The 2023 Sudirman Cup is being played in Suzhou, and Guoyu is also defending its title step by step. But outside the arena, there is a group of people who are also quietly making their contribution. Today, our reporter takes you into a special group of people on the Su Cup - professional stringers.
There is a saying in the badminton industry "three-point racket seven-point line", which talks about the importance of the racket line to play, and players can play to the fullest on the court, which is inseparable from the hard work of the stringer. In this Sudirman Cup, the official equipment sponsor VICTOR sent a VPS professional stringer team to provide designated threading services for the event.
"People watch" service, details determine success or failure
Each member of the VPS professional stringer team is an excellent stringer certified by VSI (VICTOR Stringer Academy), with superb technology and rich experience in competition services. Liang Fei, the leader of the VPS professional stringer team, said that doing a good job in the competition threading service depends more on a serious and responsible attitude.
Since the opening of the Su Cup competition venue to all teams, the VPS professional stringer team has been stationed in the warm-up stadium to provide stringing services for players from morning to night. Compared with the usual threading for badminton enthusiasts, the threading service of Su Cup is more strict and standardized in the process.
On the first day a player arrives in Suzhou, they will receive their own threading number. Players who need to thread must first fill out the threading service form and register their name, racket model, racket model, number of threading pounds and other information. The stringer will tie the list to the handle so that the racket is not confused. Before threading the machine, the stringer should repeatedly check whether there is a problem with the racket, and replace the wire guard nails immediately if they encounter breakage. The next step is to put the air on the camera and thread the string according to the number of pounds requested by the player. After threading the racket, the stringer will check the racket again to see if the pounds meet the requirements. Then it's about painting the logo, bagging it, and waiting for the players to come and pick up the shot.
According to Liang Fei, during the Su Cup competition, each player's racket will be responsible for the same stringer to ensure that the racket has the same feel from beginning to end. In addition, considering environmental factors such as temperature and humidity, WALTER Threading Service will also provide moisture-proof bags to protect rackets.
"8 in the morning and 9 in the evening", the team of 7 people is "full firepower"
The VPS professional stringer team has a total of 7 people, in addition to the leader Liang Fei, there are also 6 stringers. There is a consensus in the stringer circle - the work tasks of the team competition are busy with individual events, and mixed team competitions such as the Sudirman Cup are the busiest events. Participants from various representative teams formed a lot of threading needs, so the 6 stringers of this service event also entered the "full firepower" mode - often working for more than ten hours, dizziness, stiff body, all commonplace.
Wang Zhen, one of the six stringers, told reporters that the team's working hours every day are from 8 a.m. to about 9 p.m., and the average number of rackets per person per day is twenty or thirty. It takes 18-20 minutes to thread a racket – that's pretty fast, and the actual threading time alone can reach 10 hours a day, which is a lot of work for any stringer.
At the same time, stringers also need to respond to sudden "expedited" tasks at any time. For example, there were cases where athletes' rackets were accidentally damaged and needed to be completed quickly, and the team of stringers who were always on call immediately met the demand.
"If the amount of threading is relatively large, it is actually quite boring." Wang Zhen describes her work this way, but the experience of serving Su Cup still excites her, "It is a sense of participation and achievement." ”
But the more "boring" the work, the more you need to pay attention to every detail, otherwise it will directly affect the athletes' participation and training preparation.
Wang Zhen told reporters, "Every athlete has his own requirements for the beat and feel, and the requirements will be very high, what we need to do is to keep the threading technology stable and thread according to the demand." For example, during this event, Wang Zhen threaded the racket for Malaysia's Li Zijia, and she clearly remembered the type of racket and the number of pounds she threaded at that time, "You need to be careful, such as the requirements of the pound, including the inspection before the racket is threaded, and the thread cannot be stranded, can not wear flowers... These details are important. ”
For stringers, once there is a mistake, there may be serious consequences - such as the deformation of the racket, or even the direct "burst" of the racket during use.
With meticulous and thoughtful service, the VPS professional stringer team has been affirmed by the participating players of the Su Cup. "This time I came to Suzhou to participate in the Su Cup, and I felt that the service in all aspects was very professional and thoughtful." Malaysian player Li Zijia said in an interview, "Especially the threading service, every time I take the racket over, the stringer will check it very carefully, understand my threading habits, and take good care of my racket." ”
New equipment for greater efficiency
If a worker wants to do a good job, he must first sharpen his tools. For threaders, a good set of threading tools is quite helpful for threading. In order to provide better threading services for this Su Cup, the VPS professional stringer team used VICTOR's latest flagship threading machine C-7032 Ultra.
The C-7032 Ultra is the BWF-designated competition stringer with upgrades to several key components. The clamps of this threading machine are made of special aluminium alloy to reduce weight by about 34%, while two bearings are added to the rail of the wire clamp housing. Threaders generally feedback after use that this threading machine is easy and labor-saving to use, the clamping effect is better, the clamp slips more smoothly, and there is no feeling of stuttering. In addition, thanks to the improvements to the L-arm, stringers also felt that the C-7032 Ultra rack rack was faster, with more rack space and more flexible operation.
Many people can't tell the advantages and disadvantages of threading and pay a lot of "tuition fees". In order to let more people understand the importance of professional threading, WALTER set up a threading area in this Subei pop-up store, and the threading master of the VPS professional stringer team conducted the on-site threading demonstration. Here, fans not only learn more about threading, but also experience a "player the same" threading service.
During the Su Cup, the Victoria pop-up shop threading area attracted a large number of fans interested in threading, and also received a lot of media attention. In an interview, the reporter observed the entire threading process on the spot and experienced the threading process with his own hands. After interacting with the VPS stringers, the reporters were deeply moved, "The job of threading seems quite simple, but if you want to become a stringer qualified to serve a top competition like Su Cup, you can't do it without thousands of repeated practices." Yangtze Evening News/Purple Cow News reporter Huang Qiyuan
Proofreading by Xu Heng