"I've been waiting for this match for over 10 years." Friendship is fine, but competition is important too and Sha Ou, a top player on the Chinese national volleyball team, is playing for keeps. The doctor has told her to stop; her back cannot take it any more, she may even become paralyzed. But she can't quit now, as the match with the Japanese team is coming up.

But the Chinese team is denied victory once again. Disappointed, Sha Ou decides to retire and marry. Then her fiance, a mountaineer, is killed in an accident. Sha Ou is left wondering what to do with her life. She decides to go back to volleyball and becomes a coach. The Asian Championships are approaching; she wants another shot ...

Zhang Nuanxin, the writer and director of The Drive to Win, graduated from the directing department of the Beijing Film Institute in 1962. She has remained at the Institute, teaching direction. The Drive to Win>/i< is her first film.