Recently, with the start of the Australian Basketball League NBL preseason, Zhou Qi, who is longed for by domestic fans, also made his personal debut at the Melbourne Phoenix, and zhou Qi's news of 10 points and 8 rebounds on 4-of-4 shooting was also full of news headlines.
In fact, Liu Chuanxing, a former centre forward who played for Qingdao, is currently playing for the Brisbane Bullets in the Australian League.
There is also Zeng Fanbo, who went to play in the development league, and also successfully brought domestic fans to the attention of this NBA affiliated league.
Zhou Qi or Zeng Fanbo, with the successive Chinese players staying in the Ocean, we can still find a phenomenon - when a player goes overseas to play, the fans' hearts seem to tighten a string, and the player's stay in the Ocean from before to now is still a grand proposition in the sports world.
Implicitly, we are still chasing the footsteps of other sports developed countries, and when players in a backward position go to a higher level of stage to seek a foothold, it is undoubtedly a difficult challenge to forage in the dark forest.
Staying in the ocean for domestic players is equivalent to going to a new jungle, the road ahead is unknown, and the only known information is - there are hunters with a higher average, and you need to compete with hunters who are stronger than yourself.
In this harsh competitive environment, not everyone can return with a full load. Looking at the history of domestic players staying in the west, there are actually very few successful, and most of them still return home.
Taking the NBA as an example, only Yao Ming, who is one of the best in the world, has achieved a great career in the NBA, and Wang Zhizhi, Yi Jianlian, Sun Yue, Battle, Zhou Qi, and Ding Yanyuhang have only briefly served as passers-by.
In addition to these foreign players who have received formal contracts, there are many good players who have been brushed off at the trial level: such as Yao Ming's good partner Liu Wei in the Shanghai team, and Wang Zhelin, Abdul Shalamu and He Tianju, who were selected by the Grizzlies, have also appeared in the summer league.
Even in the name of the 2003 Golden Generation candidates, there is an unknown Chinese player Xue Yuyang...
For the time being, Yao Ming's success is only an isolated case and does not have universality.
The choice of more football circles than basketball circles is also a similar situation, and there are not a few good players who play abroad, but a hand that can really stand overseas can be counted.
Behind Sun Jihai, Fan Zhiyi and Wu Lei, there are many unsuccessful examples of staying in the West, including Xu Liang, who was called "Xu Keham" by domestic fans, Dong Fangzhuo, who was destroyed by injuries, Zhang Yuning, who was regarded as a new hope for the national football front, and Zhang Xizhe, who landed in the Bundesliga strong team to "sell cars"...
In recent years, with the improvement of the convenience of studying in foreign countries, we can see the figure of many young Chinese players who have trained overseas, and with the CBA setting up a draft system, more and more foreign players have returned to play.
Among them, the controversy of Junxuan in the 2020 Zhuangyuan District is particularly large, and he averaged 5.5 points and 3.8 rebounds per game in the rookie season, and he was ridiculed by the fans as a "parallel importance", and the aura of staying in the draft at the beginning of the draft even became the material for fans to taunt the young player.
And Ou Junxuan was elected as a champion by relying on liuyang's gimmick, which also inevitably made fans sigh "deceived", and the old fans of the Shanghai team I knew told me like this: "Although Ou Junxuan has ability, but his talent is mediocre, he himself does not have the level of being elected as a champion, but the experience of staying in Yang is gilded." ”
This can not help us to think about a serious question: although the level of sports development abroad is more advanced than ours, is the effect of staying in the west debatable? Is sending players overseas for further study is just self-deception?
Because of our blind worship of players staying in the ocean for further study, will it cause the so-called "bath crab" phenomenon - hairy crabs caught from other places, put them in Yangcheng Lake and soak them as Hairy Crabs in Yangcheng Lake?
Although the phenomenon of "bathing crabs" is worth vigilance, we must not give up the right direction because of the twists and turns of the road.
In fact, no matter from what point of view, the exchange and learning from developed countries in sports is a long-term benefit for us to improve the level of professional sports.
First of all, fans need to clarify a premise: studying abroad is only a way rather than a result.
We can't hold such a concept to look at a player staying abroad for further study – thinking that he has gone out proves that he has reached the same level as a high-level player overseas.
Yao Ming's success is not because of Liu Yang, he will be one of the best basketball players anywhere.
In the final analysis, studying in the west is a screening test for individuals, from which the best are selected. And the real strong will stand out in this process and transform into a new star of attention.
So since studying abroad is not a thing with 100% definite income, why send players out one after another?
In fact, studying in foreign countries is not a hammer deal, not that these players can't be mixed overseas, that is a failure. While it is a brutal competition for individual players, it is not the case for the overall development of the sports industry.
For example, Zhang Xizhe, who was ridiculed by the fans as a "model seller", gave a different view of his "failed" experience in the West: "Going out to rise and rise is definitely different, their intensity is not the same, watching De Bruyne play football feels, the ball he passed can still be passed like this, personally experience such an environment, will realize deeper, understand football better, at least the training is different, it must be up the ball." ”
Liu Chuanxing, who is currently playing in Australia, said that the NBL platform is a good exercise opportunity for himself: "I originally lacked physical confrontation, and then basketball awareness and technology, more or less will improve, because the league level everyone understands." 」 ”
"This stop in Australia is a good opportunity for me, and I also want to improve through the league and try my best to absorb useful things." Liu Chuanxing said.
And these players who stay abroad may not have pointed out another key - if they return to China, the advanced experience learned from abroad can affect their teammates around them, or help others through different ways, that is what really nourishes the development of Chinese sports.
Even if they do not succeed in establishing themselves overseas, they can get the nourishment for the continued development of Chinese sports through exchange and learning.
This is like what economics calls "positive externalities," in which individual behavior benefits others or society—those who are helped receive the same guidance without having to pay the cost of studying abroad.
In fact, the rapid improvement of the level of japan's two major balls in football and basketball in recent years has proved that learning from sports developed countries is a feasible way.
Did Yamura and Yuta Watanabe, who could gain a foothold in the NBA, and Kenyo Kubo, Hang Endo, and Kenyo Fuan, who could be the core of Europe's five major leagues, appear out of thin air?
When Li Tie and Li Weifeng stayed in the Premier League that year, CCTV Sports once published a report recognizing Japan's football development model: "At present, Japanese football, which is the leader in Asia, is also in the past few years, spending money to let Nakata Hidetoshi, Miura Chira, Andei Shoji these players study in high-level leagues such as Serie A and La Liga, and get exercise through training and competition, so as to achieve the purpose of broadening their horizons and improving their own level." ”
"In fact, for Chinese football, which is similar to the situation in Japan and South Korea, the level is not high, this is a good way to learn, and it is also a good channel to improve its own level."
"The advanced football thinking, scientific management system and good atmosphere of European clubs, the most important thing is the high professional quality of the players, which will have a subtle impact on our players, so that they consciously demand themselves with stricter standards and make all-round progress."
It is true that some people will question whether Chinese sports have spent less money over the years, and players have not gone out to open their eyes, but are not the results still the same? Even worse than before...
But in fact, it is always difficult to catch up from the backward position, and no one can guarantee how long this catch-up process will take, whether it is five years? decade? Or twenty years or more? No one can say for sure.
But as long as we can be clear that this direction is correct, we should continue to do so. As many wise men say, insist on doing the right thing and don't try to predict.
When more and more people study abroad, bring advanced experience back to China, and feed back the development of Chinese sports, the author believes that the development of Chinese sports will definitely get better and better.
The recent performance of the national football world preliminary round has broken the hearts of fans, and watching the results on the field can only rely on the performance of naturalized players may make fans feel more lamented.
Although Li Tie's performance as the manager of the national football team has been widely questioned, but he has studied in the West, he has a remark that pokes at the key to the development of Chinese sports: "There must be too much work to do to solve the problem of Chinese football, for me, we must first do a good job in youth training, send them to Europe as soon as possible, including Japan and South Korea, which are higher than our level to hone, after a long period of accumulation, there may be qualitative changes." ”
As long as we insist on walking on the right path, we will one day see more "Wu Lei" in Chinese football, and the truly world-class Wang Shuang, Tang Jiali and Shen Mengyu like women's football, relying on our own efforts, to re-enter the stage of the World Cup.
However, the road is long and long, and it needs to be explored up and down, whether it is the players or the fans.
Source: Sina Sports