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Post by iknowiu on Mar 4, 2007 11:42:53 GMT -5
While folks are picking at the small stuff...what's up with the old fashioned crutches? Don't they have access to the ergonomic style that are easier and less painful to use.
Get with it!
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Post by cyberVBmidwest on Mar 4, 2007 13:25:39 GMT -5
When did and what were the circumstances when Lang Ping left coaching Team China? I remember she wanted to be in the US because of personal reasons but she has maintained a good relationship with at least the players (reference the news clip) of the Chinese team. If things were different, do you think she would rather be coaching the Chinese National Team?
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Post by Phaedrus on Mar 4, 2007 16:46:45 GMT -5
She resigned from the Chinese National Team after Atlanta because she wanted to be with her daughter. There was a shot her with her daughter at the medals ceremony in 1996.
Before she took the USA job, she went out of her way to make sure everyone was OK with her taking the job. Her former assistant, the present coach Chen Zonghe, the Chinese volleyball establishment, and no doubt some of the players. Feng Kun was just a pup in 1996, but she was probably on Lang Ping's radar as a potential player. Plus, volleyball is a small world, so everyone knows everyone.
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Post by VolleyTX on Mar 5, 2007 10:34:29 GMT -5
RuiRui has been on the "injured" list since before the 2004 Olympics. I believe she broke a bone in her leg.... and it just never healed properly. Before her injury.... she was VERY good.
Feng has been playing on bad knee(s) for quite a while now. I've seen her play in some recent matches, and she is not the same player as she was in 2004. Her mobility isn't as good... and her blocking (she is an amazing blocker) has been affected by her knee issues. I'm glad to see her finally getting her knees fixed.
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Post by Phaedrus on Mar 5, 2007 12:48:29 GMT -5
I find it interesting that the Chinese volleyball folks waited this long to fix these layer's knees. If it were Kobe, a class I would put Feng in for the Chiense team, were injured I would go in right away and get it fixed. I am sure that the reason they got the surgery now was because of Lang Ping.
A friend who used to play for the Chinese men's team told me that when he blew out his ACL, the team coaches and medical staff kind fo told him to suck it up and play and wait on the surgery until he isn't playing anymore. He was kind of scared to get it worked on in China too. This was over 15 years ago. He finally got it worked on but he just did huge amounts of leg curls to build up the muscles surrounding his knees to keep it from popping out and was able to play for his army team for a few more years.
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Post by Murina on Mar 6, 2007 0:13:41 GMT -5
...snip A friend who used to play for the Chinese men's team told me that when he blew out his ACL, the team coaches and medical staff kind fo told him to suck it up and play and wait on the surgery until he isn't playing anymore. He was kind of scared to get it worked on in China too. This was over 15 years ago. He finally got it worked on but he just did huge amounts of leg curls to build up the muscles surrounding his knees to keep it from popping out and was able to play for his army team for a few more years. From what I've heard (thrid hand) this is exactly the philosophy Chen has employed with Feng. I think poor results last year, combined with the fact that China has basically a free season this year dictated the surgery. Had China been in the World Cup this year, I'm under the impression that Feng would have had to tough it out.
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Post by brybry2 on Mar 6, 2007 16:05:19 GMT -5
China does need to do a lot of regrouping if they are going to defend their Gold Medal. They definitely seem behind Russia and Brazil at this point.
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Post by Phaedrus on Mar 6, 2007 16:30:59 GMT -5
China does need to do a lot of regrouping if they are going to defend their Gold Medal. They definitely seem behind Russia and Brazil at this point. OK, its not that I disagree with the assessment on the Chinese team, but there is so much machinations going on in international volleyball that I tend to look at things with a grain of salt. These coaches try to position themselves in the best draw possible for the Olympics. The Grand Prix etc. be damned. Its not that they don't try to win all the times, its that they use all the other tournaments to position themselves for the Olympic seeding. They play the back ups or they play the junior team players for certain tournaments just to put themselves in the best position and to give the other coaches different looks. College is nothing like this, these people are thre, four moves ahead of where the we would be thinking of in terms of the politics and seeding.
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Post by AntennaMagnet on Mar 6, 2007 19:16:36 GMT -5
I saw in the news that the USOC is visiting Chicago for the 2016 Olympic bid. I wonder if the Chinese athletes seeking orthopedic care in the Windy City would be another notch for Chicago over LA as the host city.
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Post by Wolfgang on Mar 6, 2007 19:21:12 GMT -5
I saw in the news that the USOC is visiting Chicago for the 2016 Olympic bid. I wonder if the Chinese athletes seeking orthopedic care in the Windy City would be another notch for Chicago over LA as the host city. I don't quite understand this post at all. Why would the USOC care about where THREE (3) Chinese volleyball players get their knee operations?
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Post by AntennaMagnet on Mar 6, 2007 20:19:43 GMT -5
Probably not even on their radar screen, but I read that the IOC is very interested in host cities that provide the highest level of care of the athlete, such as housing excellence, and I idly speculate that internationally reknown athletes coming to Chicago for medical care is one additional factor demonstrating a city's capacity to maximally support the elite athlete.
On a separate note, I previously heard that two orthopedic groups in Chicago have established themselves as the premier knee reconstruction programs in the US. So it makes sense that international athletes have heard similar things.
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Post by Wolfgang on Mar 7, 2007 12:00:51 GMT -5
You initially said "USOC", not "IOC".
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Post by OverAndUnder on Mar 7, 2007 15:46:16 GMT -5
Wolfgang brings up a very important point. The IOC (International Olympic Committee) and the USOC (United States Olympic Committee) are connected by the activities they were created to promote, but otherwise they are entirely separate organizations with entirely separate systems of graft and criminal corruption. I learned this the hard way when working on a local Host Bid; it is only because I did not realize I had to bribe members of both groups that the 2008 Olympics will be held in the dismal communist slums of Beijing rather than my splendid and much more deserving hometown of Minnetonka.
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Post by AntennaMagnet on Mar 7, 2007 16:46:49 GMT -5
Don't you think both organizations want to optimize the atheletes' and their own experience ?
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Post by OverAndUnder on Mar 8, 2007 9:12:16 GMT -5
I think members of both organizations want, like all organizations and individuals, to optimize their own interests. Kinda reminds me of some of the FIVB decisions of the last decade.
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