Opinion | Chinese volleyball, Manchester United’s Paul Pogba and Hollywood show positivity is best path for players to thrive
- Chinese volleyball coach Chen Fang sparked online debate after post-game punishment of player
- Contrast between Old Trafford side under interim manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and sacked Jose Mourinho shows power of positivity
Coaches can be inspirational, just think of all of the times that Hollywood has put such a coach on the big screen.
Life can on occasion imitate art. Look at legendary Danish handball coach Ulrik Wilbek. He took the women’s national team from the verge of being shut down to second best in the world in 1993 before golds at the European Championships, 1996 Atlanta Olympics and 1997 Worlds.
Then he went and dominated with the Danish men, winning a long list of medals ending with gold at the European Championships in 2012.
While there’s a movie in that story, that is not the case for volleyball coach Chen Fang.
Video of the Bayi trainer punishing one of his players after a loss to Beijing blew up in mainland media and sparked online debate.
Chen made 22-year-old Yuan Dangyi do extra training on the court after the loss. Whenever the player fell, the coach threw a volleyball at him. This happened three times.
