From Dao village to the world playground

On the top of Slam Ve mountain, Bang Thanh commune, where Dao village has no electricity yet, there is a Dao girl who has lit up her journey with a burning dream of volleyball. That dream has urged her to overcome many difficulties and step into the light of the world playground. She is volleyball player Dang Thi Hong, captain of the U21 Vietnam youth team.

Dang Thi Hong is currently the main striker and captain of the Vietnam U21 women's volleyball team.

From the Dao village without electricity...

Traveling from the center of Thai Nguyen province nearly 200km by car and having to go by motorbike more than 20km of steep and winding roads on a rainy day, the dirt road is slippery and dangerous, we arrived at Dang Thi Hong's house in Slam Ve village, covered in clouds all year round. Slam Ve village, Bang Thanh commune is home to 100% of Dao ethnic households. The whole village is poor and near-poor, Hong's family is one of them.

In the dim light from the mini generator that the family built on the dam in the stream near the village, Hong's parents, Ta Van Phung and Dang Thi Ta, talked about their daughter with eyes sparkling with joy.

Mr. Phung said that Hong was born in 2006 and had a difficult childhood like other Dao children in Slam Ve village. Because the village only had combined classes 1 and 2, from grade 3, Dang Thi Hong had to walk more than 15km of dirt road down to Nhan Mon Primary and Boarding Secondary School, in Nhan Mon commune (old), now Bang Thanh commune to study.

Since childhood, she had to be independent early, every weekend she walked with her brothers and sisters in the village to go home. At the boarding school in the mountainous area with physical education hours on the dirt field, Hong was able to approach volleyball and show her talent.

Studying and training in a difficult environment, Dang Thi Hong soon revealed a strong will and a strong passion for volleyball. In 2021, introduced by an acquaintance, she found a way to contact teacher Vu Dinh Doan at Thai Nguyen High School for Gifted Sports to apply for a volleyball gifted class but was rejected because of her modest height and being too old to enter the gifted class.

Not giving up, Hong and his father from Slam Ve village crossed a long, foggy road from 4am to Thai Nguyen High School for Gifted Sports to take the entrance exam. Here, Hong applied for a trial and was accepted to study martial arts. The opportunity came to her after 10 days of training, the teachers in the coaching staff let her choose the sport she loved, she chose to practice volleyball.

In the early days of her determination to "go down the mountain" to study, the teachers' impression of Hong was that she was a shy girl with old shoes that were too big for her feet. Because she could not keep up with the other girls in the team, she had to make an extra effort to practice both physically and professionally.

However, according to teacher Vu Dinh Doan of Thai Nguyen High School for Gifted Sports, the teachers were surprised at how quickly Hong progressed in training. Pitying his illiterate father, who had to use his fingerprints to sign a contract for him with the school, Hong realized that he needed to practice more to become a professional volleyball player who could travel to many places.

Step out into the world arena

Dang Thi Hong's determination and efforts have been duly rewarded. She has only started professional training since 2021, and in 2022, she was in the main squad of the Kinh Bac Bac Ninh women's volleyball team (on loan) to compete in the National Club Volleyball Cup.

From 2023 to present, Hong has always been a mainstay of the Thai Nguyen women's volleyball team, competing in many important tournaments such as the National A-class volleyball tournament, the National Club Cup Volleyball Tournament, the National U23 Volleyball Tournament and always maintaining in the top teams.

Dang Thi Hong (best attacker title) and the Thai Nguyen women's volleyball team won 3rd place at the 2025 National U23 Volleyball Championship.

In addition to playing for the provincial team, Hong is also a key player that many volleyball clubs pay attention to. In the 2024 season, Dang Thi Hong was invited to play for Ninh Binh LPBank Club under a loan contract from the parent company Thai Nguyen.

Although only 1m70 tall, Dang Thi Hong has the ability to jump very high. She attacks powerfully, saves and blocks the ball in all situations. Her aggressive playing spirit is increasingly attracting the attention of successful teams.

In 2025, Dang Thi Hong had a new change when the Thai Nguyen women's team accepted to play for the Vietinbank women's team to participate in the 2025 National Volleyball Championship. Through each competition, Hong accumulated expertise and significantly improved her technique. She and the Vietinbank women's team achieved very good results in the first stage of the 2025 National Championship when they only lost 1 match.

With impressive performances in tournaments at both club and youth levels, striker Dang Thi Hong of the Thai Nguyen women's volleyball team has been selected for the Vietnam U20 women's volleyball team to compete in the 2024 U20 Asian tournament.

In her first participation in an international tournament, Dang Thi Hong showed rapid maturity when demonstrating a playing style that combines strength and dexterity. She and the U20 Vietnam team made history by finishing in 5th place overall, thereby winning a ticket to the 2025 U21 World Championship.

Mr. Nguyen Tuan Kiet, head coach of Vietinbank Women's Volleyball Club, commented: Hong started out playing for Thai Nguyen team, which was not a strong team in the country, but with her talent, she managed to get into the national U20 team. She is an inspirational phenomenon in a place where volleyball is almost undeveloped.

Last July, after completing the 2025 National U23 Volleyball Championship at Thai Nguyen home ground with the third place result with the whole team, Dang Thi Hong went to the National Sports Training Center (Hanoi) to join the Vietnam U21 team to prepare for the U21 World Youth Volleyball Championship which will take place from August 7 to 17 in Surabaya city (Indonesia).

Being eager to learn and constantly striving to improve herself, Dao ethnic girl Dang Thi Hong has affirmed herself as a worthy name in the group of talented young players of Vietnam at the present time. Only 19 years old this year, Dang Thi Hong still has a long way to go to improve herself and develop further in her journey with volleyball ahead.

Source: https://baothainguyen.vn/the-thao/202508/tu-ban-dao-den-san-choi-the-gioi-82f1f9f/