Today, in the bright and modern-looking aqua sports training center embraced in the tranquil mountains of Los Banos, some 50 kilometers south of Manila, the country's top divers followed Zhang 's "particularly strict" way of Chinese training four hours a day, six days a week for the Games.
"Honestly, I am not optimistic about a medal, but anyway, if we can get into the finals, it is already a great leap from the ground zero where we stood just years ago," Zhang said.
In a sport largely dominated by the Chinese, with strong competitors from the United States, Australia, Canada, Russia and several European countries, the Philippines in fact has to struggle for the slimmest chance, if any, to make its voice heard.
But Zhang said he and almost all visiting Chinese coaches were impressed by the strong body average Filipino athlete has. "Their potential is enormous. We need to bring that out by good trainings, " he said.
Zhang said the team is looking forward to a 40-day training in China before the Games started on August 8 to get the divers exposed in "ruthlessly strict" training environment in China.
"It will give our divers a good spur," he said.
DIVE FOR A CHANGE
Not so different from Perez, many of the Filipino divers took to diving by chance and considered training under Coach Zhang as a springboard to jump out of poverty, at least temporarily.
Four trainees at the national team received a monthly allowance of 12,000 pesos (279 U.S. dollars) plus free accommodation and education, a decent treat in a country where one third of the population lives on less than one dollar a day.
Six younger trainees in the development pool under Zhang received a few thousands less in allowance, which is however much more than what they got in provincial teams -- sometimes nothing at all.
"Diving has changed a lot of things in my life, the family, the school, and all," Perez said. "I came from a single-parent family in the poor South. If it ain't for diving, I am heading nowhere."
Zhang said his divers are all "good kids" who send most of their allowance home to support their family deep in poverty.
And not surprisingly, the sister of Perez and the brother of the other Olympian Ryan Fabriga have joined Zhang's youth diving team.
"I like diving and I am proud of my brother," said 14-year-old John Fabriga, who just joined his brother in Los Banos for barely one month. "But I come here also because I want to support my mother."
But Zhang said diving is no where near a decent treat for divers at the grass-root where athletes have no access to good facilities, coaching and received, if any, minimal allowance.
"The team here is doing good, but if you look at the grass-root it is really worrisome," he said. "I am not sure whether the sport can attract the real talented young kids."
