All stars at Inaugural Volleyball Future Championship
The Jungkwanjang Red Sparks team from South Korea won the inaugural Shanghai Volleyball Future Star Championship, which was held at Fudan University over the weekend.
They defeated Chinese U17 National Team 3-0 in the final on Saturday evening to pocket the trophy. Earlier in the day, Shanghai Youth Team overcame the SESI San Paulo team from Brazil 3-0 in the third-place match of the eight-team tournament.
The Jungkwanjang Red Sparks team from South Korea is crowned at the inaugural Shanghai Volleyball Future Star Championship.
As Shanghai's self-developed youth sport competition, the Future Star series aim to provide a communication platform for international youth athletes, while getting Chinese youth players ready for future competitions on the world stage.
"There is an obvious gap between us and the South Korean club regarding experience and technique skills, which is acceptable given the age gap," said Zhao Yong, head coach of the Chinese U17 National Team.
The Chinese U17 team players are aged between 14 and 16 years old, while the average age of their South Korean opponents is 22.9.
The Chinese U17 National Team take on the Jungkwanjang Red Sparks in the final on Saturday evening.
"The purpose has been well served as we have played against French, Brazilian and Thailand teams this week," said Zhao. "Reaching the final is already a goal completed."
Zhao said the Shanghai tournament was a valuable experience for the team as the Chinese U17 team has been preparing for the World U17 Championship to be held in Peru next month.
"It's an opportunity to observe the players from all aspects and also to hone the team," he said.
International players visit local schools during their stay in Shanghai.
"Such international competitions can help the players further understand the playing styles of strong international teams, find the rhythm of the game, so that they can collect experience and perform stably when facing major competitions in the future," Zhao added.
For international teams, communication is also far more important than the results of the competition.
During the past week, the young players from around the world were invited to Shanghai schools to interact with volleyball-loving students. They also visited the landmarks of the Bund, Xintiandi and Yu Garden and participated in the production of traditional handicrafts.
International players visit Shanghai's landmarks.
A volleyball forum during the tournament provided the international youth coaches with an opportunity to learn from each others' training methods.
According to French youth team head coach Fabrice Vial, their national youth teams take part in the first and second-tier national volleyball leagues to keep their competitiveness.
The youth training system is very different in Canada. According to Canadian youth team head coach Mike Ling, most players of the Canadian youth team train in universities. They will play in international competitions like The Pan American Cup as an important supplement to daily training.
A volleyball forum for youth coaches is held during the tournament.
The Jungkwanjang Red Sparks head coach Hee Jin Ko pointed out that a head coach should not only pay attention to the team's training, but also the players' emotional problems.
He often looks for relaxing activities outside of training for the players, so that they will be more engaged when returning to the training ground.
The Shanghai Future Star series will hold basketball and football tournaments in the following few weeks.
