After successfully "learning" from the Japanese men's volleyball league, Egawa will focus on national team competitions. Photo courtesy of interviewee
The World Men's Volleyball League, Asian Championships, Asian Games and Olympic Qualification Tournaments are important competition tasks for the Chinese men's volleyball team in 2023, and the team is about to leave overseas to prepare for the first World Men's Volleyball League. As the captain of the Chinese men's volleyball team, Jiang Chuan has just finished his first trip to the ocean, and he will report to the national team non-stop.
In the past 7 months, Egawa has joined the Japanese men's volleyball professional league team JT Thunder Men's Volleyball, representing the team in many leagues, cups and other competitions as a foreign aid, and was also shortlisted for the league all-star team. In a recent interview with a reporter from the Beijing News, Jiang Chuan said that whether it is the improvement of defensive tandem ability or the change of response methods after the attack is blocked, it is a big gain for individuals.
2023 is a key year for the Chinese men's volleyball team to impact the Paris Olympics, after missing the national team competition for the entire season due to injury last year, this year's Jiang Chuan is full of fighting spirit, "First of all, I still have to do my best to help the team, impacting the Olympics is not only my goal, but also the goal of the Chinese men's volleyball team, and any difficulties can not hinder the determination of the Chinese men's volleyball team!" ”
Stay in the ocean
Cycling training alone and teaching teammates and children to say "Happy New Year"
"This is my farewell to my comfort zone and the beginning of a new opportunity and challenge. For me, everything will start from scratch in an unfamiliar environment, and I will turn the reluctance in my heart into motivation to fight outside. When he left for Japan in early October 2022, Egawa wrote this on social media.
Flying against the wind into Jiangchuan is a topic that Jiang Chuan often brings when sharing news. In his opinion, the first time to stay in the ocean is a journey to fly against the wind, "say goodbye to the familiar environment, familiar life, familiar team, go to a completely unfamiliar environment, start from scratch, do not break or stand, just as only against the wind can fly higher." ”
At first, Egawa was not very comfortable in life. On training days, rain or shine, he rides alone to train. On days without training, he needs to work out the matter of eating. Including the problem of language communication, Jiang Chuan encountered many difficulties and many firsts.
For the challenges in life, the club and teammates are helping Jiang Chuan, after training and competition, everyone will invite Jiang Chuan to dinner, and the club will try its best to solve any problems encountered in daily life. Thanks to the help of everyone around, Jiang Chuan quickly integrated and mingled with everyone on and off the field. During the New Year, he taught the team to greet the fans in the Chinese way, and also taught the children of his teammates to say "Happy New Year" in Chinese.
Playing with Jiang Chuan in the Japan Men's Volleyball League is also Beijing team teammate Wang Dongchen, national team teammate Peng Shikun, although the three are in different teams and live in different cities, but whenever the teams play each other, Jiang Chuan can still reminisce with friends, "Being in different teams, life, training, and game rhythms will be different, and exchange their feelings after meeting." ”
As the captain of the Chinese men's volleyball team, Jiang Chuan will shoulder a heavier mission. Photo: Xinhua News Agency
harvest
Personal data is at the forefront, defense and tandem have improved
The Japanese men's volleyball league spans a large span and is relatively high, and the biggest difference with other leagues is that it has two consecutive matches on Saturday and Sunday, facing the same opponent. The format has high physical requirements for athletes, and it is not a small challenge for the team, whether it is pre-match preparation or on-the-spot changes.
As one of the foreign aides of the JT Thunder men's volleyball team, compared to competing in China, the pressure on Jiang Chuan's shoulders can be imagined, "The change of identity from local players to foreign aides, the pressure is indeed different. Unlike Japanese players, foreign aid has less room for error. Because the team chooses you, it wants you to take on more offensive tasks, and the key points need you to hammer and solve the problem. ”
Jiang Chuan, who faced the difficulties, finally handed over a good answer. The official technical statistics of the league show that Jiang Chuan ranks among the best in many statistics. He played a total of 123 games in 34 games, scored 600 points, and ranked 6th in the league in terms of total scoring list and smash success rate, including 511 points for offense, 46 points for blocking and 43 points for serve, ranking second in the league in serving statistics. As the main receiver of the JT Thunder men's volleyball team, Egawa has undertaken a large number of strong offensive tasks of the team, has become the team's scoring champion many times, and has also been shortlisted for the league all-star team with his outstanding performance.
Jiang Chuan told the Beijing News reporter that the biggest gain from the more than 7-month trip to the ocean was the improvement of personal skills. Defense and tandem are hallmarks of the Japanese league, and he has benefited a lot from this. Moreover, what to do when the individual attack is blocked in the face of different opponents? He also learned a lot of new coping methods.
Through the trials of different leagues, Egawa has also broadened his horizons and gained a lot of new understandings and insights, "The Japanese league has many high-level foreign aides, such as Kurek and Musselski, they are in the same position as me, and they are also the direction of my learning. How to deal with different balls in attack, including the choice of lines, gave me a good idea. Their individual ability is very comprehensive, there are almost no shortcomings, especially in the defensive tandem, it is worth learning. ”
Faced with the intensive national team competition tasks, Jiang Chuan did not have much time to rest. Photo: Xinhua News Agency
important task
Pass on the experience to the youngsters and compete at home for the Olympics
Just after his first trip to the ocean, Jiang Chuan did not have much time to rest and adjust, he was about to report to the national team and prepare for the next intensive tournament with the team as the captain.
Last season, the Chinese men's volleyball team participated in the World Men's Volleyball League, the Men's Volleyball Asian Cup and the Men's Volleyball World Championship, with surprises and regrets. In the 2022 World Men's Volleyball League, the team defeated the then world No. 1 Brazil, and in the Men's Volleyball Asian Cup in August, the team won the championship again after 10 years, but in the most competitive and competitive World Championship stage, the team only finished 24th.
Egawa missed last season's national team games due to injuries during training camps, but he has been keeping an eye on the performance of his teammates. In his opinion, this Chinese men's volleyball team has more young players and is a very impactful team, "We have a certain strength in the net, so I think that as long as we do the details better, make up for the shortcomings, do more meticulously in the hair extensions, tandem and other links, reduce unnecessary mistakes, improve the ability to attack multiple rounds, the team can have a better performance." ”
After nearly a year of recovery and a long journey to the ocean, Egawa is in good physical and competitive form, and he hopes to pass on his experience to his younger teammates, "such as the problems he has experienced, including some successful methods." I hope that young team members will take fewer detours, pay less tuition, do not be afraid when encountering difficulties, and know how to release pressure. ”
The 2023 Men's Volleyball World League will kick off in June this year, followed by the Asian Men's Volleyball Championship in late August, followed by the Hangzhou Asian Games on your doorstep and the Olympic qualifiers at home. The Chinese men's volleyball team must not only stabilize and improve the team's ranking through the World Men's Volleyball League, Asian Championships and Asian Games, but also strive for a ticket to the Paris Olympic Games in the Olympic qualification tournament.
According to the format of the Olympic qualification tournament, the 24 teams are divided into 3 groups, each group of 8 teams will compete in a single round-robin, the top two teams in the group will go directly to Paris, and the remaining qualifications will be determined according to the world ranking after the 2024 World Volleyball League sub-tournament. The Chinese men's volleyball team is in the same group as Poland, Argentina, the Netherlands, Canada, Mexico, Belgium and Bulgaria, and the difficulty of winning the top two places in the group and going directly to Paris is obvious to all.
The difficulties are ahead, but since it is the home game, Jiang Chuan and his teammates will definitely go all out, no matter how difficult and difficult this road is, everyone's goal is firm, "Start with me, start with everyone, through this year's training and competition, I hope to have a good result in the end." ”
Beijing News reporter Xu Bangyin
Edited by Wang Chunqiu
Proofreader Zhao Lin