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Post by Edmond on Aug 28, 2008 4:24:26 GMT -5
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Post by kolohekeiki on Aug 28, 2008 6:35:37 GMT -5
I really don't think the medal was won by luck...I don't think there is luck involved in volleyball...
the US played with a lot of heart, emotion and intensity and that's what led them to the medal...it was not jus by luck...a team that plays with heart and plays as a team can go far...volleyball is not won on skill alone...you can have six of the best players on the floor and not win...if everyone plays as individuals a team with the six best players will not win...a team that plays together as a team and gels as a team will win...
luck had nothing to do with the US winning the silver medal...it was all heart, emotion, intensity and the US playing as a TEAM!
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Post by Edmond on Aug 28, 2008 7:42:10 GMT -5
But Lang Ping seems to thinks so, and that is exactly what she said. She talked a lot about the US team, about the training, etc, in the following video, mostly negative however. She said the players were overly confident even though they lacked the skills. She mentioned that before the match against Brazil, the US players were saying at the meeting about sweeping Brazil. And Lang Ping was like, yeah right, we don't have the skills... of course she didn't say it out like in front of her players.... Anyways, the video is in Chinese, but I'm sure someone here can translate it: v.blog.sohu.com/u/vw/1560007 |
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Post by Phaedrus on Aug 28, 2008 8:37:16 GMT -5
She talks about a lot of things.
The host has no idea about how volleyball is organized in the USA.
She talked about the basic lack of the professional game as being a huge problem for the continuity of USA volleyball.
She was pretty effusive about the level of volleyball in the junior level, but she said that there is a huge leap between the college game and the professional (NT) level and how hard it is for the NT coaches to pick players from colleges for the NT because the levels are so disparate. She also pointed out that the Chinese volleyball association is a professional organization funded by the government versus the USAV, being an amateur organization being funded by donations etc. Very different.
She also said that having the four seasons together helped a lot. The main complaint is that she only had a few months to get all the players together.
She remarked at how badly the USA played the first three matches. She said she was pissed at the team after the first three matches. She said she rarely got pissed at them.
She also talked about the difference in coaching styles for the USA and for the Chinese.
It is very mentally exhausting to coach USA team because you have to couch your criticism in praise, you can never tell an American player they are in error. American players won't admit they are wrong, can't say the truth.
All the coaching for the Americans must be short and sweet because they have short attention spans. The plus side is that the American athletes will take the sideline tactics and try it without fear. She said that the other players she's coached would be leery of trying new things, but not the Americans. The staff was laughing that they would teach the team a new tactic on the sidelines and then they would just go out and do it.
It is also very tiring because coaches don't know if they will win when they get on the court.
One plus is that the team hates meetings, they don't have the long strategy meetings that she used to have with her Italian pro league teams or the Chinese national team because the information won't be retained. So she said this Olympics was pretty easy on her, its just the matches that are the stressful times because she really doesn't know how they will match up.
Americans also have supreme confidence, almost myopic in its scope, but good things comes from that because that confidence means also that they are fearless.
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Post by NoAlt on Aug 28, 2008 9:43:50 GMT -5
I think this team team ranking says a lot about the teams:
1. Brazil is clearly the best team, no surprise that they won.
2. China is the second best team, but they had to face Brazil in the semifinal, bad luck
3. US the the worst receiving team, setting suffers because of that. but individually US has very strong attackers that can match the best in the world.
4. Italy lost because they are the worst serving team (which helped the US), and they have short middles so their blocking is also the weakest.
Sounds like Lang Ping doesn't want to take all the credit for the success that US had. She knows her players' strengths and weaknesses. you do need luck to be successful because many of the teams are on the same level.
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Post by BeiBei on Aug 28, 2008 9:53:49 GMT -5
. China is the second best team, but they had to face Brazil in the semifinal, bad luck WOw, are we watching the same olympics. China is lucky they did not have to play Italy in the quarterfinals otherwise they may not even win the bronze medal |
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Post by NoAlt on Aug 28, 2008 10:08:14 GMT -5
. China is the second best team, but they had to face Brazil in the semifinal, bad luck WOw, are we watching the same olympics. China is lucky they did not have to play Italy in the quarterfinals otherwise they may not even win the bronze medal Italy is not the same team when they lost Del Core, and we all know what happened to Aguero, she had to come back and play on the left side and receive. she is a better player on the right side. China had problems with Feng Kun and Zhao Ruirui, but I think they can beat Italy, which is a weak serving and blocking team with 2 key players out of position. |
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Post by ucsdfan on Aug 28, 2008 11:15:16 GMT -5
The host has no idea about how volleyball is organized in the USA. She talked about the basic lack of the professional game as being a huge problem for the continuity of USA volleyball. ..but she said that there is a huge leap between the college game and the professional (NT) level and how hard it is for the NT coaches to pick players from colleges for the NT because the levels are so disparate. She also pointed out that the Chinese volleyball association is a professional organization funded by the government versus the USAV, being an amateur organization being funded by donations etc. Very different. She also said that having the four seasons together helped a lot. The main complaint is that she only had a few months to get all the players together. She remarked at how badly the USA played the first three matches. She said she was pissed at the team after the first three matches. She said she rarely got pissed at them. It is very mentally exhausting to coach USA team because you have to couch your criticism in praise, you can never tell an American player they are in error. American players won't admit they are wrong, can't say the truth.All the coaching for the Americans must be short and sweet because they have short attention spans. The plus side is that the American athletes will take the sideline tactics and try it without fear. She said that the other players she's coached would be leery of trying new things, but not the Americans. The staff was laughing that they would teach the team a new tactic on the sidelines and then they would just go out and do it. It is also very tiring because coaches don't know if they will win when they get on the court. Americans also have supreme confidence, almost myopic in its scope, but good things comes from that because that confidence means also that they are fearless. Thanks for the translation. WOW!!! Talk about an honest assessment. No wonder she's such a great coach, because she sees things exactly as they are and makes adaptations to fit the situation. It had to be frustrating at times to not have enough training time and then not be able to scream at a player when they screwed up. She changed her personality to conform to the team's attitude. Equally, she recognizes that with arrogance and confidence comes the abiltity to implement mid-game changes and she took advantage of that. I am so utterly impressed at both her Xs and Os on the court (taking a team that was so lowly ranked in terms of skill statistics to the silver medal) and her understanding of the American psyche despite being raised in a very different volleyball culture. I sure hope we keep her, but I'm not sure why she'd want to stay where volleyball is not supported by a fan base or goverment funding and where she has to feel like she's on egg shells when it comes to yelling at her team. I think this team team ranking says a lot about the teams: 1. Brazil is clearly the best team, no surprise that they won. 2. China is the second best team, but they had to face Brazil in the semifinal, bad luck 3. US the the worst receiving team, setting suffers because of that. but individually US has very strong attackers that can match the best in the world. 4. Italy lost because they are the worst serving team (which helped the US), and they have short middles so their blocking is also the weakest. Sounds like Lang Ping doesn't want to take all the credit for the success that US had. She knows her players' strengths and weaknesses. you do need luck to be successful because many of the teams are on the same level. Good assessment. The one thing that that there is no stat to measure is heart. The only way you can average sixth best in the range of on-court stats and still place second being the only team to win a game against Brazil in the entire tournament is to (1) have a bit of luck and more importantly (2) have the heart to pull out the close games. A more tell-tale stat as to thy the Americans won would involve looking only at performance from 20+ points in games that were within 3 points. In other words, if a game finished 25-22 (or closer), then take stats only from the point where one of the teams had reached 20. I'm sure you'll find that the Americans didn't lose small leads (much in part to heart and timely substitutions) and that they pulled out tied games most of the time. They had a stronger will to win. As much as I appreciate the candor of Ping's comments, she missed pointing out that will to win (although she may be lumping it with confidence.) |
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Post by pogoball on Aug 28, 2008 16:38:29 GMT -5
Phaedrus, a sincere thank you for translating the interview and going to the trouble of putting this down for us!
Lang Ping is such a remarkable person and coach. I found myself shaking my head in agreement with so many of her points. Great stuff
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Post by BeiBei on Aug 28, 2008 21:06:26 GMT -5
Lang actually used the word "er xin" which means disgusting and nauseating to describe the team's first 3 performances, haha
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Post by Edmond on Aug 28, 2008 21:18:44 GMT -5
Lang said the 1984 US team was the only team that trained together for long period of time like the Chinese, players had to give up their jobs, etc, and that's why they were so strong.
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Post by rachel on Sept 9, 2008 13:19:26 GMT -5
Teamwork and play with heart is definitely a key for the US to win silver. Lang Ping sure acknowledged that, in her heart and in the post-match press conference (and in English). Please bear in mind in the Chinese interview her audience is Chinese. Lang is being modest because she was in front of an audience from her home country, whose volleyball team lost to the US team, led by her. She was just being low-key. She doesn't want to offend Chinese audience's feelings. That's the Chinses culture and Lang knows that.
The Chinese women's team has long been worshipped by billions of Chinese for its sports spirit - play as a team, fight as a team, till the last point of the game, doesn't matter they are winning or losing, since more than 20 years ago when Lang played in that team. Lang has become a figure representing that spirit in China for more than 20 years. At this Olympics, US seems to have replaced China in this aspect, and Lang should definitely took some credit for it. That's another reason she was being modest. Many Chinese were disappointed that their team lost to the US in a close match (in such cases spirits could play a more important factor than skills), even though the US was led by a Chinese sports icon. Everybody here can understand such feeling I'm sure.
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