In volleyball, the setter position is very important.
Often, the initiation and organization of the offensive are carried out by the second setter, so the second setter is also called the "battlefield commander".
It can be said that if a team can have a good setter, her results will not be much worse, and with the main attack and secondary attack of the main color, it will be a championship team.
There are also many very good setters in the history of the Chinese women's volleyball team, such as Wei Qiuyue and Ding Xia, today we will compare Wei Qiuyue and Ding Xia who is better from many aspects:
One
Wei Qiuyue, who was born in 1988, is 36 years old this year, and Ding Xia, who was born in 1990, is 34 years old this year.
Wei Qiuyue was born in a wealthy family, and Ding Xia was born in a working family, so when she was a child, Wei Qiuyue's life was more comfortable than Ding Xia's family.
It stands to reason that with Wei Qiuyue's family conditions, her parents would not have let her engage in hard sports training, but although Wei Qiuyue's parents are rich, they like sports very much, especially volleyball.
In the process of growing up, Wei Qiuyue was taller than her peers since she was a child, so when she was 5 years old, her parents sent her to the volleyball preparatory class of Tianjin Sports School, and Wei Qiuyue officially became attached to volleyball.
Ding Xia's family is not only her parents, but also her grandparents are workers, although they also love Ding Xia, but they never thought of letting Ding Xia go to an interest class and learn one more skill.
Ding Xia has been much taller than her peers since she was a child, and by the time she was in the fourth grade, she had reached 1.6 meters tall, and it happened that a physical education teacher came to her elementary school at this time.
The physical education teacher is a professional volleyball player who retired from the Guangxi volleyball team, the physical education teacher had an idea after seeing Ding Xia's height, and she measured Ding Xia's physical coordination and reaction ability when she took physical education class, and finally Ding Xia was recommended by him to practice volleyball at Shijiazhuang Amateur Sports School.
After coming into contact with volleyball, Wei Qiuyue and Ding Xia both showed their super talent in volleyball, and according to their respective personalities, the coach finally chose the position of setter for them.
Although they are both setters, Wei Qiuyue and Ding Xia's styles are completely different:
Wei Qiuyue's passing is stable, has a good vision and has excellent blocking ability, although her movement speed and defensive ability are not as good as Ding Xia's, she has a high passing accuracy and has an advantage in blocking the net, Wei Qiuyue has a prominent arm span but lacks flexibility at certain times.
Ding Xia's movement speed is fast, her defensive ability is strong, and she can even match a libero in some cases, and Ding Xia's serve is also excellent, but Ding Xia's passing accuracy and speed are not as good as Wei Qiuyue's in comparison.
Wei Qiuyue and Ding Xia both practiced volleyball in their hometowns at the beginning, but the Hebei women's volleyball team and the Tianjin women's volleyball team are definitely a few levels behind.
Therefore, Wei Qiuyue naturally entered the Tianjin women's volleyball team after reaching a certain height, but Ding Xia was different.
In 2007, Ding Xia participated in the National Middle School Volleyball Competition, in which she was bold in organization and concealed in passing, which made many coaches shine.
Therefore, after the game, the Hebei women's volleyball team and the Liaoning women's volleyball team both threw an olive branch to Ding Xia, because it was difficult for the Hebei women's volleyball team to have the opportunity to play in the women's volleyball league at that time, so Ding Xia chose the Liaoning women's volleyball team after discussing with the coach and parents.
Two
In 2007, Ding Xia went to Shenyang from her hometown Hebei to join the Liaoning women's volleyball team and officially became a professional volleyball player.
And Wei Qiuyue, who is only two years older than Ding Xia this year, not only replaced Ding Hongying as the main setter of the Tianjin women's volleyball team, but even became the main setter of the national team this year.
Of course, the reason why Wei Qiuyue became the main setter of the national team was also a last resort.
Because, at that time, the main setter of the national team, Feng Kun, was injured and went to the United States for treatment, and Wei Qiuyue was identified as a reserve talent for the preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics by the Volleyball Sports Management Center of the General Administration of Sports of the People's Republic of China as early as 2004.
From here, at the beginning of their careers, the national team coaches and relevant leaders paid more attention to Wei Qiuyue, and they may not even have noticed Ding Xia, a rookie who had just entered the professional arena.
In 2008, Feng Kun returned to the national team to continue to serve as the main setter, but Wei Qiuyue also participated in the Beijing Olympics with the team as a substitute, and Wei Qiuyue was 20 years old this year.
And this year, Ding Xia has not had much playing time in the Liaoning women's volleyball team, and she is completely a dispensable little person.
In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Chinese women's volleyball team only won the bronze medal, which made the relevant leaders very dissatisfied, after all, this is the Olympic Games at home, and the women's volleyball team is going to win the championship in their plan.
Therefore, after the end of the Olympic Games, Chen Zhonghe, the head coach of the Chinese women's volleyball team at the time, resigned, and Zhao Ruirui and Feng Kun, a group of veterans, were also retired and faded out of the national team.
As a result, Wei Qiuyue and Hui Ruoqi began to rise up, and Wei Qiuyue not only began to serve as the main setter of the national team, but also was appointed as the captain of the Chinese women's volleyball team in the London Olympic cycle.
It was also this year that Ding Xia was selected for the national second team (national youth team), but Ding Xia still didn't have much playing time in the national youth team.
The London Olympic cycle is the most chaotic cycle of the Chinese women's volleyball team, with three head coaches changed in two years.
During this period, no matter whether the head coach of the women's volleyball team changed from Cai Bin to Wang Baoquan, or later Yu Juemin, Wei Qiuyue's position as the main setter of the national team did not change.
In fact, in the eyes of many people, the players in the main offensive and assist positions in volleyball may be more important, and in fact, most of the stars produced by the Chinese women's volleyball team are players in these two positions.
But in fact, in the eyes of some professionals, a good setter is even more rare, so it is also very common to be the captain of the national team setter, such as Wei Qiuyue's previous captain Feng Kun, and then Sun Jinfang, the captain of the old women's volleyball team.
And Wei Qiuyue was able to become the captain at the age of 21 when the women's volleyball team was reorganized in 2009, and it can also be seen that the relevant leaders expected her at that time, expecting her to reach the height of her predecessors.
But volleyball is a team sport, and all positions must be excellent, or weaknesses are not so obvious to achieve good results, and in the London Olympics, the world volleyball world is full of strong players, and the Chinese women's volleyball team is chaotic inside.
Therefore, in the end, at the London Olympics, the Chinese women's volleyball team only achieved the fifth place.
So, after the London Olympics, the relevant leaders came forward and invited back the meritorious veteran Lang Ping of the Chinese women's volleyball team to serve as the new head coach of the Chinese women's volleyball team.
Three
As mentioned earlier, Ding Xia was selected for the national youth team in 2009, but she did not have many opportunities to play in the national youth team.
But in the following years, Ding Xia's status in the Liaoning women's volleyball team gradually improved, not only slowly growing into the main setter, but also was appointed as the new captain of the Liaoning women's volleyball team in the 2012-2013 season.
In 2013, the Chinese women's volleyball team was reorganized, and the name of Wei Qiuyue, the main setter of the women's volleyball national team, was not included in the new women's volleyball national team training list announced after Lang Ping took office, which made many fans feel very confused.
Because, Wei Qiuyue's performance in the London Olympics was still good, and Wei Qiuyue was only 25 years old at the time, which was the year of fighting.
In fact, Lang Ping contacted Wei Qiuyue as soon as he became the head coach, but Wei Qiuyue was already suffering from a knee injury at this time.
What Lang Ping and his team mean is that Wei Qiuyue went to have knee surgery first, and even Lang Ping has contacted a doctor for Wei Qiuyue in the United States, and Wei Qiuyue can enter the national team as long as the injury is recovered.
But Wei Qiuyue didn't want to have surgery at that time, because she felt that although she was not very old, she was not a teenager anymore, and there were only a few years left in her career, so there was no need to take this risk.
After all, the most fearful thing is the recovery after surgery, so to speak, if the postoperative recovery is not very ideal, then Wei Qiuyue may end her career early.
Because of this problem, Lang Ping and Wei Qiuyue could not reach an agreement, so Wei Qiuyue did not enter the national team at the beginning, and after she was selected for the national team, she went abroad to play.
Ding Xia did not enter the national team coached by Lang Ping for the first time, because she performed well in the National Games this year, and led the Liaoning women's volleyball team to finally win the runner-up, thus knocking on the door of the national team.
In fact, if it weren't for Wei Qiuyue failing to reach an agreement with Lang Ping, it would be difficult for Ding Xia to enter the national team even if she had a good performance in the National Games.
Because among the four setters of the national team at that time, Ding Xia was the last one in the ranking, and the other three were Shen Jingsi, Wang Na, and Yao Di.
Wei Qiuyue's experience in staying abroad was not perfect, not only suffered from water and power outages, but also encountered the club's arrears of wages, and it happened that at this time, the situation of the Tianjin women's volleyball team in the domestic league was not good, so Tianjin women's volleyball head coach Wang Baoquan temporarily recalled Wei Qiuyue.
It is worth mentioning that Wei Qiuyue was already in love with Yuan Lingxi, the assistant coach of the national team, through Yuan Lingxi, Wei Qiuyue learned that Lang Ping was very dissatisfied with several setters in the team.
So, after losing the national team, Wei Qiuyue sent a message to Lang Ping for the first time, expressing her confidence in wanting to fight for the country, so in March 2014, Wei Qiuyue, who had been away from the national team for more than a year, returned to the national team again.
A few months after Wei Qiuyue returned to the Chinese women's volleyball team, Ding Xia was adjusted out of the national team, along with Yao Di.
So Wei Qiuyue followed the team to prepare for the World Championships, and Ding Xia participated in the Asian Cup with Zhang Changning, Yan Ni and other players who were not the main players at that time, and finally successfully won the championship.
In addition, in the World Championships with Wei Qiuyue as the main setter, the Chinese women's volleyball team finally won the silver medal, which is also the best result of the Chinese women's volleyball team in the World Championships since entering the new century.
Four
After the World Championships, Wei Qiuyue's knee surgery was put on the agenda, so soon after Wei Qiuyue crossed the ocean to the United States for surgery.
Besides, Ding Xia, after she was returned to the provincial team, she began to train frantically, she didn't feel that she was inferior to others.
In 2015, Ding Xia once again entered the national team because of her outstanding performance in the league that season, this time she first won the Asian Championship with the team, and then entered the World Cup list as a substitute.
In the 2015 Women's Volleyball World Cup, although Ding Xia was a substitute, her performance was also very stable, and finally the Chinese women's volleyball team won the World Cup again after 12 years.
After the World Cup, the media praised Ding Xia, but in fact, Ding Xia knew in her heart that when Wei Qiuyue recovered, she would probably not have the opportunity to go to Rio.
The result is indeed like this, when the final list of the women's volleyball team for the Rio Olympics came out, Ding Xia's name did not appear in it.
At that time, the main setter of the national team was Shen Jingsi, but who knew that in a team training near the Olympic Games, Shen Jingsi was accidentally injured, so the coaching staff urgently recalled Ding Xia.
It stands to reason that it was impossible for Ding Xia to go to Rio, completely because Shen Jingsi was injured, so Wei Qiuyue should be the main setter, and Ding Xia should be the substitute setter.
Considering Wei Qiuyue's return from injury and her age, the coaching staff decided to let Ding Xia serve as the main setter at the beginning.
Therefore, at the beginning of the Rio Olympics, Ding Xia started the game, but Ding Xia's performance was not very good, and Wei Qiuyue stood up at the critical moment.
The reason why Lang Ping took Wei Qiuyue to Rio was because he liked her stability and experience, so when the team was in crisis, Wei Qiuyue completed his task well.
In the semifinals and finals later, Ding Xia came off the bench, but her performance was better than when she started, and the Chinese women's volleyball team finally miraculously won the championship.
After the Olympics, some fans thought that Wei Qiuyue was the main setter, and some fans thought that Ding Xia was the main setter, but Lang Ping later specifically said that there was no so-called substitute and main force, and in her opinion, they were all the main forces.
After the Rio Olympics, Wei Qiuyue had the idea of retiring, after all, at that time, she and Yuan Lingxi had been in love for many years, and they had no regrets about winning the Olympic championship.
Ding Xia has truly become the main setter of the national team, and has played almost all the world championships throughout the Tokyo cycle.
But in the Tokyo Olympics, Ding Xia's performance was very poor, and the reason may be that Zhu Ting was not in good shape, and Ding Xia was used to cooperating with Zhu Ting for a long time, so when Zhu Ting was not in the state, Ding Xia could not exert her full strength.
Judging from the current trend, Ding Xia will most likely participate in the Paris Olympics eventually, and Zhu Ting also announced her return a few days ago, plus Zhang Changning returned last season.
Now the Chinese women's volleyball team can be regarded as having gathered all the generals who can fight well, although everyone is still not optimistic about the prospects of the women's volleyball team in the Paris Olympics, but here I am also looking forward to a wave of miracles.