"Who is Zheng Wei?"
On May 17, 2022, when the Chinese women's basketball team officially announced that Zheng Wei was the new coach of the women's basketball team, many people raised such a question in their hearts, and even many people in the basketball industry only heard of Zheng Wei's name and didn't know about it.
In fact, Zheng Wei is also one of the runners-up of the Chinese women's basketball team in the 1994 World Championships, her parents and husband are also basketball players. She entered the Chinese women's basketball coaching staff as early as 2009, from assistant coach to head coach, in 14 years, she accompanied the Chinese women's basketball team through the trough and led the Chinese women's basketball team to the highlight.
Hello everyone, I'm Kong Yiji, who doesn't like to steal books, and welcome you to read the story of Zheng Wei, the current coach of the women's basketball team.
01 When he was a player, he was desperate Saburo
Zheng Wei was born in Wuhan City, Hubei Province in 1963, her father Zheng Bin, mother Song Jingmei were professional basketball players, after retiring from the University as a physical education teacher, the two teachers are humble, gentle, filial, strong, very cultivated, and Zheng Wei also inherited the character of her parents, since she was a child is a confidant and strong girl.
Zheng Wei took a group photo at the High School Affiliated to Wuhan University
In addition to inheriting the parent's cultivation, Zheng Wei also inherited the family history, embarked on the road of basketball since she was a child, she showed her basketball talent when she studied at the High School Affiliated to Wuhan University, and was selected to join the basketball team of the Wuhan Military Region Sports Team when she graduated, and Zheng Haixia formed the inner and outer twin stars of the Wuhan Army Women's Basketball Team.
Zheng Wei and Zheng Haixia have been partners for more than ten years, and they are like sisters on and off the court, but unlike Zheng Haixia's youthful fame, Zheng Wei's basketball career is more tortuous and bumpy than many players.
Zheng Haixia and Zheng Wei led the Wuhan army to become the top team in the country, but the national team at that time only lacked a center, not a lack of defenders and forwards, there were Song Xiaobo, Qiu Chen, Liu Qing and other good players on the front line, and Cong Xuedi and Xue Cuilan on the guard line, so Zheng Wei has not had too many opportunities in the national team, and it is not an exaggeration to describe Zheng Wei at the wrong time.
In 1984, Zheng Wei teamed up with Zheng Haixia to bring the Wuhan Army Women's Basketball Team to the fifth place in the country, but in 1985, the Wuhan Army Sports Team decided to abolish the men's basketball team and the women's basketball team, and Zheng Wei and Zheng Haixia were also transferred to the Guangzhou Military Region, and soon after they were transferred to the Bayi Women's Basketball Team because of their outstanding performance.
In 1987, Zheng Wei helped the People's Liberation Army women's basketball team win the championship of the Sixth National Games, and finally won the favor of the national team, which made her see the opportunity to participate in the 1988 Seoul Olympics with the team, however, just before the Seoul Olympics, Zheng Wei regrettably disappeared from the squad.
In that era, the biggest pursuit of players playing was to enter the national team to win glory for the country, so after learning that she was defeated, Zheng Wei's mood was extremely low, and she returned home with a breath of breath, because Zheng Wei had married Sun Yuxiang, the center of the Beijing team, so she once had the idea of retiring and returning to her family.
But Zheng Wei is not an easy person to give up, and her teammates who have partnered with her have commented on her: Although Zheng Wei's talent is not top-notch, she has a strong competitive spirit, always eager to prove herself, and she has a steely character.
A few days later, Zheng Wei picked up her bags and returned to the team to continue to fight, before the 1990 World Championships, Zheng Wei suffered a torn knee ligament, but she did not choose to take a break for treatment, but returned to the court with pain and continued to fight for the team.
In 1994, Zheng Wei was 31 years old, but she was still called into the national team and participated in the World Championships that year.
I still remember an article in 1994 in "Basketball" magazine - "Indomitable Oath to the Top - Remembering the Tiger Girl Zheng Wei", in this article, Zheng Wei's fighting spirit was highly praised, and they described Zheng Wei's performance on the court as follows: "First of all, she is physically strong and energetic, after many days of competition, in the most fierce battle, she is the same from beginning to end, without showing a little tiredness, without a little discount, like a tireless engine." ”
In those days, the medical conditions were poor, the athletes were all injured, and most of the women's basketball players retired before the age of 30, although Zheng Wei was also riddled with injuries, but Zheng Wei's engine fought until 1998 (34 years old), and Zheng Haixia (31 years old), who had partnered for 18 years, announced his retirement together.
02 The player treats her like a mother
Zheng Wei has an inseparable affection for basketball, so after retiring, she went south to develop and entered the Guangdong women's basketball team as an assistant coach, and was promoted to the head coach of the Guangdong women's basketball team soon after because of her outstanding performance.
Zheng Wei in the Guangdong women's basketball coach after the good results, in 2001 led the team in the 1/4 finals to defeat the strong Shanghai women's basketball team, although in the semi-finals lost to the People's Liberation Army women's basketball team, but Zheng Wei in the 3-4 battle to make extremely full preparations, led the Guangdong women's basketball team to defeat Henan, to help the Guangdong women's basketball team achieve a historic breakthrough, the first National Games third place.
In 2002, Zheng Wei led the team to participate in the WCBA competition, leading the team to the playoffs with the second place in Group B, although she fell to the Bayi women's basketball team again in the semifinals, but finally won the 3-4 place battle, and won the third place, and she herself won the title of best coach.
In 2003, Zheng Wei led the team to defeat Beijing Shougang and Harbin women's basketball teams in the playoffs, and reached the WCBA finals for the first time in history.
Lost to the Bayi women's basketball team for several consecutive years, not because Zheng Wei's coaching ability is not good, but that the Bayi women's basketball team at that time was in its heyday, and its strength was transcendent.
Coach Zheng Wei is very strict in coaching, and on the field, she has extremely high requirements and meticulous requirements for every player, but off the field, she is a confidant and considerate eldest sister who has always cared about every player.
I don't know if you remember the Shanxi girl Wei Wei (2.04 meters) who is known as the "female Yao Ming" of the Guangdong women's basketball team, in Wei Wei's heart, Zheng Wei is her second mother, she said: "Her care for me is really meticulous." Every time the team distributed nutritious food, she always quietly stuffed me with her own share; when she went out to play, she was reluctant to eat her own extra meal rations, so she saved it for me; every time she went out to play, as long as she went to the street to buy something, she was allowed to bring me gifts. ”
Wei Wei
Wei Wei also said: "Once after the playoff victory over the Liaoning women's basketball team, when our whole team high-fived each other, I looked into her eyes, and that gaze was the same as my mother's. I think she must have been happy and proud of me and my teammates. ”
In fact, it's not just Wei Wei, every member of the Guangdong women's basketball team likes to be with Zheng Wei, as long as Zheng Wei is there, everyone has a bottom in their hearts.
Although Zheng Wei has never led the team to win the championship since becoming the head coach of the Guangdong women's basketball team, her ability has still been recognized by the leadership and she was promoted to the deputy director of the Guangdong Basketball Management Center.
03 Thirteen years of sharpening a sword
In 2009, when the contract of women's basketball head coach Maher expired, Sun Fengwu was appointed as the head coach of the women's basketball team, and he invited Zheng Wei to join the coaching staff as soon as possible, and let Zheng Wei serve as the assistant coach of the women's basketball team.
In fact, serving as the assistant coach of the women's basketball team is a big challenge for Zheng Wei, she said before taking office: "I have been the head coach since I retired, and I have been a full 10 years before and after. But the transition from head coach to assistant coach is actually a big role change, from being mainly based on me in the past to cooperating with the head coach.
From the team's leader, to N-handle, this is a difficult change, but Zheng Wei has done a good job, she is not only the team's assistant coach, but also the women's basketball video analyst, before each game, she will always understand the opponent's players' technical characteristics, personality, she said: "Only by knowing the opponent well can we better defeat the opponent." ”
Zheng Wei has been an assistant coach in the women's basketball team for a total of 13 years, regardless of whether the head coach is Sun Fengwu. Or Mahe, or later Xu Limin, Zheng Wei's position in the team is untouchable, and she has been serving as the first assistant coach, although she has long been qualified to be the head coach, but because the women's basketball team has never had a woman as the head coach, Zheng Wei has been selectively ignored, but even so, Zheng Wei is still doing her job conscientiously.
For a long time, Zheng Wei was the only female coach in the Chinese women's basketball coaching staff, and some roles were irreplaceable by other male coaches, so no matter how the head coach changed, Zheng Wei has always played a role as a link in the team, whether it is Miao Lijie, Chen Nan and other meritorious veterans, or later young players, they are willing to tell Zheng Wei the truth, it is because of Zheng Wei's existence that the women's basketball team has always been very united.
Zheng Wei is concerned about the women's basketball players out of her heart, and in an early interview, she proposed that "it is better to marry well if the women's basketball team plays well", because the salary of the women's basketball team was very low at that time, and in the case of CBA players with an annual salary of one million yuan, the vast majority of the players of the women's basketball team can only get a fixed salary of a few thousand yuan, and it is difficult to find a job after retirement, and there is no guarantee, so Zheng Wei has been advocating the professionalization of women's basketball and increasing income:
"If we don't carry out professional reform of the women's basketball team and solve the practical problem of the overall low remuneration of athletes, not only will it be difficult for these active players to live for a long time, but there will be fewer and fewer girls who are willing to play basketball in the future. ”
Although Zheng Wei's remarks of "playing well is not as good as marrying well" seem a bit extreme to some people, in fact, Zheng Wei is worried about the future of the women's basketball team.
In 2017, Zheng Wei served as the head coach of the Guangdong women's basketball team again after many years, led the team to the National Games, led the team to defeat the PLA women's basketball team, and won the first National Games championship in the history of the Guangdong women's basketball team.
After that, Zheng Wei helped the Guangdong women's basketball team win the 2019 WCBA championship, and then switched to the Inner Mongolia women's basketball team, leading the team to win the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 WCBA championships as the head coach.
04 Create brilliance, the sword is pointed to Paris
At the beginning of Zheng Wei's tenure, she was questioned a lot, but as she led the women's basketball team to win all the 2022 World Cup preliminaries, these voices gradually began to disappear.
Zheng Wei was very strict on the court, remembering that in the World Preliminary Tournament against Nigeria, the players of the Chinese women's basketball team were relaxed, and she immediately called a timeout: "What are you playing, are you releasing water?"
But she is very tolerant off the field, does not restrict the personal life of the players, although she does not like to dress up, shopping, but never interfere with the player's pursuit of fashion outside of training, when the team was stranded abroad because of the epidemic, Zheng Wei thought of many ways to adjust the player's mood.
When the players returned to China and were quarantined, Zheng Wei took the initiative to buy Lego and online yoga classes to enrich the lives of the players after training, help the team to be more united, and build the team into a disciplined but united and friendly iron army.
The 2022 World Cup is the first big test for Zheng Wei and the Chinese women's basketball team.
In the group stage, the Chinese women's basketball team achieved a record of 4 wins and 1 loss and successfully qualified, and the night of the qualification happened to be Zheng Wei's birthday, and the girls of the women's basketball team prepared a three-layer cake for Zheng Wei, which was printed with the red No. 12 jersey, five-star red flag and the words "FIBA World Cup Sydney 1994.2022".
In addition, the women's basketball team also customized a No. 12 jersey for Zheng Wei, with the names of all the players on it, because 28 years ago, Zheng Wei wore the No. 12 jersey to stand on the podium of the World Cup runner-up.
In the next qualifying round, the Chinese women's basketball team first defeated the French women's basketball team, and then in the case of the loss of Li Meng, the women's basketball team will not be afraid of strong opponents, and narrowly defeated Australia 61-59 in the semifinals, and entered the World Cup finals after 28 years.
Zheng Wei was not greedy after the game, she said: "There is one player who can't play, more people need to stand up, and the other players have done their best on the field." ”
The day of the final happened to be October 1, although the women's basketball team did not defeat the United States women's basketball team, but a silver medal is enough to make the Chinese women's basketball team proud, Zheng Wei director said in an interview after the game: "We want to give a big gift to the motherland before the game." We did it and are very proud. ”
Although the U.S. women's basketball team was the final champion, Zheng Wei's on-the-spot command won the unanimous approval of the World Cup judges and won the title of Best Coach of the 2022 World Cup with overwhelming votes.
After receiving the award, Zheng Wei said: I am happier than when I won the medal as a team member. Because the medal was my own, and now I have sent them (the team members) to the runner-up podium, so I am very happy for them, so my happiness is doubled.
Because of her excellent performance in the 2022 World Cup, Zheng Wei and the members of the women's basketball team appeared on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala on January 21, 2023, and were recognized by the people of the whole country.
Under Zheng Wei's leadership, the women's basketball team has completed a metamorphosis, not only has its combat effectiveness been further improved, but also its performance has become more and more stable at critical moments, especially at the last moment, there are always players who can step up, which is shown in the 2023 Asian Cup and Asian Games.
In the Asian Cup final, the Chinese women's basketball team defeated the Japanese women's basketball team 73-71, and in the Asian Games final, the Chinese women's basketball team defeated the Japanese women's basketball team 74-72, winning only 2 points from both games, but this just shows the combat effectiveness of the women's basketball team at critical moments.
Since winning the Asian Championship in 2011, the Chinese women's basketball team has been suppressed by the Japanese women's basketball team, losing four consecutive Asian Cup (Asian Championships) championships, and the 2023 Asian Cup championship has successfully broken this curse, which also means that the Chinese women's basketball team has returned to the position of Asian hegemony.
In order to become the head coach of the national team, Coach Zheng Wei resigned from the head coach of the club, which brought her a lot of financial losses, but Coach Zheng Wei didn't care about this, because it allowed her to devote herself to the work of the women's basketball team and lead the women's basketball team to a better stage.
Of course, there is another advantage of not serving in the club, that is, Coach Zheng Wei has more time to spend with her family, since she took up the coaching position, Coach Zheng Wei has been running around and has no time to spend with her family, so she has always felt guilty.
After the Asian Games, Zheng Wei guided her husband Sun Yuxiang to buy a car in a 4S store, ready to take the family to travel in a new car, enjoying a long-lost feeling of relaxation.
It is worth mentioning that Zheng Wei's husband Sun Yuxiang was a player in Beijing Shougang, tried a lot of work after retiring, and later transformed into a director, he directed "Dream on the Starry Sky", "Lost 1231" was released in 2019, and "The Great Illusionist" was released in 2020, all of which have a good reputation.
Now it is the end of 2023, and Director Zheng Wei, who was born in 1963, will be 61 years old soon, but she can't retire yet, because the 2024 Paris Olympics are still waiting for her, and Zheng Wei's goal is also very clear - to compete for one in the Paris Olympics!
Finally, I wish Zheng Wei good health, family happiness, and lead the Chinese women's basketball team to a higher level!
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