Chapter Ninety-Three: The Showcase Performance

When Ma Dongmei returned to the Jinling Club after her brief vacation, the first thing awaiting her was a scrutiny from head coach Fu Sansheng.

Though only a week had passed, Fu Sansheng had always placed great importance on her. In his eyes, Ma Dongmei was the most gifted volleyball player he had ever coached: outstanding physical condition, excellent fundamentals, and a stubborn yet somewhat endearingly naive temperament. Those were precisely the qualities a top athlete needed.

Ma Dongmei’s usual demeanor may have seemed a little simple-minded, but that was also the key to her ability to regulate herself psychologically. For a professional athlete, mental state was sometimes the decisive factor in whether one’s competitive level could be fully unleashed.

They all played the same game, so why was it that some people could perform at one hundred percent, even one hundred and twenty percent, of their training level in a match, while others were formidable in practice yet became timid and restrained in competition? In truth, it all came down to psychological factors.

Ma Dongmei might not appear especially forceful in personality, but she was always able to adjust herself to peak condition when it mattered. In Fu Sansheng’s view, that was something many athletes lacked; he even half-joked to himself that the girl before him might have some kind of special gift.

A week later, when he saw Ma Dongmei again, Fu Sansheng had originally worried that the warmth of romance might have led to a little temporary weight gain. Fortunately, this time Ma Dongmei seemed to have controlled her weight quite well.

For a volleyball player, especially a female volleyball player, weight was one of the most critical factors affecting performance. Looking across the world of volleyball, there had never really been a female power player who was broad-shouldered and thickset. Even if such an athlete existed, her career would surely not last long, because excess weight would raise the risk of injury.

Think about it: an outside hitter had to jump more than fifty times in a single match, and that was only a conservative estimate. After every leap, her body would collide with the ground under gravity’s pull. What effect such impacts had on the body depended entirely on her own weight.

This time, when Ma Dongmei went to see Wang Lei, she had indeed kept a close watch on her diet. Wang Lei was equally attentive to that point. He did not want his girlfriend’s athletic career to be constantly derailed by injuries. In his view, though a life of separation was indeed painful, he also hoped that both he and Ma Dongmei could fulfill the dreams they held in their hearts.

As the man who knew Ma Dongmei best among all men, Wang Lei was now, in some respects, even closer to her than her own parents. That meant his understanding of her was the deepest of all. Combined with his special ability, Wang Lei could clearly sense any change in her body, and at times even perceive shifts in her mood. One had to say that this ability of his had once seemed rather useless, but after long contact, it could almost be regarded as a kind of false mind-reading.

At this meeting, Wang Lei told Ma Dongmei to pay attention to her shoulders, and also reminded her to strengthen her waist and abdominal power in training.

In the past, Ma Dongmei’s spiking habits had never been ideal. She relied too much on shoulder and upper-body strength to generate force. In Wang Lei’s eyes, that was somewhat off target. A truly effective outside hitter should rely on the power of the waist and core. To be precise, Ma Dongmei’s core strength was a little lacking, which caused her to overuse other parts of her body and created a hidden risk of injury.

Ma Dongmei took Wang Lei’s serious reminder to heart. The last time, she had already been curious about why her boyfriend had told her to watch out for a wrist injury, only to find herself hurt not long afterward. She had asked Wang Lei about it later, but he always managed to change the subject. In the end, Ma Dongmei did not press further. She figured it must be her Brother Lei’s secret, and since it was a secret, she would keep it for him. All she needed to do was listen to his advice more often.

So after returning to the club this time, Ma Dongmei consciously increased her training in waist and abdominal strength.

While Ma Dongmei and Fu Sansheng were both making efforts for their teams’ title defenses, in U City, Wang Lei’s team was also working toward victory in its first home game.

Compared with the period before the preliminaries, the provincial youth team’s treatment had improved considerably. First of all, their home court had been set at the largest People’s Gymnasium in U City.

There were many People’s Gymnasiums across the Republic. It was a tradition left behind by an older generation of sportspeople for those who came after. The People’s Gymnasium in every city carried many of that city’s memories, and the one in U City was no exception. This arena, which had been renovated and rebuilt three years earlier, had once been the home court of the Tianshan Corps team, a side that had dominated the Republic’s basketball scene in its day.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Tianshan Corps basketball team was the top provincial team in the entire Republic. In the national basketball league, which had not yet become professional at the time, Tianshan Corps had achieved the remarkable feat of four consecutive championships. Later, with the retirement of its older generation of players and the full onset of professionalization, basketball in Border Province began its downhill descent.

Now, this arena that once held so many memories had reappeared before the world. These days, however, it was the home court of the Red Mountain Group Basketball Club of U City, and Red Mountain was still only competing in the Second Division.

Originally, Wang Lei’s provincial youth team had been assigned a newly built sports hall in the Head-Tun River District on the outskirts of the city. The area was relatively remote, with sparse foot traffic, part of a new development zone. If the matches were held there, there was little point in expecting much of a crowd. But now, after two straight victories and the ensuing media coverage, it was simply absurd to keep the provincial youth team playing out in the suburbs. There were plenty of people in the city who wanted to see what this youth team was really made of.

Three days before the match, Wang Lei gathered the players together and handed each of them two thousand yuan.

“This isn’t a bonus. If we make it all the way into the final stage, I wouldn’t even dare bring out such a small bonus. This money is a subsidy,” he said with a smile. “A subsidy for your families to come to U City and watch you play.”

The players stared at him, blank-faced.

“You’re all still students. In your families’ eyes, coming here to join some youth team probably seems like pure nonsense. I’m not an unreasonable person, so I thought it would be necessary to let your families come see how you’re doing. Think of it as a short performance report. What do you think?”

Wang Lei had indeed looked into this matter before. These young people were, for the most part, not professional athletes; they had come here because they truly loved basketball. And they were all under considerable pressure from their families. In order to help them throw themselves into the competition more fully in the future, Wang Lei felt it was necessary to stage this kind of report-like performance. As for the expense, to Wang Lei, who had already begun to make a name for himself, it was hardly worth mentioning.