China NT 2021

    A five-year summer love affair


    BY CYNTHIA GE | The Daily Californian - May 3, 2021


    During the last summer Olympics the world shared, I went back to China.



    The author, Cynthia Ge


    My relationship with China has always been complicated, inextricably intertwined with family history, my American citizenship, international politics and language barriers. I’ve struggled with the idea of home, with having a motherland, an ancestral place, a true north because it has always felt like a betrayal, either to the land I grew up in or the land I keep coming back to. Sometimes, it is embarrassing to be Chinese. Sometimes, it is embarrassing to be American. Sometimes, it is embarrassing to be both.


    But within these dual, warring identities, there are pockets of peace—safe havens I found during the summer of 2016 where picking a side didn’t feel like deception and unfaithfulness. It felt right—to be surrounded by China and her sights and smells and people, and to wish for her success on the Olympic stage. To bleed red and gold, stand up for the national anthem and remember her players’ names. I guess that’s the beauty of sports: more than just entertainment, sports is an art form, an expression of how competition inexplicably breeds unity.


    My first and only idolization of an athlete informed this period of discovery and reconciliation. I remember my first impression of Zhu Ting, her title as captain of the women’s volleyball team slightly marred by their opening loss against the Netherlands. I remember wondering whether other people would make fun of her last name, zhu sounding exactly like the Mandarin word for “pig.” I remember my initial indifference, and how my apathy eventually gave way to pride and joy and admiration as she led her team through Brazil and Serbia en route to the Olympic gold.


    But I don’t love her like I love my favorite athletes. I don’t follow her season, don’t buy her jerseys, don’t stalk her significant other on social media. I loved her from an August five years ago in the context of an Olympic volleyball court—fleetingly, sparingly, easily. I don’t know her anymore or want to cheapen my words by calling it love, and yet: my admiration for her is unconditional. What is love, if not unequivocal reverence?


    In this way, sports transcends time, transcends the game-watching, statistic-memorizing motions I always considered synonymous with being a fan. I don’t have to prove anything, and I think that is what we forget too easily in the face of pride. I can love Zhu Ting even though I have not seen her since the summer of 2016. I love her because to me, she is not a franchise, a legacy, a means to a championship. I love her because in the most magical, boundary-eclipsing way, she has become emblematic of family.


    She is a widescreen TV next to a fish tank I have known since childhood, a prism of water an ocean away, the closest I’ve ever come to having a pet. She is my grandfather’s quiet concentration, peaceful and comforting. She is my cousin’s curiosity and the gravitational pull that draws her to the couch, towards us. I’ve never been quite capable of bridging the gap between our years, our birthplaces, the silence that sometimes stretches awkwardly between us; the words I find are often wrong and strange and foreign, coming together in such jumbled messes that I am embarrassed to call myself Chinese. But volleyball—I know the language of volleyball, and this is how my grandfather, cousin and I come to understand each other.


    Sometimes we watched her from the couch, and sometimes we watched her from the dining room, our flour-streaked hands pinching together dumplings to the rhythm of her scoring. I associate these things with her—the smell of raw pork mixed with chives, chopsticks tapping a nervous staccato beat on the table, my grandmother’s soft, strong palms kneading dough. She bleeds into my family, and I could not—cannot—stop her relentless flow: she bleeds into China, red and beautiful and proud.


    It is this self-perpetuating cycle, my relationship with Zhu Ting: I love her because I love China, and I love China because I loved her first. Because she represents family and all the memories that connect us. Because she reminds me of the home I’m still trying to find. Because sports are universal, and I will see her again this summer.


    During the last summer Olympics the world shared, I went back to China. And I found something better than gold and glory: I found this feeling of peace.


    https://www.dailycal.org/2021/…-year-summer-love-affair/


    As mentioned by some in the Chinese volleyball realm


    “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”

    Happy Birthday Zheng Yixin (06 May)


    A simple n solemn celebration! WUATB 🍻🍻



    Sadly, it seems this cute Fujian's middle blocker does not participate in the current Beilun training. No training, no VNL ;(


    Fans are still regretting why Zheng is not being given the opportunity for training in Beiliun as well as participating in VNL to prove herself, in particular when Wang and Yang are not that convincing... a lack of ten that hinders the chance...


    Posed beautifully in wedding gown


    “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”

    Quote from samsara

    Posed beautifully in wedding gown

    with an apple :)

    Zheng Yixin is married? I thought I had a chance in my dreams.

    Quote from Julian Chow

    With no live action anywhere, I revisited the test match and did a frame by frame on some of the actions. I noticed LYY has improved her blocking height...now, if only she can follow the ball movement as well, a la Yanni, that’ll be great.


    Its good for the team, so they can strengthen the blocking department. It would be good to see from LYY front side also, to see whether she opened or closed her eyes. Because, I remember ZT (she also at pos 4) sometimes even brave enough to open her eyes to see the ball so she could try to adjust her hands after the opponent hit the ball.

    Quote from sandianando

    It would be good to see from LYY front side also, to see whether she opened or closed her eyes. Because, I remember ZT (she also at pos 4) sometimes even brave enough to open her eyes to see the ball so she could try to adjust her hands after the opponent hit the ball.

    Yep, but for some reason, ZCN is usually the one who gets bonked on the head when blocking.


    https://www.bilibili.com/video…&seid=7255611316616788364

    Quote from zhutingfan

    Yes, it was a comment following my earlier one

    because she jumps high

    I thought you were referring to Li Yingying again. Anyway I think ZCN needs to work on her spike. She seems to smash every set, even if its bad set or off balance, that leads to her being blocked often. She needs to hit smarter.

    Quote from jetmasters

    I thought you were referring to Li Yingying again. Anyway I think ZCN needs to work on her spike. She seems to smash every set, even if its bad set or off balance, that leads to her being blocked often. She needs to hit smarter.

    Agree that she rarely tips or hits off the block, sometimes her relentless smashing of every set works well (such as vs. Turkey and USA) but might not work so well against better defensive teams (Brazil, USA, Japan)

    Who do you think the second opposite will be?


    Liu Yanhan wasn't effective during the test match and Li Yao didn't even get a chance to show what she can bring.

    Quote from bumpsetspike

    You think so?


    I'd rather have her and Li Yingying alternate at OH depending on who needs to be substituted, I think it allows China more options.

    I do.


    Zhu Ting isn't moving from position 4, because of her block height against the opposites of usa, serbia, italy, etc. She can play pos. 2, but it's just not worth it.


    When the service reception is good, it doesn't matter who plays opp because the middles can run the slide (and they are very good at it).


    But when the reception is not good (and that is practically guaranteed when Boskovic or Egonu serves) the entire length of the net must be used to stretch the opponent's block-defense. That's what killed Tianjin in the CVL last year as both Zhu and Li were hitting from pos 4 and NFF's defense job became easy. Gong is not that good at OOS attacking compared to Zhang. If you look at other top teams, they also have their main attacking weapons on both wings (sylla/pietrini vs Egonu, mihajlovic vs Boskovic)


    I'd like to see ZT and one of GXY/LYY on the left depending on the balance of the needs of the floor defence/attacking and ZCN on the right.


    If Li could play opposite, that'd be great, except it was tried and she wasn't good at it.


    No one other than those four should really be for serious consideration as a pin hitter, imo.