The Beijing Youth Ice Hockey Club League is in full swing. Looking at the young players living on the ice rink, Li Huibin often has a sense of accomplishment.
"We are the league with the highest number of participants in all of Asia." When it comes to ice hockey, Li Huibin is always full of passion. This year, there were more than 3,600 league entries, 256 teams, and the youngest player was only 6 years old. As the competition leader of the competition, Li Huibin has experienced the development and growth of ice hockey in Beijing.
As the only collective sport in winter sports, ice hockey is very popular in Europe and the United States. But in Beijing, ice hockey is a "niche" sport. In 2012, when the Beijing Ice Hockey Association was established, there were only a few teams of children playing ice hockey in Beijing, and the competition and training were spontaneously organized by parents.
Li Huibin still remembers the organization of the league in previous years. According to international ice hockey rules, the minimum number of applicants per team, including goalkeepers, is 17. In order to attract more children to participate in the team, the organizing committee of the event decided to reduce the minimum number of applicants to 8 people. With Beijing's successful bid to host the Winter Olympics, more and more children playing ice hockey are constantly adjusting the league's regulations on the number of people who sign up to form a team. Over the course of a few years, the lower limit for team formations has been adjusted from 8 to 9, and later to 11 until this year to 13.
"These years can be said to be a spurt of growth." Li Huibin said that in the slogan of "300 million people on ice and snow", Beijing's ice hockey has ushered in spring. Even he himself threw himself into the sport of ice hockey. The 29-year-old Li Huibin studied sports and originally practiced badminton. After Beijing's successful bid to host the Winter Olympics, Li Huibin joined the competition department of the Beijing Ice Association and became an ice hockey player "cross-border".
Li Huibin has studied roller skating and has experience in organizing events, and there are not too many obstacles to transformation. But the first time he stood on the ice, he still felt a strong difference. "It's real ice, the kind that gets cold!"
Feeling the charm of winter sports, Li Huibin decided to become a volunteer who promoted the sport of ice hockey. He joined the Beijing Ice Association's ice hockey volunteer service team and became a publicist. In order to tell the story of ice hockey well, Li Huibin used the weekend to soak in the library, and even repeatedly revised it for a sentence, often staying up late at night. After writing a good speech, Li Huibin first told his colleagues to listen to them, and let the colleagues "pick thorns" for their own manuscripts.
Since 2016, Li Huibin and his colleagues have carried out ice hockey into the campus publicity activity in more than 50 schools in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, attracting more than 10,000 primary and secondary school students to participate. During the lecture, Li Huibin often designed some interesting questions to stimulate the children's interest. "Why is the ice hockey black?" "Why is the club bent?" "The protective gear is so bulky, will it affect the speed of the athletes?" With the unveiling of the "mystery", the children also learned more about ice hockey. Li Huibin is also good at telling stories, and the wonderful moments in the history of ice hockey are vividly told by him, which makes the children fascinated. At the end of each lecture, he always gained a group of small fans.
A sport can change a person's life. Li Huibin hopes that his preaching can plant a seed of hockey dreams for children. During a lecture at Anwai Sanjo Primary School in Dongcheng District, a stunted child was the first to stand up and tell his hockey dream, which left a deep impression on Li Huibin. Li Huibin encouraged him: "Great ice hockey players have persistent faith and never-say-die spirit, they will fight until the last moment to meet their victory." ”
In the years since Beijing actively planned the Winter Olympics, more ice hockey teenagers have stood on the ice rink. "Ice hockey is a sport of speed and passion. It can not only exercise children's strong physique, but also cultivate children's sense of teamwork and fighting spirit. It's a sport for the brave! "The Winter Olympics are approaching day by day, and Li Huibin's original intention of ice hockey is more firm.