On May 21, the last match day of the 25th China College Basketball League (CUBAL) National Top 32 competition, Beijing Sports University defeated Ningbo University 91-66, and won the tickets for the first time. After losing the first game to East China Normal University, North Sports University won four games in a row in men’s basketball. Under the competition system of double defeat and elimination, it counterattacked all the way from losers’ bracket to create history. Recently, the men’s basketball soldiers of north Sports University received an exclusive interview with the reporter of Beijing News, telling the story behind the first eight-strong national team and the team’s struggle over the years.
History
Lose first and win later, North Sports University entered the top 8 historically
On May 17, the CUBAL National Top 32 competition was held in Huazhong University of Science and Technology. The first game of north Sports University against East China Normal University men’s basketball was 54-69. Double defeat elimination system, lose two games have to go home. As soon as they came up, they lost the game and hit Zhang Chengyi, the head coach of the north Sports University. “everyone began to doubt themselves. Why the attack was so bad, the defense was not done well, and there were no three points, only 4 were invested in 44……”
One foot had fallen into the mire. Zhang Chengyi told the team members that it would be better to give it a shot than to suffer gains and losses. “The coach said at that time, don’t think about who you will do next time. If you play one more game, you will earn one and experience the atmosphere of the national competition.” Xie Zhijie, the core of the backcourt, recalled.
Zhang Chengyi has always been very pleased. He said that the players were “a bunch of obedient children”. This time, they listened to the coach’s words again. They put down the burden in their minds and let go of their hands and feet on the court. The better the match was. Beijing University of Science and Technology defeated Ocean University of China, Hunan University of Technology and China University of Mining and Technology in men’s basketball. Finally, it competed with Ningbo University for the top eight seats, and established a 16-point advantage in half. The first three sections ended with a 25-point lead. During the intermission, Zhang Chengyi asked the players to “forget the score”, and the defensive strength should be maintained at the beginning of the last quarter, “starting from the competition of ball rights, the defense should be done well.” The execution of these two points should not be relaxed from beginning to end, and there can be no idea of winning until the game is over.
During the week in Wuhan, Zhang Chengyi was under a lot of pressure. After losing, psychological counseling for students became the top priority. “If you say it deeply, it won’t work even if you are shallow. It is very important to hold the fire.” A few days before the start of the 32 strong competition, Zhang Chengyi began to lose sleep, stayed up late to watch videos and study opponents. In his view, the strong executive power is the key for the men’s basketball of the North sports university to go upstream from losers’ bracket, and the content of the player’s execution depends on the coach to give orders, “some students have a little less adaptability, I need to do well in every link. Big delays still go through and defend against them. All these details need to be thought of before their executive power can keep up.”
Core
Unlimited firing power? Xie Zhijie is more willing to connect
After winning Ningbo University, North sports university took over the banner of the top eight in the country men’s basketball and took a big photo at the venue. Zhang Chengyi said to the students, “this time your dream has been fulfilled, and teacher Zhang’s dream has also been fulfilled.”
North University of Sports men’s basketball has only played 6 CUBAL before this, and the best result is the top 16 in 2020. Under the temporary competition system last year, in the national competition stage, the North Sports University men’s basketball met Tsinghua men’s basketball in the 1/4 final of the North District and failed to enter the national top eight. Although the result was a pity, the team saw more potential and also had the idea of “working hard and moving up” this year.
But just like the adventures of the top 32 National Games, North Sports University men’s basketball has been overcoming difficulties this year. Xie Zhijie said that from the grass-roots competition, the team had twists and turns at every stage: first, many main players including him were absent due to illness, and the north Sports University disabled team won the fourth place in the Beijing division. When he arrived in the Northeast Division, he lost to the old rival China civil aviation in the group competition. His morale was once frustrated. Fortunately, he adjusted later and ranked 5th in the division. What surprised everyone most was this top 32. One pass and one pass passed, making the whole team more mature and cherish this opportunity to create history.
Beijing Sport University is the highest sports university in the country, but the source of students cannot be compared with many comprehensive elite schools. “I said that I am the most powerless coach in the country, no one will come. Our school has to take the exam by itself.” Zhang Chengyi smiled. The team members also know that without the talent visible to the naked eye, it depends on the diligence of the day after tomorrow to turn “I want to practice” into “I want to practice”.
Due to the academic relationship, the men’s basketball members of the North sports university sometimes can’t reach the training volume of 3 hours a day. In order to increase the training time as much as possible, if there is a cultural class at 16:30 that day, the training from 14 to 16:15 will be half an hour earlier. As the game approached, the coaching team also arranged additional exercises on Tuesday and Thursday nights.
No one complained or was lazy about it. Zhang Chengyi’s team management is strict. He told the team members thoroughly, “we all do things we like, not because of which main star, but learn from each other and make progress together. Teacher Zhang sets an example, so do you, so as to achieve better results.”
North Sports University men’s basketball advocates team basketball, overall defense, active competition and willingness to share the ball. However, Zhang Chengyi also gave two players unlimited firing power. The Center Yang Tengfei, who could vote three points, and the core defender Xie Zhijie, supported the team inside and outside. Even so, Xie Zhijie did not regard the “unlimited fire right” as a privilege. “I don’t like to rush, but I can get a chance, so unlimited fire right is nothing to me. Once it comes up, it still connects the whole team, and it will not attack by itself first.”
In the top 32 games, Xie Zhijie was elected as rebounder (47) and the King of the game (40), especially the previous data, which made the fans call “this number of rebounds is a bit awesome as a point guard”. In this regard, he himself said modestly: “The main reason is that we played many times.” So far this season, Xie Zhijie averaged 14.3 points, 5.4 assists, 3.9 steals, and three data led the team; The game averaged 5 rebounds, second only to Yang Tengfei’s 5.3, ranking second in the team.
Team
He once worked as a partner for women’s basketball in China, and “strong aid” came from various colleges and departments.
North sports university created history men’s basketball, which caused a warm response in the whole school. Zhang Chengyi believes that with the help of schools and CUBAL’s platform, everyone in the team has reflected value.
There are no best players here. The coaching team only has Zhang Chengyi and a teaching assistant. Both of them are school teachers and there are teaching tasks on weekdays. However, relying on Beijing Sports University, a national sports high-tech talent pool, men’s basketball can go up step by step, which can be described as a high flame of firewood. For strength training in the team, the coaching team will invite people from the physical fitness college to help; The team doctor is an undergraduate majoring in sports rehabilitation, and the team members will find other students to treat and recover separately while training the competition; the video analysis team is basically a student brought by Zhang Chengyi, helping teachers share some work. The team also has a reporting team, whose members are four undergraduates of the School of Journalism and Communication.
During the Tokyo Olympic cycle, Beijing University of Sports took on the task of training Chinese men’s basketball women’s basketball. At that time, Xu Limin, the head coach of China women’s basketball, once praised the Student Army for imitating his opponent very much, “every detail can be done well”. Training for the national team is a technical activity, which requires continuous research, reflection and practice. It is also a rare learning opportunity. Zhang Chengyi introduced that many current training methods of Beijing University of Sports men’s basketball are learned from Chinese women’s basketball. For example, increasing the conversion frequency during training, 5 minutes or 10 minutes is a conversion, which can make up for the loss of insufficient training duration.
Zhang Chengyi sighed with emotion that he could still have the opportunity to study in the national character team in his forties. He would like to thank the platform and resources provided by Beijing University. Before that, Xu Jiheng, his master student, entered China women’s basketball to take charge of video analysis. After taking office, Qiao erjievich was transferred to China men’s basketball and also served as a translator; this year, his graduate student Su Wei vanadium became a video analyst for the women’s basketball national team.
Xie Zhijie was selected into the second team of China men’s basketball last year. On the premise that he can play CUBAL for another year, he has become the target of many CBA teams and is regarded as the following Liu Yi and Yang Hao, the next north Sports college player to enter the profession. Through the experience of the national character, the young man has more clearly defined the direction of his efforts and strengthened his idea of targeting CBA players who are training together and impacting his career.
“Our children are fine.” The players have the opportunity to play professional league matches and even have higher achievements. Zhang Chengyi is happy to play. On the other hand, in the team atmosphere where all talents show their abilities, he hopes that students can have skills, “such as physical fitness, video analysis, location technology, referee, etc, the road ahead is better.”
Characteristics
The “North sports track and field team” has inheritance, and the top eight is just the beginning.
On May 22, the North Sports University triumphed from Wuhan on men’s basketball. The next day, strength training was conducted as an adjustment. On May 24, it entered the stadium of Beijing Sports University for the first time. After that, the school arranged the photography team to take makeup photos for the team, and the single portrait of each player would be hung above the stadium. Members of the reporting team said that the team’s strength was different when it entered the top eight in the country. Xie Zhijie responded: “Not bad, maybe it will be more exciting to sit full in the game.”
On May 27, the first round of the eight-strong battle between North Sports University and Civil Aviation of China began. The folded seats on one side of the venue were opened, which could accommodate thousands of spectators in total. The tickets had already been distributed out, and there was no “surplus grain” in the hands of the team members. Before the start of the competition, many people were still looking for opportunities to enter the stadium outside the stadium. The fans of north Sports University wore red cheer clothes, knocked inflatable stick in their hands, and others waved flags to create the most lively corner of the campus on weekends.
The team members who were injected with energy did not know how to use the whole court to press and consume opponents, make mistakes and fight back, and grasp the initiative from the beginning. Zhang Chengyi, who was also passionate, almost didn’t sit down in the whole game and kept shouting to the venue, celebrating every wonderful score.
This new Army of the top eight in the country won 86-68 in the first round. Many media present not only witnessed a sound victory, but also the popularity of campus sports, they also got another name from the main forward Lu yikou-“North sports track and field team”. In the interview, the team members said it was a kind of praise. But only they knew what the “track team” paid when they could not see it outside.
“All the way down, we found that we had to keep an eye on everyone.” Zhang Chengyi said. The high-pressure defense of the whole audience needs strong physical strength. The “north track and field team” needs a group of players to carry out this system to the end, relying on the inheritance of fighting attitude and responsibility. “This is the style that Chen Weiqiang and Yang haoxiao formed when they were in the team. The attitude and toughness of the players are also infecting me.” Zhang Chengyi said. In this way, day after day, the team members sweated hard and went all out to go further year after year. The men’s basketball of north Sports University finally created history.
After the game, the North sports stadium was boiling, and the crowd celebrating on the stands and the venue had not dispersed for a long time. Zhang Chengyi took over the flowers sent by the parents of the students, and many of the team members also held a big favor.
Lu Di was surrounded by the media, with the joy of winning on his face. “Our North Sports University has just started men’s basketball. It is the first time in history that we broke into the top eight. I think this is just the beginning. Next year…… No, it’s not finished yet. Continue this year!”
This summer, North Sports University men’s basketball is destined to write a strong score in this year’s CUBAL. Will their stories be renewed? With the advantage of 18 points, on the afternoon of June 2, there will be an answer in the away match against China civil aviation.
(Text/Beijing News reporter Liu Chen)