Just as the Beijing Winter Olympics were about to open, the overseas mainstream media set their sights on China's burgeoning ice hockey boom. And ice hockey dreamer Zhou Yunjie and his 1979 Shichahai ice hockey team have become the story of the world's attention.
The following text is translated from The Associated Press (Beijing)
For a long time, Beijinger Zhou Yunjie has been silent about his youth hockey experience.
But with the hosting rights of the 2022 Winter Olympics settled in Beijing, things have changed. The nationwide promotion of winter snow sports has received support from the government. The 4th of next month will be the opening day of the Winter Olympics.
Now, 60-year-old Zhou Yunjie is back on the hockey rink, proudly appearing in friendly matches with his old teammates, reliving the time they played for Beijing in the late 1970s.
Zhou Yunjie is the owner of a technology-based company based in the Chinese capital. "For many years, I didn't want to talk about playing hockey before, even my family didn't know about it," he said. When I got back on the ice rink, they were all particularly surprised. ”
On January 12, 2022, the players of the 1979 ice hockey team appeared on an ice rink in Beijing. The members of the youth ice hockey team of the 1970s are now in the same age. Encouraged by Beijing's hosting of the Winter Olympics, they regrouped decades later.
Zhou Yunjie plays an ice hockey tournament here every Wednesday and Saturday night in an ice hockey arena in the northeast of Beijing. This group of hockey veterans began their own fixed ice life. More than 40 years ago, they were all members of the Beijing youth team.
In the 1970s, this group of players emerged from more than 200 candidates and joined shichahai sports school as players in the ice hockey youth team. This famous school is the cradle of sports talent training, and it has several lakes next to it, which are overcrowded every winter.
After five years of professional training, the Shichahai ice hockey team reached sixth place in the fiercely competitive National Junior Championship. A year later, the team was disbanded, and insufficient training funds and insufficient public attention were all important reasons.
At that time, the players were 17 or 18 years old. Taking off their jerseys, they turned and joined the tide of China's booming economy.
Mei Chunhui, 61, now runs an engineering consulting firm. He recalled: "At that time, we were all very sad, we didn't know what the next road was going to go, we wouldn't do anything but play. Some of the team members went to college, some joined the army, and some went directly to social work. ”
For the next 35 years, the flames of the hockeys stopped burning, and they never seemed to return to the ice rink.
On July 31, 2015, Beijing won the right to host the 24th Winter Olympic Games, and the capital of China became the world's first summer Olympic-Winter Olympic "double Olympic host city".
Lao Mei was suddenly inspired to gather his former teammates and hope to reorganize the team.
In the beginning, they only had nine people. Today, the average age of the 1979 veteran team is more than 60 years old, and there are more than 20 people.
Lao Mei said: "Back at the hockey rink, we are not only nostalgic for the past, but also the enjoyment of the current life. ”
Zhou Yunjie said: "With the boom of the Winter Olympics, the government, schools and society are full of enthusiasm for ice hockey. The feelings we had for ice hockey in our youth were also aroused after years of hiding. ”
The Chinese government says it has attracted 300 million people across the country to participate in ice and snow sports, fulfilling the promises they made when bidding for the Winter Olympics. According to the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee, there are currently 654 standard ice hockey rinks and 803 indoor and outdoor ski resorts in the country.
Enthusiasm alone is not enough, and the veterans of the 1979 team deeply feel that the years are not spared. Yang Xiaoliu, 62, feels that now their games are more focused on teamwork and tactical arrangements, rather than relying on physical and individual skills. "Winning or losing is not so important."
Zhou Yunjie believes: "We are more interested in enjoying the game, having fun in it, and we will also exchange feelings with each other through the game. ”
Source: Associated Press (Beijing)
Photo by Mark Schiefelbein