China's National Women's Volleyball Team head coach Lang Ping published a letter "Writing on the day the 2020 national training camp finished" on Saturday evening, summarizing the performance of the team since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

In the letter, she mainly talked about preparing for the Tokyo Olympic Games, and the condition of members from different generations. She also expressed thanks to the people who gave the team support during the process.

Not yet 24 hours old, the letter has been read more than two million times on Weibo, China's Twitter-like social media platform.

Every year when I lead the team to the end of a year's training and competition, I will write a paragraph summarizing the road our team has taken, and thank those who I want to thank along the way. 

2020 is very special. It is extremely difficult for our team and for me personally. It is extraordinary. 

For seven months, we have almost disappeared from public view. At the end of this year's training camp, I think it is more necessary to summarize.

On January 30, we started the training camp for the Olympic year under the pandemic. Although we faced an unprecedented total closure from the moment we entered the team, everyone held their breath for the decisive battle in Tokyo.

March 24 was a turning point. The Tokyo Olympics officially announced its postponement. Upon hearing the news, I took a deep breath and tried to keep calm. For us, a new and more severe test had come.

For the team's veteran members, the postponement of the Olympics was undoubtedly a torment. It was a painful multiple-choice question on whether to give up or continue. Middle generation members still have dreams, but what about the driving force? Young players have one more year to grow up, but day-to-day training itself is a difficult process.

Facing the blow, everyone's heart is inevitably shaken and everyone's heart is full of mixed flavors.

The most difficult days, in total isolation, we were able to carry through with each other's support and company. In the face of unpredictable epidemics and successive challenges, we can only do well every day with more determination and optimism.

Thank you for your perseverance and hard work. In the days when there is no competition at all and only boring training, we still motivate each other and try our best to practice every day, helping our team gain valuable experience in a special period. Among these are improvements in the physical and technical levels, as well as improvements in patience and concentration, which are the tempering of mentality and the maturity of the mind.

Thanks to our coaching team and doctors. As parents of children, they overcome difficulties and accompany our athletes to hone their skills and improve combat capabilities every day. We have never been training together every day for so long as this year. The seven months of getting along day and night, let us all love this happy group more and know how to cherish the days we have passed together.

Thanks to the General Administration of Sport of China for creating a safe and quiet environment and a strong logistics support team. There is also the persistence of our surrounding gymnastics, diving, weightlifting, and swimming teams every day. Everyone is in a fully enclosed environment and rides the bus back and forth together, in and out of the canteen and dormitory. It is often just a nod, a smile, a few greetings, but the common mission allows us to appreciate the strength from our comrades in arms.

No matter what kind of difficulties you encounter, as long as you have goals in your heart and have comrades in arms around you, you have the motivation to persist and fight.

In 2020, this extraordinary experience in our life will surely inspire us to continue to stay strong.