After hard times, coach finds soft touch

Softball veteran Wang Lihong is back, again.

Before the 2000 Sydney Olympics she was the No 1 pitcher of China's national team and in 2005, she returned as a member of the coaching group. Three months ago, she reappeared in the squad, this time as head coach.

Wang Lihong, China's top pitcher in the 1990s, was appointed the new head coach of China's national softball team in March. She is expected to lead the team to a medal at next year's Beijing Olympics Games. [China Daily]
Her previous coaching stint with team was largely unnoticed as it barely lasted for a year before Chinese officials named American Michael Bastian as head coach. Her departure was low key, with officials not even making an announcement.

But this time around she is the center of attention, as she now faces the task of taking the team to the next year's Beijing Games.

"You have no idea how proud and thrilled I am to have a chance of leading the team into the Beijing Olympics," said the 37-year-old at the softball field in the National Olympic Sports Center, the venue for the 2008 Olympics and currently the squad's training base.

Wang faces an uphill task ensuring an unsettled team is firing on all cylinders in front of an expectant home crowd.

Adding to the pressure is China's previous successes. The team's best performance was a silver medal at the 1996 Atlanta Games, and they have twice been runners-up at the world championships.

The team struggled to a disappointing fourth place finish at the world championships in Beijing last summer, a result that has left confidence low.

To make matters worse, top pitcher Lu Wei has failed to recover from wrist surgery and is looking likely to miss the Games.

But Wang is not about to let all this get her down.

"I know the burden on my shoulders is much heavier than before, but I am just having fun doing my job," she said.

Wang wasn't nearly as relaxed two years ago when she first began coaching. Back then she had been out of the game for a long time and was hungry to get back to winning.

"I always lost my temper with the players," she said. "I was so strict with them because I felt they were not good enough and needed a lot of improvement.

She said she began feeling the same loss of passion she experienced when she retired from playing in 2001.

"I don't think the players liked me because they said I was too strict."

The real blow followed when, just as she assumed she would become head coach (she was already the leader of the coaching group and was acting as the caretaker head coach), officials thought at 35 she was too young and inexperienced to take the post and went for Bastian, a coach recommended by the International Softball Federation. Wang then quit the national team in embarrassment.

Wang reminded the officials what they were missing as she guided Beijing's team to the national championship title six months later. Bastian, meanwhile, was struggling after the world championships flop and a miserable bronze medal at the Asian Games in Doha.

When the officials decided to find a replacement for Bastian earlier this year, Wang was the obvious choice.

Wang believes her experience has made her a better coach and a better person.

"Just be their friends," Wang said. "I've realized I am dealing with a group of young athletes born in the 1980s. They are very different from what we used to be.

"I can't treat them as my coach used to treat me."

Wang Lihong, China's top pitcher in the 1990s, was appointed the new head coach of China's national softball team in March. She is expected to lead the team to a medal at next year's Beijing Olympics Games. Zhong Ti

Wang is not afraid to try new coaching methods - she talks with her players online and has persuaded them to start writing blogs.

"The communication then began," Wang said. 'When they are not willing to talk with me online, they pass little notes to my room through the crack under the door."

But she is still bothered by the lack of spirit among her players: "It's not easy for them to get excited. They are lethargic while playing the game."

"I hope that can bring them some excitement," she said, pointing to the National Stadium that sits next to the softball field. The "Bird's Nest" will hold the opening and closing ceremony of the Beijing Games.

"Just imagine the moment when we are there," Wang said. "It's huge, a once-in-a-lifetime experience."

Unfortunately for Wang and her players softball has been axed from the 2012 Games in London, casting a shadow over their futures. But for now, she is happy to live in the present.

"I want to have a good time with the team and make sure I am leading them in a good direction."