On October 1, Sydney, Australia, China won the runner-up in the women’s basketball World Cup in 2022 women’s basketball. After 28 years, it once again stood on the podium of the World competition. Coach Zheng Wei was elected as the best coach of the competition. The women’s basketball world championship (the predecessor of the World Cup) 28 years ago was also in Sydney. Zheng Wei helped China win the World’s runner-up women’s basketball as a member.
Ten days after leading china women’s basketball to track the best record in history, zheng wei, who was still resting in australia, received a telephone interview with the beijing news reporter. Talking about the legendary experience of standing on the World Cup podium with the team twice, Zheng Wei said frankly that she felt very different, “before he got the runner-up as a member, now he has sent 12 members to the podium, it’s so different.”
Like yao ming, the chairman of the chinese basketball association, said publicly before, zheng wei also stressed that we should calmly and objectively view china’s achievements and positions in women’s basketball, “we are not really a world strong team yet, the level of the 2nd to 6th place in this World Cup is very close, and the main test is on the spot.”
Of course, at present, this Chinese women’s basketball is not the strongest team. For example, Shao Ting, 32, is absent due to physical and academic reasons. Her position and role are still irreplaceable. The coaching staff headed by zheng wei will take a long-term view and will continue to adjust the personnel structure in the future to help the players improve their personal abilities. “we have already passed the threshold in our hearts in this world cup, I hope that when we go to the Paris Olympics, we can become a really strong team.”
Prepare for War
In January this year, Zheng Wei succeeded Xu Limin as the acting head coach of China’s women’s basketball. She first led the team to participate in the World Cup qualifier, and then “turned positive” in the middle of May to start preparing for the World Cup. In the past four months of training, zheng wei has always told the players that they should recognize the position of the team and be based on the fight. At the same time, the whole preparation rhythm is simulating the world cup.
During this world cup, china played 8 games in 10 days women’s basketball. The initial stage of the group match and the elimination stage played 3 games in a row. The two games were less than 24 hours apart. Whether it is closed training in China, or going to Europe to practice and participate in warm-up matches, the rhythm of the team is always the same.
“Generally, it is the high intensity for three consecutive days, and then it is adjusted for one day. The same is true during the European training period. Even if there is no competition on the second day, the training should be kept high intensity.” Zheng Wei said that thanks to the steady pace during the training, the players were very adaptable to the World Cup even in the face of intensive competitions and high-intensity competitions.
In order to ensure that every training class and every game have gained something, the coaching staff formed the habit of opening preparations and summary meetings during the training. If it is a training day, there will be a preparation meeting before training and a summary meeting after training; If there is a competition on that day, there will be a preparation meeting before the competition and a summary meeting after the competition. From the first day of training to the end of the World Cup, “This habit runs through all the time.
As early as during the training, perhaps because of the good record of the 5th place in the tokyo olympic games, or because of the team’s high world ranking, the outside world has high expectations for the prospect of china’s women’s basketball world cup. Zheng Wei said frankly that the whole team was under a lot of pressure. She and the coaching staff had been working for the team members. “We are still a young team. Don’t have any burden. We should dare to fight and fight.”
Judging from the overall performance of the world cup, the whole team attached great importance to both the group matches with different scores and the elimination matches with the situation on the court, and the players played stably, the mentality at the critical moment is relatively stable. In zheng wei’s view, the preparation in the early stage was very critical. The team played 8 high-level warm-up matches and found problems in time. The training on the 2nd day would solve the problems, basically making progress every match, improve some.
“The process of preparing for the war was very difficult, but when we did all the preliminary work well and reached the official competition, we played smoothly.” Zheng Wei said.
Art of war
Among all the teams participating in the women’s basketball world cup in 2022, china women’s basketball was a very young team. Compared with the traditional strong teams such as the united states and australia, china women’s basketball did not have many players with outstanding personal abilities.
Zheng Wei said frankly, “like Han Xu, Li Yuelu, Li Yuan and Zhang Ru, these young players were all born around 2000 and are still growing up. In addition, the experienced Shao Ting did not participate with the team. In terms of the overall strength of the team, compared with the Tokyo Olympic Games, Shao Ting’s position and role cannot be replaced for the time being.”
Considering the team’s line-up configuration and competition intensity, Zheng Wei has been balancing the playing time of different players when facing different opponents in the World Cup. Basically, each game is rotated by 10 to 12 people, make sure that the playing time of most players is no more than 20 minutes. “The main player is the whole, so that every player can play a role.”
In the group stage and the 1/4 final against france, li meng was an important scoring point for the team. In the semi-final and final, she was forced to be absent for health reasons, the coaching staff asked other players to try their best to make up for the shortcomings caused by Li Meng’s absence. Zheng Wei took Zhang Ru and Jin Weina who replaced Li Meng as examples. Although their scoring ability was not so strong, they also played their own characteristics by participating in the fight with speed and enthusiasm on the defensive end, the team’s determination to win the australian team and fight for the us team has not wavered.
For the use of two WNBA players, Han Xu and Li Yuelu, Zheng Wei originally intended to arrange more “twin towers” tactics in the game. However, because the two had to fight WNBA before, they returned to the team later and had a short running-in time with the team. They only played 4 warm-up matches with the team and went to the world cup, she can only selectively arrange two people to appear at the same time.
In most of the group matches, Han Xu and Li Yuelu were on rotation. The time for the “twin towers” to be present at the same time was significantly increased when the key matches of the elimination matches, especially the finals against the US team. Zheng Wei revealed that she and the coaching staff did not want to waste the two advantages of the inside line. “Han Xu can play number 4. Her passing, attacking space and shooting feel are very good, if it is used one by one, it is not conducive to the development of the two.”
Han xu was finally shortlisted for the best lineup of the event. Li yuelu also scored 19 points and 12 rebounds in the final. From a long-term perspective, the coaching team was effective in exercising the “twin towers. Zheng wei said: “there are not many opportunities for the finals. It took 28 years for china women’s basketball to enter the finals again. I want to give them more opportunities and time to feel such moments.”
Change
After China won the runner-up in the women’s basketball World Cup in 2022 in women’s basketball, Zheng Wei was elected as the best coach of the competition. At that time, it was less than five months before she officially became the coach of the team. Many people may only see Zheng Wei’s current aura, but they don’t know much about her silent efforts in China for more than ten years women’s basketball.
Since entering china’s women’s basketball coaching team in 2009, zheng wei assisted sun fengwu, mahch and xu limin as the assistant coach. After three olympic games and all competitions, this year, she succeeded xu limin and became the acting head coach and head coach successively. Zheng wei has experienced several downturns of the team and witnessed many highlight moments. No one can understand the growth process and playing characteristics of these women’s basketball players.
At the tokyo olympic games last year, china won the fifth place women’s basketball. Zheng wei’s main responsibility at that time was to be responsible for the training of some defenders, and at the same time, she undertook video analysis work and made a lot of targeted research on major opponents, in the form of scout report for the coach’s reference. Zheng wei’s rich resume is also a major advantage when considering the familiarity with many world strong teams.
“I may have the ‘instruction book’ of 12 players.” When talking about the biggest change brought to china’s women’s basketball, zheng wei said with a smile that she was too familiar with these players and could give full play to everyone’s strengths. “Some people attack well, some defend well, and some are good at rebounding and passing. Everyone has different characteristics. I know when to let them play and what role they play after playing, making them more confident on the court.” Zheng wei is full of trust in the girls, “no matter what happens on the court, I think they can beat it.”
As for winning the best coach in the event, Zheng Wei said frankly that this honor belongs to the whole team and the whole coaching team. Compared with winning the runner-up as a member in 1994, she enjoyed the glorious moment of winning the world cup podium as a head coach. “now it is a very different time to put 12 players on the podium.”
After stepping off the podium, zheng wei temporarily put aside the honor of the world runner-up. While summarizing the gains and losses of the world cup, she and the coaching team were also thinking about how to make china women’s basketball a real world strong team.
In Zheng Wei’s view, the level of the 2nd to 6th place in this World Cup is very close, and winning or losing mainly depends on the on-the-spot performance. China women’s basketball is currently the second place in the world, but it may not be easy to reach this height to participate in the world competition in the future. Against the same opponent, it is possible to win whoever loses. For example, during the European training in August, China played against France women’s basketball. At that time, both sides lacked players who played for WNBA. The Chinese team lost to the opponent and reached the World Cup 1/4 final, the loser became the French team.
Today, there are less than two years left before the 2024 Paris Olympics. China’s women’s basketball still needs to continue to strengthen and make continuous progress. Zheng wei said frankly that through this world cup, the players have already passed the threshold in their hearts. “this is very important for the improvement of the team’s self-confidence. We must continue to move forward.”
Before that, zheng wei and the coaching staff still had a lot of work in front of them. The framework of the team’s main lineup will not change much, but Shao Ting and other experienced veterans, as long as their physical conditions permit, the players themselves have the will, and the coaching team welcomes them back at any time. “Everyone has seen this World Cup. Lauren Jackson of Australia is still playing at the age of 41.” Zheng Wei said. In addition, the coaching team will also look at the WCBA league and strive to find more potential newcomers and add them to the team at any time.
Zheng wei stressed that the main reason why this chinese women’s basketball has achieved its current achievements has won the support of many chinese people is to continue the spirit of chinese women’s basketball who are not afraid of strong hands and dare to fight and fight. From the technical and tactical point of view, if you want to become a real world strong team, no matter where you are on the court, all the players should constantly improve their personal abilities. “With the improvement of personal ability, china will have more room for collective improvement in women’s basketball.” Zheng Wei said.
(Beijing News)