As the first Chinese basketball team in history to maintain a complete victory in the olympic group stage and advance to the knockout round as the number one seed, the Chinese women's basketball team at the Tokyo Olympic Games took over the banner of the Chinese women's volleyball team and became the façade of the current three major balls! At 9:00 Beijing time on August 4, they will face the challenge of European powerhouse Serbia in the quarterfinals.
In this Chinese women's basketball team, Shao Ting, the captain of Beijing Normal University who is studying for a doctorate, is undoubtedly the backbone of the team. From the Olympic Games to the world's third-place Spanish team, to the world's second-place Australian team in the final moments of free throw stability, "post-80s" Shao Ting used her own experience to lead the young Chinese women's basketball team towards the goal of reaching the podium.
Red Star News exclusively interviewed Shao Ting's agent Ma Jie to tell shao Ting's growth path and walk into the behind-the-scenes story of her participation in the Olympic Games and the WNBA.
Shao Ting at the Olympic Games according to IC photo
Looking forward to the expedition to Tokyo
It is to lead the team to stand on the podium
"Because of the epidemic, the Tokyo Olympic Games were postponed for a year, and the Chinese women's basketball team trained very well in the 5 years of preparation." Ma Jie told reporters, "Not only Shao Ting, standing on the podium is the goal of the whole team." ”
Looking back at the journey of the Chinese women's basketball team to qualify for the Olympic Games last year, Ma Jie said that although the journey was full of hardships, the whole team had a huge gain.
The women's basketball Olympic Games, which was originally scheduled to be held in Foshan, Guangdong Province, was temporarily changed to Belgrade, Serbia, disrupting the plan of the Chinese women's basketball team to prepare for the game. "Our team arrived in Belgrade early, helped the women's basketball team to arrange the early accommodation and training, and also contacted one of the highest local teams to teach the women's basketball team." Because the Chinese women's basketball team was more nervous in the first game of the previous competition, it was precisely with the preparation of such a teaching game that it had three consecutive wins to advance to the Olympic Games.
Shao Ting According to IC photo
"The reason why the team has been able to achieve results is the result of efforts in all aspects. The goal is to go all out on the podium, and of course we don't put more pressure on this young team. Ma Jie said.
On February 8, 2020, the Chinese women's basketball team defeated the world's third-ranked Spain team 64:62 in the second game of the third stage of the losing tournament, and won two consecutive wins to get the ticket to the Olympic Games. Recalling the "showdown" a year and a half ago, Ma jie said objectively, "That game first admits that there are one or two very strong players in the Spanish team who did not play. However, the Chinese women's basketball team all moved forward step by step according to the arrangement and arrangement of the coach. ”
At the "life and death juncture" of that game, the young Chinese women's basketball team bit the opponent, "This kind of high-level game is whether you dare to ask for it, dare to win, whether you can take out the things you usually train." "Throughout the history of basketball in the world, weak teams may bite to the end in the strong and weak dialogue, but because the key ball is not handled well, they give up the chance to win.
"How to turn a weak team into a strong team, how to become a respected team, is to seize the opportunity at a critical moment after biting it and achieving the results you want."
"Post-80s" "Doctoral Reading"
Shao Ting, 31, has no "age anxiety"
Shao Ting, born in December 1989, is the well-deserved "big sister" in the current Chinese women's basketball team, whether it is education and career experience, or age, it is a topic that cannot be avoided when interviewing Shao Ting and the people around her.
In the current Chinese delegation, there are not many members who enter the national team through the education channel, and Shao Ting is undoubtedly the best of them. After graduating from Beijing Normal University with a bachelor's degree, Shao Ting has experienced CUBA, CUBS, WCBA, WNBA and the national team while completing her studies, and has almost completed the two upward passages of education and sports. Ma Jie told reporters bluntly, "Shao Ting's experience is not replicable. ”
Shao Ting is one of the few athletes who entered a prestigious school as an ordinary candidate According to Shao Ting's Weibo
"In fact, Shao Ting was also invited by the professional team when she was young, but at that time, after the comprehensive assessment of the family, she decided to continue her studies." Ma Jie said, "I think that whether it is a combination of sports and education or going to a professional team from a young age, gold will always shine, as long as you seize the opportunity through hard work, both paths can reach the peak of the sport." ”
At present, including the Ministry of Education, the State General Administration of Sport and the China Basketball Association, are promoting the integration of sports and education, and many female athletes with good physical conditions are studying in universities such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, Beijing Normal University, China University of Mining and Technology, which is a direction and path for female athletes to become talents. However, like Shao Ting, she can achieve extremely good results in both lines, on the one hand, to have such opportunities and platforms, and secondly, she needs to make enough efforts.
As a veteran member of the women's basketball team, Shao Ting is more like the "sister" of other team members in Ma Jie's mouth. On the one hand, she will make some kind and good suggestions to the young players, but the most important thing (Shao Ting) is to do her own perfection in training and competition, and through 100% efforts, use the power of example to drive other team members. It is useless to say it well, that is, to use the performance on the field, whether it is the performance of the training ground, the playing field or the locker room, in order to drive the young players and the women's basketball team to achieve good results. ”
It was in the "showdown" between Belgrade and the Spanish team that Shao Ting handled the performance of the key ball in the last moment and helped her group to qualify for the Olympics.
The 31-year-old Shao Ting is currently playing in the Sichuan Yuanda Meile women's basketball team, and in the national team, Li Meng and a group of mesozoic and new generation players have slowly begun to take on heavy responsibilities, and the outside world has gradually begun to raise the topic of "Shao Ting's retirement". When talking about whether Shao Ting will have age anxiety, Ma Jie said that there is no one at all. "It may not be like a parent-child relationship between us, who usually calls me 'Margot'. Because every stage of life has to do what should be done. For example, going to school is to study well, and when she graduates, she has the opportunity to play professionally and enter the national team, and she will go all out to do these things well. ”
"As for the arrangement after the end of her career, our team, Shao Ting herself and Shao Ting's family have had some discussions, but now is not the time to make a final decision." Ma Jie said that in fact, according to Shao Ting's own high education, good English, strong international basketball influence and other characteristics, there are already some choices in the scope of discussion. "How to let her make good use of these achievements accumulated before after retiring and help Chinese basketball continue to contribute is what we think more about." But at the end of the day, the most important thing is that she makes decisions based on her preferences. ”
When asked what the specific idea is, Ma Jie said: "In fact, she herself likes to be a teacher, and Beijing Normal University also attaches great importance to Shao Ting, and it is possible to leave her to teach at the school; at the same time, she may also go to FIBA (Note: FIBA) to speak on behalf of Chinese basketball on the international stage." ”
Joining the WNBA helps her stay active
"Whether it's a low tide or a peak, we have to catch it"
Up to now, only 6 Chinese women's basketball players, Zheng Haixia, Miao Lijie, Chen Nan, Sui Feifei, Shao Ting and Han Xu, have played in the WNBA. "In fact, other athletes have also been selected, and they have the opportunity to get a contract with a WNBA team, but only 6 of them are really standing on the court."
In 2017, the Minnesota Bobcats sent Shao Ting an invitation to tryout and attend preseason camp, "When we accompanied Shao Ting to Minnesota for 3 weeks of training, and a week of preseason games in Washington. Ma Jie recalled, "At that time, Shao Ting's performance was already very good, not only on the data level, with her teammates, the understanding of the coach's skills and tactics, I think she already had the strength to stay in this team." ”
Although he was ultimately unable to stay in the WNBA that season, Ma Jie said: "In fact, the Bobcats left the last place for an interior player at that time, so it was a pity that it did not go in the end. ”
Shao Ting at the WNBA according to IC photo
Two years later, in the Chinese women's basketball team that won the sixth place in the World Cup, Shao Ting is still a well-deserved core player, whether it is a coach or a scout in the WNBA, they all recognize Shao Ting's strength. "It was the season when Maya Moore was sidelined, and the Bobcats needed a very strong athlete in the third position, plus they had already inspected Shao Ting two years ago, so they directly gave a contract."
According to Ma Jie, at that time, whether it was the Chinese Basketball Association, the women's basketball national team, Xu Limin's guidance, or the Sichuan Provincial Sports Bureau and Beijing Normal University, Shao Ting was very supportive of Shao Ting's going to play in the WNBA. "An athlete's ability to go to the world's highest women's basketball league is in itself a recognition of everyone's early efforts and efforts!"
After officially arriving in the WNBA, Shao Ting's limited playing time once made domestic fans dissatisfied, but Ma Jie said that that that is, those few months, it was a huge positive for veteran Shao Ting. "When I went, everyone was full of confidence, and she wanted to play well, but there were some things that we couldn't control." Ma Jie said, "I advised her to take this opportunity to adjust her state, because since entering the national team in 2014, there has been basically no large vacation." The WNBA, on the other hand, is not centralized in both training and competition, giving athletes more time of their own. ”
"As an agent, I told Shao Ting that whether it is a low tide or a peak, we must be able to catch it!"
Although Shao Ting's time with the Bobcats is not very long, it is precisely because of those months that she has set off again in 2020 and 2021. "At present, she is 31 years old, which is a relatively old age for Chinese female athletes, and she can maintain such a high competitive state, which is inseparable from her own efforts, the most important thing is that the athletes themselves 'want'!"
The women's volleyball team is an example for the women's basketball team to learn and surpass
More attention was expected to be paid to the women's program
At the Tokyo Olympic Games, although the Chinese women's volleyball team and the Chinese women's football team have stopped the group stage, when it comes to the comparison between the Chinese women's volleyball team and the women's basketball team, Ma Jie said: "As an Olympic champion, the spirit of the women's volleyball team has inspired and inspired generations of Chinese, which is not only the Chinese women's basketball team, but also the direction and example for the entire Chinese basketball players, coaches and other practitioners to learn and surpass. ”
In the last Olympic Games coached by Lang Ping, due to the impact of injuries and the alternation of old and new, the Chinese women's volleyball team won 2 wins and 3 losses and did not qualify for the quarterfinals, but Ma Jie believes that in addition to seeing the glory of the Chinese women's volleyball team raising the national flag and playing the national anthem, we must think more about the achievements behind the achievements, and all parties are continuing to pay, "not only physically, but also mentally." ”
"And our Chinese women's basketball team is still a young team in general, still going up." I have also communicated with the team before that the women's basketball team, which is in the transition between the old and the new, also faces many difficulties in the Olympic Games. "It is true that after the epidemic, the Chinese women's basketball team almost did not play many formal games with the women's basketball opponents before the start of the Olympic Games, and before going to the Olympic Games, they played a teaching competition with the team of Beijing Sport University, and although the opponents can play a role in helping the Chinese women's basketball team adapt to the rhythm, state and atmosphere of the game, there is still a big difference from the real Olympic games.
Shao Ting at the Tokyo Olympic Women's Basketball Group Stage according to IC photo
As the cornerstone of the success of the women's basketball team, the development of the WCBA League is crucial. "Objectively speaking, from the perspective of the world, whether it is the WNBA or the WCBA, the influence of women's programs and men's programs is still not comparable." Ma Jie said, "As the foundation of the national team, the league must be engaged, and market-oriented things should be done or done. It is hoped that the government, sponsors and all sectors of society will give greater support and more attention to the women's basketball league. Only if our players have a good performance and form in the league can they play a high level in the national team and win glory for the country! ”
At 9:00 Beijing time on August 4, the Chinese women's basketball team will face the challenge of serbia in the quarterfinals of the Olympic Games. The Chinese women's basketball team, which entered the quarterfinals with the top seed, is looking forward to achieving the goal of reaching the podium before the game in better shape!
Red Star News reporter Li Bo Pei Han
Edited by Ou Peng
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