Chinese Go to the Source

The sand was warm and the sun sparkled on the ocean, but the beach volleyball players diving across a Hermosa Beach court were oblivious to the beautiful backdrop. For China’s national beach volleyball team, there’s a lot of work ahead to become Olympic medal contenders, and not much time to do it.

Eager for good results at the 2008 Beijing Games, the Chinese Volleyball Assn. this month sent eight female players, six male players and five coaches to Southern California to hone their skills. They will train on local beaches through April 19, scrimmaging against athletes such as Athens gold medalists Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh and getting advice from Dane Selznick, who coaches May-Treanor, Walsh and other players on the AVP tour.

“This is the birthplace of beach volleyball,” said Miao Zhihong, coach of China’s national team. “The standards and practices and level of competition are a lot higher here, so we can practice and learn.

“That’s why we’re here, for the Olympics. The team is young. They haven’t had as much experience so we’re hoping they will get that experience through scrimmaging and increase everybody’s skill level and technique as well.”

Indoor volleyball is well established in China, but the beach version has been widely played only since 1994. The women are more advanced than the men and are led by the duo of Tian Jia and Wang Fei, who were ninth at the Athens Games. However, Wang is recovering from knee surgery and isn’t with the team. “We are really learning the skills and techniques of the best players,” said Tian, a student from Tianjin, north of Beijing. “We feel there’s a lot to learn.”

Selznick, who has worked with the German team and an Olympic hopeful from Mexico, said the Chinese have skill and a strong work ethic. He joked that he doesn’t want them to become too good “because I’m still USA” but said U.S. athletes can improve their defense by studying the Chinese.

“I’ve noticed just in the last week and a half how much better the men have gotten ball control-wise, and the girls are smoothing out their game,” he said. “It’s because they’re putting in the time every day.

“They’re fun to work with for me. We’ve got a lot of international flavor here, and that’s great. Everybody wants to improve themselves in the game, and that’s the thing about our sport. It’s like a club. We’re all having fun together.”

Selznick said the Chinese are “very good at trying to imitate,” a valuable asset when communication problems arise. “When my interpreter’s gone, I speak a lot slower. For me, it’s more of a demonstration, showing them things just like I would the American players,” he said.

Tian, 25, said she and her teammates practice six hours a day and also run and do strength training. She spoke with the help of interpreter Jane Mi, a Pasadena graduate student who has coordinated events for the group. The team is planning a public get-together in Hermosa Beach on April 9, with information to be available at www.cobv2008.org.

“We have more to learn, so we have to practice more than other people,” Tian said. “We think about the Olympics all the time, every day. The pressure is there.”

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U.S. figure skating champion Sasha Cohen of Corona del Mar, the Olympic silver medalist, acknowledged it’s “a huge emotional letdown” to skate at the world championships barely a month after the Games.

Cohen is the only Turin women’s medalist who will compete this week in Calgary, Canada. The last female figure skating champion who competed in the world championships the year she won the Olympic title was Kristi Yamaguchi, a double winner in 1992.

Cohen, favored to win her first world title, said it’s worthwhile to hold both competitions in an Olympic year: “I think it’s a good opportunity for up-and-coming skaters to compete at the world championships. It challenges you to find the inner strength to see how far you can go.”

The women’s event begins today at the Pengrowth Saddledome with a qualifying round. The short program will take place Friday and the long program Saturday. Fumie Suguri of Japan, Joannie Rochette of Canada, Kimmie Meissner of Bel Air, Md., and Emily Hughes of Great Neck, N.Y., who finished fourth through seventh at Turin, are also contenders.

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USC swim Coach Mark Schubert, a member of every U.S. Olympic coaching staff since 1980, was appointed to the new position of USA Swimming’s national team head coach and general manager. He will leave USC for his new job in May.

Lindsay Benko Mintenko, a USC graduate and two-time Olympic gold medalist, was appointed the managing director of the national team and will report to Schubert.

The Garrett Lemire Memorial Grand Prix criterium bicycle race will be held in Ojai on April 2.