the title of scoring king in a single game in the Japanese League many times and was also selected into the all-star lineup. On the other hand, the Hiroshima Club is only responsible for Jiangchuan’s two meals a day on Training Day and competition day, and other life needs are purchased by themselves. Jiang Chuan needs to do his own work on food and daily life to ensure that his body is in the best condition.
At the end of the Chinese Women’s Volleyball Super League, Beijing Auto women’s volleyball team helped Jin Ye to complete the formalities and joined the Jakarta BIN team of the Indonesian league with Chen Peiyan of Guangdong Women’s volleyball team. This shows the support of Beijing women’s volleyball team for players to play abroad. In the first show when Jin Ye and Chen Peiyan joined the Indonesian League, the two helped the team beat the sixth Champion National Electric women’s volleyball team in the Indonesian League. Unfortunately, after that, the team canceled the contract with Jin Ye, and the national player failed to finish the complete Indonesian League.
Training + Overseas Chinese volleyball needs two legs to walk
2023 season, Chinese men and women volleyball teams will face the test of the competition. In addition to the World League and Asian Championships, the competition tasks of the Chinese men’s volleyball team also include the Asian Games and the Paris Olympic Games qualifier. The Chinese men’s volleyball team has been training for three months, hoping to strengthen basic skills, further polish skills and tactics, and prepare for the impact of the Paris Olympic Games. The Chinese women’s volleyball team even shouted the slogan that the Asian Games must win the championship. At that time, the players who fought overseas will certainly become an important part of the national team. From training to overseas, Chinese volleyball began to walk on two legs.
On late May this year, the Chinese women’s volleyball team will go to the World Women Volleyball League matches. The 2024 Paris Olympics qualifier held on September 16-24 and the Hangzhou Asian Games held from September 28 to October 7 are even more important. Coach Cai Bin said that the goal of Chinese women’s volleyball team in the Asian Games must be gold medal. In addition, the Chinese women’s volleyball team also needs to get the tickets for the Paris Olympic Games in the first time.
During the training of Chinese men’s volleyball team, the number of Chinese men’s volleyball players participating in the overseas League matches was reduced from 25 to 18 due to the participation of many players such as Jiangchuan and Zhang Jingyi. Zhang Jingzhen said: “We can broaden our horizons and recognize a league of different levels when playing abroad. In high-level clubs, learn how people train and compete. I hope we can play abroad and bring back their good things, and then we can learn and make progress together.”
The number of Chinese women’s volleyball team training is also reduced from 23 to 18 because Ding Xia, Zhu Ting and others did not participate in the training. At present, Zhu Ting and Yao Di are fighting fiercely in Italy Women Volleyball League matches. Zhu Ting performed stably and maintained a success rate of about 50% in many matches. Yao Di also began to enter the starting list and find his own position in the team.
Overseas League matches also give young players the opportunity to impact the position of Chinese women’s volleyball team in the future. Sun Jie, who is from Shandong, has joined the Israeli league Haifa Macabi club until the end of the 2023 season. She is the first player from China in the history of the Israeli women’s volleyball league. Miao Yiwen became the third Chinese player to land in Serie A this season after Zhu Ting and Yao Di. If these players perform well in overseas leagues, they may impress Cai Bin, the head coach of the Chinese women’s volleyball team.
Whether these overseas players can become the main force of the Chinese volleyball national team in the future depends on their own abilities and team needs. However, since the pace of Chinese volleyball training + staying abroad has been taken, we should boldly move forward. Just as Zhang Jingzhen said about his communication with Wu Sheng, the head coach of the Chinese men’s volleyball team, “coach Wu also hopes that I can do a good exercise abroad this time and have a major breakthrough in receiving the serve, bring back good experience and play well in the national team in the future.”
Text/Our reporter Yan Peng co-ordinated/Du Rui
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