On the "Love Baseball Base" in Changping, Beijing
For 16 children,
Baseball is more than just a sport.
After the bat is waved,
In the arc that the ball draws in the air,
Hiding their other path of life.
For two years,
These "de facto orphans" who "really can't afford to be raised at home",
With the consent of the guardian,
They followed Sun Lingfeng out of the poverty ravine,
Gathered at the Beijing Love Baseball Base.
Here, they live together,
Free baseball and culture lessons,
Step by step, restart a new life.
Training on the baseball field (photo solemn)
Baseball "Orphan"
On a winter afternoon, the sun shines through the large nets that surround the course and hits the turf-covered ground.
The smaller boys, wearing baseball caps and uniform uniforms, trained on the field for "running bases": 16 men split into two groups, one waving the bat around, and the other running left and right on the field, trying to catch the oncoming fastball.
The whole training session looked like it was half play and half serious. On the one hand, they cooperate with each other and are orderly; on the other hand, there is the naughtiness and fighting between boys. Giggles, but have fun.
Behind every child on the pitch, there is a family with a heavy life.
When Beibei (pseudonym) was two years old, his parents were swept away by mudslides and have been fostered in volunteer organizations, and still think that their parents are still alive and just working outside.
Seven-year-old Xiao Xin (pseudonym), only a paralyzed father and a half-dead grandfather are left in the family, and the family of three lives on low security.
Some of them have parents who have died and are helpless; some of them have fallen ill and the other has run away from home, leaving behind young children and widowed elderly people. "Every one of them is a 'de facto orphan', no one cares, and the family can't afford it."
"So we want to use baseball as a carrier to help these children from extreme poverty, improve their survival skills and comprehensive quality, and change their destiny." Sun Lingfeng, founder of the love baseball base, said.
Once from a poor background, he began to embark on the road of baseball at the age of 7 under the guidance of former baseball national team coach Zhang Jinxin. He has been cared for by his teachers for more than three decades, and he has changed from a former baseball team captain to a head coach of Jiangsu Province to a corporate CEO.
"Now everything is given by baseball. I have certain abilities and resources in this industry and in this field. And the children in this class have nothing, so I hope to bring them into society through this skill. ”
Secondary growth
At the beginning, Sun Lingfeng did not think that he could do much, but felt that putting his existing energy on five or six children and carrying out long-term training would have a greater impact than short-term donations. So at the end of 2015, he began to target "extremely poor, healthy, 7 to 9-year-old children", and then mobilized relatives and friends to help find them, and even ran to orphanages and civil affairs bureaus in poor areas.
Laiyuan, Hebei Province, 5-year-old Xiao Shuang (pseudonym), is the first child he found. His father died early, his mother did not know where to go, and Xiao Shuang lived with his two uncles. When Sun Lingfeng went, the Second Uncle's disciples were on all four walls, eating batter, and at most adding some greens and salt.
The uncle asked only two questions: "Do you want to eat?" "Do you care to see a doctor?"
After receiving a positive reply, he immediately signed the maintenance agreement and then asked Sun Lingfeng to take the baby away.
Some guardians are suspicious and worried about running into traffickers. Sun Lingfeng could only pay for the road out of his own pocket and take the children and adults to the baseball base and let them live together for a few days. Later, parents set up WeChat groups, and Sun Lingfeng often informed the latest situation in them, which gradually gained trust.
Some people say that he is "sick" and "do you want to make money with these children?" Sun Lingfeng also "can only pretend not to hear, we know what we are doing." ”
The private non-enterprise unit (organization) qualification of the base, he began to apply for it at the beginning of its establishment. In October, he approached a foundation in Beijing and became a project affiliated with it, which solved the problem of legality.
When the children first arrived, they were generally malnourished: their eyes were not good, their teeth were not good, and they were a little lower in height than their children of the same age in the city. To this end, he asked the canteen to have pure meat for three meals a day, and milk for breakfast. Slowly, the child's body gradually grew open, "Don't look at their young age, they train every day, they have small abs." ”
After two years of training, the child's health has improved. A few days ago, Sun Lingfeng took them to a physical examination, and the doctor told him that his teeth and bones were all well, and his physical fitness was above the average standard in Beijing.
Skills and rules
They do 4 hours of baseball training every afternoon, and the rest of the time is a cultural class. In the morning, go to a nearby private primary school for classes. The school accepts them free of charge and has a special curriculum. In the evening, the teacher will review the children's homework.
The longest training time is also two years, and Sun Lingfeng feels that the children's baseball level is "invincible to their peers." He spoke firmly and confidently.
On the desks at the training site are various trophies and awards that the children have won for two years at children's baseball games across the country. Four of the children also represented the national baseball team abroad to compete in Japan and won the "2017 Paramount League ECC Cup" Asia Pacific Selection Growth Group Championship.
The moment the player prepares to hit the ball (photography solemn)
"Actually, until now, I don't think baseball technology is the most important. The logic of thinking and the ability to control things are the key. It is more important to learn how to be a person. Sun Lingfeng said.
He made all sorts of rules for the children. Hygiene, punctuality, politeness... The child is still young, sometimes naughty, he has to repeat it over and over again, really disobedient, the coach will let the child stop training, sit quietly on the side and reflect, they are most afraid of this.
This group of children gives the impression of being polite and will always bow and say "Hello" when they meet people. The dormitory was also cleaned up, the quilts were folded into tofu blocks and placed at the head of the bed, and the clothes were placed in the cupboard in an orderly manner.
Once, a nearby parent brought their children to visit, and saw this group of children with an average age of less than ten years old at the baseball base, cleaning up in an orderly manner, assembling in an orderly manner, and praising them to their children. This made the guys at the base "very proud and particularly confident."
Rules of Student Dormitory Life (Photography Solemn)
"Good integration"
It seems they are very comfortable with life here and "fit in well".
At lunchtime, the friends at the same table inevitably have to fight with their mouths, and then compete with who eats faster. Memorizing the text in front of the coach, suddenly remembering the following, the little friend next to him will whisper, trying to help, and the two people laughed embarrassedly after being recognized. Unable to find clothes, the children subconsciously ran to Aunt Li, who did their laundry and cleaning.
When they went to Japan to compete this year, they bounced back with the gold medal and said that the person who wanted to be there the most was Aunt Li. In the summer, Sun Lingfeng originally arranged for Xiao Shuang to go back to his hometown to see, but he refused to go back no matter how much he persuaded him.
"I said I haven't been home for more than a year, so you can go back and have a look." As soon as he heard it, he blocked the door and did not go. I said it was okay and would come back when I was done. He didn't say a word, just wouldn't leave, afraid that I wouldn't pick him up. ”
Few other children are willing to go home to see. The children did not say, and Sun Lingfeng also knew that it was not that they did not want to go home, but that they did not have a home to go back to.
"These kids are hardly managed at home. There are books to read here, people to play together, even the hands are uncomfortable, there are people who ask east and west, it is much better than at home, where to go back? Aunt Li, who takes care of her children's daily life, knows it.
"The children come from poor backgrounds, they know better than their peers, and they all understand that if it weren't for the fact that the family was not good, no one would want to send them." Sun Lingfeng felt that they were "all obedient." Between interviews, just in time for the training intermission, seven-year-old Xiaoxin took a small step and hid in coach Sun's arms, asking him to help get his clothes and hats.
Children doing warm-up exercises (photography solemn)
Today, Sun Lingfeng's biggest confusion is the cost of the base. The living expenses of sixteen children and the salaries of more than a dozen staff members, plus the rent of the venue and the construction of various facilities, cost 4 million yuan in two years. He and several other founders did it at their own expense. Today, he spends most of his time outside thinking about how to continue running.
"At that time, we did this, in fact, the children were roughly planned in the future, divided into three levels of goals. The first is to rush to the American Baseball Professional League, but it is possible that none of them will be able to go up. It's okay, you can go to college. We teach the best baseball, they know the rules and etiquette, they will become baseball missionaries, they will have income. ”
Sun Lingfeng said, "He is at least officially entering the society and is a person with positive energy to spread the sport." This is what my master taught me, and I teach them again, from generation to generation, isn't that a very good thing? ”
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