The women's volleyball league has reached the 18th round of the first stage of the playoffs, yet the head coach of the national team remains elusive, with fans and analysts speculating on potential candidates such as Cai Bin, Lang Ping, Chen Fang, Kuang Qi, Zhao Yong, Wang Zhiteng, Zhu Ting, and others. However, there has been no definitive news, causing concern among fans.
The official platform of the Shanghai Volleyball Association published an article titled "Shanghai Volleyball Sports Center Holds a Coaches' Seminar - Cai Bin Attends the Meeting," which states: "This seminar invited Cai Bin, the head coach of the Chinese women's volleyball team and the training director of the Shanghai Volleyball Sports Center, to exchange experiences on athlete training and preparation with all coaches, discussing how to maximize victory for the team based on practical combat situations."
The article confirms Cai Bin's identity as the head coach of the Chinese women's volleyball team, and he also holds the position of training director for the Shanghai Volleyball Center. After Lang Ping stepped down following the Tokyo Olympics, Cai Bin took over and worked alongside Lai Yawen, who served as the deputy director and director of the Volleyball Management Center during the Paris Olympics. Although they only achieved fifth place, the overall performance of the Chinese women's volleyball team was commendable.
They defeated the reigning champions from the Tokyo Olympics and the eventual silver medalists at the Paris Olympics, the United States women's volleyball team, as well as two-time World Championship winners Serbia and host nation France, advancing to the quarter-finals as group leaders but failing to secure a medal. Despite this, the team demonstrated their strengths and gave their best effort, which was understood by everyone.
During the Paris Olympic cycle, Cai Bin's results in world competitions were average, with a sixth-place finish at the Poland World Championships and a fifth-place finish at the Paris Olympics. However, the team also achieved a runner-up finish in the World Women's Volleyball League and won the Asian Games championship, which is considered acceptable. Born on October 7, 1966, Cai Bin is currently 58 years old, a time when both age and experience are mature. Through leading the team through an Olympic cycle, he has gained a good understanding of the Chinese women's volleyball players and the direction of world women's volleyball.
Strangely, Cai Bin has rarely appeared during the women's volleyball league, which is the best place to select players as the head coach of the national team. He did not miss this opportunity. In the past, Lang Ping always watched the games live, observed the players, and sometimes took notes to select the most suitable players for the national team. Cai Bin did not appear even once, which is somewhat puzzling.
Currently, the former director of the Volleyball Management Center, Li Quanqiang, is under review, but Lai Yawen and Cai Bin remain upright and incorruptible. Regardless of their successes or failures on the court, they have never compromised and have always been heroes and victors! During the seminar, Coach Cai Bin discussed with the center's coaches the importance of shaping technical movements and focusing on improving physical fitness for the youth team coaches, aiming to create an all-around team with both technical and physical advantages. In competitions, appropriate use of challenges, substitutions, and timeouts should be made to help the team win.
The rules for challenges in international volleyball competitions continue to change, and the coaching team must be fully familiar with them. They should communicate reasonably with referees to avoid video challenges affecting their own game rhythm. Substitutions during the game rely on the coach's thorough understanding of the players, so it is necessary for coaches to firmly grasp the psychological and technical states of the players during training. At the same time, coaches must always pay attention to the ability of the players on the field to make up for their weaknesses, avoiding being continuously scored upon by opponents exploiting obvious vulnerabilities.
At present, other competitors' coaches have already been confirmed early, such as the head coaches of the United States, Italy, Serbia, Turkey, Brazil, and Japan women's volleyball teams. The selection of the new cycle's head coach for the Chinese women's volleyball team remains uncertain, just like the previous cycle, leaving everyone guessing and making it seem somewhat abnormal.