Cadet Qi-zhen Li, who would play the tennis men’s singles final in the general section of the 2015 National Intercollegiate Athletic Games in late April, joined friendly competitions at DaWan High School in Tainan every Thursday afternoon.
March 19th marked Li’s first time to receive off-site training. Quite nervous, he went to the Academy’s tennis court during off-class morning hours for self-training. After a short break at noon, he headed for Tainan with coach Yu-min Tsai.
The training exhausted Qi-zhen under an all-day scorching sun; the competition lasted from two thirty to five with no breaks, and the competency of DaWan’s seeded players for the National Intercollegiate Athletic Games was evident. Used to do training for one hour or so at sunset and therefore unaccustomed to such a long-hours training he had never experienced before, Qi-zhen suffered from heat stroke and ended up with a 0:3 defeat.
For better training effectiveness, the coach led Qi-zhen to DaWan High School again the next week. One day before that, the coach advised Qi-zhen not to practice in the morning so that he would be better off for the afternoon’s competition.
The strategy worked! With cool weather, except for the first round, in which Sheng-xiong Li, concurrently a player of Open Group and the coach of the coaching staff, instructed all the players, Qi-zhen faced DaWan’s players in the other three rounds and garnered a 2:1 victory.
The Academy would like to extend its gratitude to DaWan’s coaches Wei-yang Zheng and Sheng-xiong Li, as well as the lovable, cheerful and kind players for their time with Qi-zhen. It is hoped that Qi-zhen could put his regular training into full play in the National Intercollegiate Athletic Games.
2024-04-19
Friendly tennis competition between R.O.C. Air Force Academy and Tainan’s DaWan High School
DATE:2015-04-16