More understanding and few cultural difference. That is the new
feeling of Chinese coaches who have been training Africans in table
tennis in recent years.
Chen Fen has been the coach of women table tennis team of the
Republic of Congo for one year since 2005. Living in Africa alone
is not easy for a young lady like Chen.
She has suffered from power outage and water supply stoppage and
ever tried to offer training to Congolese players under the shabby
iron roof when a downpour came.
One of those troubled her most in that period was the cultural
difference in table tennis training.
"Members of the Republic of Congo team used to regard playing
table tennis as a means merely to improve health. Under no
pressure, they took part in international competitions just as
participants," Chen told Xinhua on Sunday on the sideline of the
table tennis contest of the ninth All-Africa Games which is going
on in Algiers, capital of the North African country Algeria.
Besides training, Congolese players have learned a lot from Chen
about the development of table tennis in China and began to change
ideas about the discipline. They have a very clear objective now:
be one of the eight leading table tennis teams in Africa.
Another misunderstanding occurred when Chen's trainees had pains
in arms due to hard training. Some even regarded such practice as a
kind of torture and asked Chen to pay their medical bill if they
were hurt.
When they found their capability in playing table tennis has
been improved following the buildup of physical conditions, they
understood Chen at last.
Zhou Xuexing, the first Chinese table tennis coach in South
Africa, has similar experience. He said on Sunday that various
national conditions led to misunderstanding by South African for
his training method in the past, but now the misunderstanding has
melted.
"Even ordinary people will have pains in their legs after doing
sports, not only professional players. But at the beginning when
South African players met that problem, the authorities of South
Africa will order me to stop all the training," said Zhou who has
trained the South Africans for more than one year.
The South African side has understood Zhou's training method now
and trusted the experienced foreign coach.
When the South African table tennis team trained in China last
month, the authorities entrusted Zhou to make all arrangement
during the trip. They also planned to extend the contract with Zhou
by three years.
With the efforts of the coaches, squads of the Republic of Congo
and South Africa have made tremendous progress. In the first stage
of All-Africa Games's table tennis women team event, the Congolese
team became the first one defeating Nigeria who has dominated the
African table tennis for the past two decades. The South African
contingent finished the fourth during the team event.
?
(Xinhua News Agency July 17, 2007)