Zhang Jike Xiao Zhan
About seven or eight years ago, when a table tennis mainstream media interviewed Xiao Zhan, the coach of the men's national team, Xiao Zhan revealed his coaching "ambition" at that time.
It was the time when his disciple Zhang Jike was at his hottest. Xiao Zhan sat in front of the camera, and the beautiful bald head also looked brighter under the light, glowing, dazzling, and even dazzling. Xiao Zhan's face rippled with a happy, relaxed expression.
But the words that came out of Xiao Zhan's mouth next surprised many people.
"In fact, I have only brought out a Zhang Jike now, and Zhang Jike has not won the most championships over the years.
In terms of the number of champions, Zhang Jikobe is not as good as Marlene and Wang Hao. How many championships have you won in the World Cup between Marlene and Wang Hao? There are about six or seven of them. There are very few following branches.
"Although Wu Jingping is almost retired, Wu Jingping and I are still far away, let alone surpassed."
Wang Hao Wu Jingping Ma Lin
Wu Jingping trained two disciples, Ma Lin and Wang Hao, and the two disciples had been the absolute main force of the men's team for a long time, while Xiao Zhan only had one Zhang Jike.
In Xiao Zhan's heart, Wu Jingping has always been his goal of catching up and surpassing.
From more than ten years in 2002 when he came to the national team as a men's team coach, until his disciple Zhang Jike won the championship in London, the most glorious of the national men's team coaches was actually Wu Jingping.
Xiao Zhan succeeded in Zhang Jike, but he did not want to stop at Zhang Jike. While hoping that Zhang Jike can win more championships, he also admitted that he still wants to bring out another team member to prove his coaching ability.
One
Xiao Zhan was born in 1968 in Sichuan. The athlete's best career result is the national championship men's singles runner-up, once to Qatar, Taiwan to coach, in October 1998 to return to China as the head coach of the Sichuan men's team, in 2002 as the head coach of the national second team (then known as the team leader) and later became the first team coach of the men's team. On June 21, 2011, he won the Best Coach Award issued by the Chinese Table Tennis Association.
The male team members brought by Xiao Zhan mainly include: Chen Xuan, Qiu Yike, Zhang Jike, Hao Shuai, Yan An, Fang Bo, Xu Chenhao, etc.
In April 2017, he became the coach of the women's team of the national table tennis team. Served as the head coach of Liu Shiwen, Wang Manyu, Sun Mingyang, Li Xiaodan and Chen Ke.
Xiao Zhan
Compared with the blandness of Wu Jingping's athlete career and the low starting point of the national team coach, Xiao Zhan's best result as a Fellow Villager in Sichuan was the runner-up of the men's singles of the National Championships, and when he entered the national team in 2002, he was directly the head coach (group leader) of the second team, becoming the "first head coach of the national table tennis team in the history of Sichuan table tennis." "The starting point is still relatively high.
The magic of Wu Jingping lies in the fact that when the horizontal board is popular, the straight board is completely integrated into the attack and defense system, bringing out Two world-class players of the straight board, Ma Lin and Wang Hao, and has been traversing the world table tennis for more than ten years.
Xiao Zhan did not "finally establish his coaching status and qualifications" until Zhang Jike won the Grand Slam in 2012. At this time, it had been a full decade since he came to the national team.
Two
"What did you come to my group for?" If you feel like I can't do it, can't take you, don't fight! Go to another group! ”
Xiao Zhan yelled at Zhang Jike, and the green tendons on his neck and head burst out, and he almost exploded.
It was the day after the start of closed training after the first round of the 2009 "Straight to Yokohama". At that time, Xiao Zhan had just taken over Zhang Jike.
Zhang Jike only played ninth in the first round, which was too far away from the top three. For Zhang Jike, who is born with arrogance, he cannot accept such a reality at all, and the whole person is not very good.
In addition to Zhang Jike making Xiao Zhan angry, the results of Xiao Men's disciples in the first round were not ideal, which also made Xiao Zhan worried and depressed.
Wang Hao, Xu Xin, Ma Long and Wang Liqin occupy the top four, and Chen Xuan, Hao Shuai and Zhang Jike rank seventh to ninth. Liu Guoliang praised Wang Hao and Xu Xin after the game, but criticized Chen Xuan for not being mature enough, and "scolded" Zhang Jike in public and cancelled his pre-registered open qualification.
Liu Guoliang trained Zhang Jike Xiao Zhan was very depressed
Chen Xuan was the number one disciple in Xiao Zhan's hand, and he had to play both singles and doubles with Wang Hao. Xiao Zhan finished training Chen Xuan and then trained Zhang Jike, but Zhang Jike couldn't lift his spirit at all when he was training.
Xiao Zhan said: "Because he can't play singles, Zhang Jike looks like he is going to die or not live." The whole person has no energy at all. ”
Looking at Zhang Jike's state, Xiao Zhan was very anxious in his heart.
In his heart, he had long believed that Zhang Jike was a person with personality and thoughts, who was willing to do little but was willing to do and could bear hardships.
Xiao Zhan knew that Zhang Jike's heart was very big.
How big the heart is, how big the world will be.
He felt that Zhang Jike was different from others, looking very high and far, exactly the same as he imagined.
In the evening, Xiao Zhan and Zhang Jike had a long conversation in the room. The two began to talk at 7 o'clock and talked until more than 10 o'clock when the lights went out. Xiao Zhan smoked one cigarette after another, and the cigarette butts were stacked on a large plate.
"Whoever fights with me is my brother"
Xiao Zhan told Zhang Jike this sentence again. When he said this, Xiao Zhan's eyes were on fire, and he finally rekindled Zhang Jike's fighting spirit.
Zhang Jike began to train seriously and actively, playing a third in the second round, but the total score did not go up, losing the opportunity to single in Yokohama.
At the Yokohama World Table Tennis Championships that year, Wang Hao won the singles championship, which was also another disciple of Wu Jingping who won the championship in a major competition after Ma Lin's 2008 Olympic champion.
Chen Xuan and Wang Hao won the doubles championship, Zhang Jike and Muzi participated in the mixed doubles to reach the final, and lost to Cao Zhen and Li Ping in the final to win the second place.
After the competition, Xiao Zhan greeted the disciples in the group to eat, and Zhang Jike did not participate in the "stomach pain" to rest.
Xiao Zhan's heart was also uncomfortable, but he was even more secretly holding back a momentum in his heart. He knew that to succeed, he would have to play for his life in the next training.
Looking at all the disciples, Xiao Zhan also knew that only Zhang Jike could realize his philosophy and ambition of teaching.
Three
Unlike Xiao Zhan, who finally took Zhang Jike to the Olympic championship podium more than a decade ago, after Xiao Zhan took over Wang Manyu in 2017, Wang Manyu declined in his form after 2019 and failed to reach the top of the 2019 World Table Tennis Championships. With the steady output of Chen Meng and the rapid rise of the talented player Sun Yingsha, Wang Manyu encountered a growth bottleneck and a very long time, and thus lost the singles qualification for the Tokyo Olympic Games.
There is no such thing as a single leaf in the world. Zhang Jike and Wang Manyu are also unlikely to completely replicate the path to success due to their different experiences, personalities and talents, but Xiao Zhan's energy and feelings invested in the two of them are the same.
In fact, as early as 2017, when the old national table tennis group was re-integrated, Xiao Zhan did not want to go to the women's team to coach. He once wrote a "wish letter" to the upper leaders, hoping that he could stay in the men's team and continue to serve as Zhang Jike's head coach.
Although Zhang Jike at that time was no longer systematic in training and playing due to injury reasons and various activities, Xiao Zhan was still "obsessed" with Zhang Jike. He still hopes that Zhang Jike can continue his career and win more championships.
Xiao Zhan finally obeyed the organizational arrangement and came to the women's team. Xiao Zhan and Zhang Jike's mentor-apprentice relationship in the work of the national team also came to an end, and then became the head coach of Liu Shiwen, Wang Manyu, Sun Mingyang, Li Xiaodan, Chen Ke and other players.
After some deliberation, Xiao Zhan focused his coaching on Wang Manman, who was 18 years old at the time.
With the cooperation between the two, Wang Manyu also gradually and completely believed in Xiao Zhan, believing that Xiao Zhan was the most suitable supervisor for him. During the long downturn, the national team coaching staff considered replacing Wang Manyu with a head coach, but Wang Manyu resolutely refused. Xiao Zhan even carefully cultivated and cared for Wang Manyu as a daughter.
Zhang Jike defeated Wang Hao in Rotterdam in 2011 to win the World Table Tennis Championships, which is also the first time that Zhang Jike has won the championship of three major competitions. At the end of the game, after Zhang Jike was excited and wildly tearing his clothes, he ran to Xiao Zhan at the first time, and the two hugged tightly. At this time, Xiao Zhan was so excited that he was already in tears.
In 2011, Zhang Jike won the World Table Tennis Championships
And in November 2021, when Wang Manyu won the first three major titles in Houston against Sun Yingsha, she ran excitedly to the stands, and she wanted to have a big hug with Xiao Zhan. But at this time, Xiao Zhan was leaning down to pack up his things and prepare to leave. Wang Manyu was stunned at that time, she patted Xiao Zhan, and Xiao Zhan stood up and hugged Wang Manyu.
In 2021, Wang Manyu won the World Table Tennis Championships
Wang Manyu later asked Xiao Zhan, was he not excited at that time? Don't want to cry? Xiao Zhan replied: After experiencing it, there is nothing to cry about. In fact, we can still clearly see that Xiao Zhan's eyes were filled with tears at that time. However, because of the mental journey after Zhang Jike won the championship, coupled with the increase in age, it is more mature and stable, and it is not so obvious.
Xiao Zhan looks like a tough guy coach on the surface, but he is actually a very serious and enthusiastic coach. For Zhang Jike, he is also a teacher and a brother, and for Wang Manyu, he is also a teacher and a father.
The success of Wang Manyu's World Table Tennis Championships has also further enhanced Xiao Zhan's status in the national table tennis coaching staff. Because as we talked about at the beginning, Xiao Zhan has always regarded Wu Jingping as a goal to surpass. Wu Jingping's disciples did not complete the Grand Slam, and Xiao Zhan not only forged the legend of Zhang Jike, but also most likely made Wang Manyu the new king, and proved that he could bring out not only male athletes, but also female athletes, which was obviously more challenging than Wu Jingping.
Four
From 2002 to 2022, Xiao Zhan worked as a national team coach for 20 years. How many games and stories will there be during this period, and I can't finish it for a few days and nights.
Xiao Zhan left his bald head because he returned to Sichuan in 1998 to teach his initial poor results and cut his invention in anger. Since then, Xiao Zhan has retained the image of the bald head, and with the success of his disciples Zhang Jike and Wang Manyu, this image has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Given Xiao Zhan's qualifications and status, some people see him as a contender for the future head coach of the women's team, and his biggest competitor is Coach Marlene. Personally, I think that Xiao Zhan's biggest wish and goal at the moment is to make Wang Manyu a new king, and he can't say that he hasn't thought about the position of women's team head coach, but he really may not take this as his focus.
In any case, Xiao Zhan, with his rich coaching experience, persistent professionalism and sincere affection for his disciples, has cultivated world-class athletes for the Chinese team represented by Zhang Jike and Wang Manyu. The Chinese table tennis team has been prosperous for decades, inseparable from the efforts of every coach, and Coach Xiao Zhan is one of the outstanding representatives of the shining.