In the international arena of women's volleyball, the change of head coaches is akin to a silent dance of transformation. With the appointment of Sullivan as the new head coach of the American women's volleyball team, many strong teams have completed their coaching changes after the Paris Olympics, a phenomenon that has spread like ripples throughout the international volleyball community. However, the Chinese women's volleyball team remains calm waters, having achieved only fifth place in the Olympics and showing no signs of movement in selecting a new coach, causing countless fans to be anxious, like ants on a hot pot. Why has there been no movement in the selection of a new coach for the Chinese women's volleyball team? A report by Kong Ning, a journalist from the Beijing Evening News, has revealed a glimpse of the situation. "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step; rivers and seas are formed by the accumulation of small streams." The achievements of the Chinese women's volleyball team were built step by step, but now they face a harsh reality: under the guidance of Cai Bin, the age advantage of the Chinese team has been exhausted. Looking at the current lineup of the Chinese women's volleyball team, "The Seven Fairies" include Zhu Ting and Diao Linyu at 30 years old, Zhang Changning and Wang Mengjie at 29, and Gong Xiangyu and Wang Yuanyuan at 27. From an age perspective, these six players are gradually approaching the twilight of their athletic careers in the long river of time, making it difficult…

When global volleyball fans were speculating on who would take over as the head coach of the Chinese women's volleyball team, the United States had already begun its "countermeasure" strategy. Not long ago, the American Volleyball Association officially announced that Karch Kiraly would step down as the head coach of the American women's volleyball team and instead take charge of the American men's volleyball team, signing a contract for four years. This news instantly shattered the previous rumors that Kiraly might coach the Chinese women's volleyball team, causing Chinese volleyball fans to feel regretful and helpless while starting to re-examine the gap between China and the United States in the field of volleyball: on one side is the American Volleyball Association with a full sense of rhythm and efficient actions, and on the other side is the Chinese women's volleyball team that has yet to determine its head coach. In the next five years, this silent competition, who will seize the initiative? Speaking of Kiraly, those who are slightly familiar with volleyball must not be unfamiliar. He is not only a landmark figure in the history of American volleyball during his playing days but also transformed from a "legendary player" to a "gold medal head coach" on the coaching bench. In 2014, he officially took over the reins of the American women's volleyball team and led the team to win heavyweight championships frequently in the following years, including the most dazzling gold medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. The final against the Brazilian women's volleyball team is a classic battle…

The Chinese women's volleyball team has always been the face of China's three major ball sports. However, their performance in the last two Olympics has been disappointing, with a ninth-place finish and a fifth-place finish, which did not meet expectations. After Lang Ping was ousted from her position as head coach and criticized by the Volleyball Association, it became clear that there were internal issues within the team. The ninth-place result cannot be attributed solely to the head coach, but aside from removing Lang Ping, no other effective measures seem to have been taken. After Cai Bin took over from Lang Ping, despite his rigid selection of players, lack of passion in coaching, and questionable choices, he still managed to complete the entire cycle. Much like Wang Yunlu defended Cai Bin after being eliminated, Cai Bin often felt helpless, so he is likely just an executor rather than a decision-maker, and his coaching may have been constrained. On January 10th, when the news of Li Quanqiang's investigation was announced, it was truly heartening, as the women's volleyball team began to receive attention. The team's losses were not due to chance factors, and we look forward to the revelation of Li Quanqiang's crimes. Li Quanqiang's predecessor was Pan Zhichen, who was investigated in 2015 and ultimately sentenced to four years in prison for bribery in 2017, with a fine of 300,000 yuan. However, Pan Zhichen was investigated for problems in fencing, unrelated to volleyball. This time, Li Quanqiang's issues are definitely related to volleyball. Li Quanqiang has been the deputy director…

On December 31, 2024, the match between Tianjin Food Group Men's Volleyball and Beijing BAIC Men's Volleyball not only attracted attention due to the intensity of the game itself but also because of a controversial refereeing decision that shifted the focus from the court to the referees and video replay system. Here's what happened - during the first set of the game, Tianjin was trailing Beijing 13-15, with a tense atmosphere on the court. At this critical moment, after Tianjin served, the ball landed near the left sideline at the far end of Beijing's court, seemingly about to go out of bounds. The line judge immediately ruled the ball out of bounds, awarding Beijing a point. This should have been an uncontroversial call, but Tianjin challenged the decision, requesting confirmation that the ball had indeed landed within the opponent's boundary. This is where the video replay system comes in. Ideally, the referee should verify the call based on the video replay, but there was a problem. The system encountered an issue, and the video replay could not accurately display the correct footage; instead, the referee played an incorrect image. This was quite embarrassing because the big screen showed the challenge as successful, but the replay footage did not match the actual situation, indicating that the ball had clearly landed inbounds when in fact it had not. Most importantly, the head referee did not verify the accuracy of the replay and made a ruling based on the incorrect footage, overturning the call and awarding Tianjin a point. Can you imagine the…

This season marks the first after reforms in the Chinese Volleyball Super League. Previously criticized for its short duration, we have extended the new season to March and introduced a youth team system with promotion and relegation, which has intensified competition and instilled a sense of urgency among teams. If a team ranks eighth in the playoffs, it will be relegated to Group B. During the first stage of the regular season, aside from errors in individual player data released by the Chinese Volleyball Association (CVA), what stands out is the controversial call during a match between Tianjin and Shandong women's volleyball teams, where a ball that did not touch the ground was mistakenly ruled as such, sparking significant debate. On December 29th, the men's volleyball playoffs kicked off, with third-ranked Tianjin facing sixth-ranked Beijing, at Tianjin's home court. In the first set, with Beijing leading 15-13, Tianjin's No. 9 served, and the referee called it out of bounds. Tianjin challenged the call, and the replay confirmed the serve was in, awarding the point back to Tianjin. However, this process sparked controversy. The ball flew out from the sideline, but the video replay showed it coming from the baseline—a blatant discrepancy that is outrageous. The CVA's obvious fabrication is disheartening. With high-tech Hawk-Eye challenges in place, without them, referees would largely determine match outcomes, which is unfair to opponents who train diligently. The match was officiated by renowned referee Liu Jiang, who recently refereed Zhu Ting's match at the Women's Club World Cup. However, referees are powerless in this situation,…