Volleyball coach sees game from different angle

During the first sitting volleyball women's round-robin match at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games, the Chinese team easily triumphed over Thailand with a dominant 3-0 scoreline — 25-12, 25-14, 25-7.

Following the match, coach Xu Huimin of Team China commented that, for this game, they predominantly featured younger team members, and they delivered impressive performances.

"Our more experienced players on the team provided valuable guidance on the court, while the newer players displayed courage and determination," she said.

"Our primary objective is to clinch the championship, and our main competition comes from the Iranian team."

Xu, a former volleyball player, assumed the role of head coach for the Chinese women's sitting volleyball team in 2018 — a remarkable change for Xu.

Sitting volleyball features a distinctly different rhythm and set of techniques compared to regular volleyball.

To better understand the technical nuances of sitting volleyball, Xu took to the ground and played alongside her team members.

"I had to play alongside them to understand the game's rhythm and fine-tune our training strategies," she explained.

Through constant experimentation, Xu devised an efficient training approach. In her quest for top-notch performances, she also organized joint training sessions between the men's sitting volleyball team and the women, replicating high-intensity matches to hone their competitive edge.

The Chinese women's sitting volleyball team is truly a team of distinction. They clinched gold medals at three consecutive Paralympic Games — in 2004, 2008 and 2012 — and went on to secure silver medals in the subsequent 2016 Rio Paralympics and the 2021 Tokyo Paralympics.

Furthermore, their excellence has continued, as China has already secured its place at the Paris 2024 Paralympics thanks to the squad's performances at the World ParaVolley Sitting Volleyball Asian Zone Championships in July.