Tianjin, November 3 (Xinhua) -- In Tianjin, where volleyball has a strong atmosphere, its women's volleyball team is well known and is a constant victorious general in the domestic volleyball arena, but its men's volleyball team has been unknown for a long time.
This situation of "strong women and weak men" is improving. At the just-concluded 2021 National Men's Volleyball Championship, the Tianjin men's volleyball team reached the final all the way to the final, and finally won the runner-up, creating the best result of the Tianjin men's volleyball team to participate in the national competition.
"The men's volleyball team has always been the short board and weakness of Tianjin volleyball, and now it has won the national runner-up, and its gold content is no less than the gold medal of the women's volleyball team." Li Shan, a former Olympic champion of the women's volleyball team and director of the Tianjin Municipal Sports Bureau's Volleyball Management Center, said in an interview with reporters.
In Li Shan's view, the biggest reason why the Tianjin men's volleyball team can achieve leaps and breakthroughs lies in the goal guidance and policy incentives of the construction of the "Volleyball City".
Tianjin has incorporated the construction of the "Volleyball City" into the city's "14th Five-Year Plan" and the "Government Work Report", and issued the "Tianjin Implementation Plan for Accelerating the Construction of the "Volleyball City" (2021-2030)", which clearly proposes to build Tianjin into a volleyball city with international influence by 2030. To this end, Tianjin has given full support and guarantee to volleyball in terms of organization, talent and policies.
"Building a 'volleyball city' not only requires the Tianjin women's volleyball team to have excellent results, but also requires the Tianjin men's volleyball team not to be 'lame' and to coordinate the development of the men's and women's volleyball team." Li Shan said that although the Tianjin men's volleyball team has been lagging behind for a long time, as a sports person, you should dare to think, dare to fight, and dare to set goals.
"This time the Tianjin men's volleyball team won the national runner-up, which not only allowed us to see the future of the men's volleyball team, but also made us full of confidence in building a 'volleyball city'." Li Shan said.
The introduction and training of talents is an important reason for the breakthrough of the Tianjin men's volleyball team. Last year, the Bayi men's volleyball team was disbanded, and the Tianjin men's volleyball team saw the opportunity to recruit a number of players from the Bayi men's volleyball team, including the national players Mao Tianyi, Yuan Dangyi, Zhai Haonan, etc., which greatly increased the strength of the Tianjin men's volleyball team.
"Through this reinforcement, the Tianjin men's volleyball team achieved overtaking in the corner. Of course, we also pay attention to the cultivation of young people and reserve talents. Li Shan said that under the guidance of the construction of the "Volleyball City", Tianjin's primary and secondary schools and amateur sports schools are in full swing to carry out volleyball sports, and I believe that more and more volleyball talents will emerge.
The achievement of good results is inseparable from full preparation. Li Shan said that after the end of the Shaanxi National Games, the Tianjin men's volleyball team entered a new national transport cycle to prepare for the battle; all the coaches and athletes have been training in the closed training of the tuanbo base, integrating strength, polishing the lineup, carving techniques and tactics, and taking this national championship as an opportunity for the new Tianjin men's volleyball team to appear; in the end, everyone seized the opportunity and "soared into the sky".
In the face of the results, Li Shan maintained her usual sobriety and calmness. "The men's volleyball team won the runner-up, which is indeed a leap for ourselves, but we must also objectively analyze the gold content of this runner-up." Li Shan said that after the National Games, all teams are in the new and old alternate, and the Tianjin men's volleyball team stands out at this time, but it does not show that it has the strength of the national runner-up.
"We will use this as a starting point, down-to-earth, full of confidence, and move towards the goal of 'Volleyball City'." Li Shan said.
Source: Xinhua News Agency