Dining at the Palace and Beihang match

Day 4
11 March

After walking through the ruins of the Old Summer Palace the day before, the Blues experienced a totally different atmosphere at the restored Summer Palace in Haidian District.

Its Chinese name Yiheyuan means garden of restful peace. On the bus ride to the palace, Roland told us it had been constructed in the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234), during the succeeding reign of feudal emperors and its gardens had been extended continuously ever since. Invading English and French forces had razed most of the palace in the late 1800’s but the government has poured millions of yuan into the restoration.

After walking through many of the gardens, we had lunch at the Garden of Listening to Orioles, named for the time when Empress Cixi used to dine and enjoy the Beijing Opera.

Restaurateurs seem to look at the physical size of our group and double lunch portions accordingly, leading to Lazy Susans stacked with plates of chicken, beef, crumbed fish, soup and Chinese vegetables. Though some players are craving Western food, every meal has been a memorable experience.

The palace covers 290 hectares, seven times the size of Tian’anmen Square, so the group was unable to cover the whole garden in the few hours we had before the planned tours of Peking and Beihang universities.
We met Mr Lei Ji, Deputy Director of Physical Education at Peking University  who gave us a tour of some of the sports facilities and historic buildings. Peking was the first university in Beijing, some of the buildings dating back 200 years. The students also gained a reputation for their involvement in the Tian’amen Square massacre of 1989.
After a brief dinner at a nearby restaurant, notable for many of the chairs and tables falling apart before we even sat down, we continued on to Beihang for a 7pm game. The Beihang team is ranked second in Beijing universities after the annual university games. Both sides had enough numbers to field two teams each so games were run concurrently. A crowd of friends, parents and children turned out to enjoy the event.

MATCH REPORT

Team 1: Lineup for this game included Chris Lyne, Kyle Griffith, Michael Werner, Tom Hals, Matt Campbell, Paul Grimmett and Gavin Penny.

All of the opposition were over six foot tall and had a vertical leap of 80-100cm. The Blues’ nerves showed early on as they were swamped by Beihang’s impressive combinations and powerful spiking. Once the team settled, Kyle and Tom set up some clean plays and helped reduce the scoring gap, the Blues going down 15-25 in the first set.
Blocking by the Blues was inconsistent early and Matt Campbell got the team back in the game with strong blocks early in the second set, forcing Beihang to work the outside of the court. Solid attacking by Kyle, Michael and Tom kept the scores tight and the Blues took the set 25-20.

Beihang exploited our gaps in the third set and made the most of our hitting mistakes, romping away to a 25-13 win. Though the fourth set was tighter thanks to some big blocks and spikes by Gavin, Beihang’s youthful energy enabled them to take the set 25-19 for the win.

Team 2: Lineup included Nick Lemalu, Jono Cannon, Chris Giacomi, Paul DeWeerd, Michael Luber, Matteusz Rozycki, Aaron Krahe and Chris O’Keefe.

Beihang’s second team had even more topspin power than the first team and forced the Blues into a faster paced game. The youthful speed of Jono, Michael and Nick allowed the Blues to stay with the opposition early for a tight 18-25 loss in the first set.

A similar pace in the second set saw the Blues start to tire trying to follow the ball, leading to a 21-25 second set. The Blues rallied in the third with superior defence and made the most of Beihang’s serving errors to take the set 25-22.

Jono Cannon continued his good form after sitting out the previous day’s game with some super spikes, backed up by Nick, Matt and Aaron. Beihang kept their heads in the fourth despite the strong attack to take a very close fourth set 25-23.

The opposition said both Blues teams had some of the strongest blocking they had faced.

COACH’S COMMENTS

“The Beihang team was very strong, their skills were very smooth. We had to work hard to keep up with them. (Australian) players use a lot more of the shoulder than the Chinese (when spiking), we can learn from them about hitting with the forearm as there is a lot of power to gain there. (Beihang) had a good setter who knew where everyone was all the time. We need to think more when we play, know where our other players are.”

Monash Sport Director Martin Doulton, coach Mrs Qi Shen and Deputy Director of Physical Education at Peking University, Mr Lei Ji

Our hosts at the Summer Palace restaurant, where Empress Cixi once dined and
watched to the Beijing opera perform

Blues playing against Beihang University