Chen Zhonghe directed a paternal gaze at his charges in the middle of the training ground. On the floor, the Chinese women's volleyball team were enjoying a sport alien to the venue - soccer.
More than 20 players and trainers, divided into two teams, were scrambling for the ball - with their feet. Any badly taken shots on the two makeshift goals - defined by a desk on either side - drew gales of laughter, while the rare on-target drives prompted screams of delight.'I use this as a method to diversify our training and add more colour to the girls' daily life,' said Chen (pictured), the coach who has plotted the country's return to the top of the sport.
The light-hearted kick-around was beyond even the wildest imagination 20 years ago when the national spikers scored an awesome streak of five consecutive major victories, capped by the gold medal in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
Back then, the coaches were known for working athletes into the ground with long hours of training. But the regime was taken for granted by most mainlanders, hungry for recognition and glory after decades of political turmoil and economic stagnation. Hitter Lang Ping and spiker Liang Yan became household names, and many girls born in the early 1980s were named after players.
Ironically, it was not until Chen, once a trainer on the old women's volleyball team, took the helm and took a cue from the past that the women's team managed to re-emerge as a heavyweight in the sport.
Barely more than 20 months after his appointment in 2001, Chen guided the team to the 2003 World Cup, ending a 17-year-old major title drought. One year later, he and his charges were again on top of the world, standing proud on the highest step of the podium in Athens. It was China's only team sport victory in the games.
But the ascent came with its controversies. Chen and volleyball authorities were accused of pushing players too hard, with popular spiker Zhao Ruirui being the most prominent example. Zhao has not played since China's opener in Athens against the United States, a match in which she was ordered to take to the floor despite a broken right leg sustained three months earlier. The result was a fractured shin in the same leg.
