Although I wear a dress, my heart is still The heart of China. Since 2018, Shenzhen Kunlun Hongxing Ice Hockey Club has held 5 consecutive Olympic training camps in Shenzhen, Vancouver, Boston, Beijing and Toronto, selecting outstanding ice hockey talents from all over the world and making talent reserves for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. Today, the Chinese national team, which gathers the best ice hockey talents, is about to appear in the Winter Olympic Games.
The origin of the Olympic training camp
After competing in the Canadian Women's Ice Hockey League in 2017, the Chinese women's ice hockey national team is still plagued by a lack of talent. In order to solve this dilemma, on May 12, 2018, Shenzhen Kunlun Hongxing Ice Hockey Club held the first Olympic training camp in Shenzhen, which was jointly sponsored by the China International Cultural Communication Center and the Winter Sports Management Center of the State General Administration of Sport, recruiting active and retired female ice hockey players from all over the world in preparation for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
A total of more than 60 outstanding women's ice hockey players at home and abroad participated in the first Olympic training camp, including not only outstanding players in China, but also outstanding Chinese athletes from American Ivy League universities such as Harvard University, Cornell University, Princeton University, Brown University, and university of Pennsylvania.
The training camp was supported by the Chinese Ice Hockey Association, guangdong Provincial Sports Bureau, Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports, Shenzhen Longgang District People's Government and Shenzhen Longgang District Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports Bureau, in order to provide a better display platform for athletes, the training camp was held at the same time, and the first "Longgang Cup" Women's Ice Hockey Invitational Tournament was held.
The first training camp ended on May 20, and in the final of the "Longgang Cup", Guangdong Shenzhen, composed of Chinese players, defeated Harbin to win the championship. Wang Yuting won the title of MVP of the tournament and Tia Chen won the title of Best Goalkeeper. The players showed their talents in the training camp and also tested the results of the training camp through the "Longgang Cup" competition.
Huang Xiaohua, Zhang Xifang, Ji Jiali and other players have performed well in the training camp and have been affirmed by the coach. Zhang Xifang said: "Ice hockey gives me the opportunity to return to China, and even have the opportunity to represent the national team in the future, my family is very supportive, I also cherish such an opportunity, and I will definitely work harder to improve my hockey skills." ”
Select talent across the Pacific Ocean
The first Olympic training camp was a great success, and in order to select talents more widely, Shenzhen Kunlun Hongxing Ice Hockey Club held four more training camps in August 2018 in Vancouver, Canada, Boston in December 2018, Beijing in May 2019, and Toronto, Canada in August 2019.
At The Boston Boot Camp, the players participated in the EastCoast Wizards Holiday Tournament, a prestigious youth hockey tournament on the East Coast of the United States, known for the high level of participating teams, and many of the players will appear in the world's top women's ice hockey leagues such as NWHL and CWHL in the future. In the end, the Guangdong Shenzhen team, which is composed of all Chinese faces, won the championship in a competition of 16 teams.
It is worth emphasizing that in the 5th training camp, Shenzhen Kunlun Hongxing Ice Hockey Club will send a professional coaching team every time to test the physical condition and technical guidance of the players, and arrange warm-up events such as the "Longgang Cup" to test the players' technical and tactical application level through actual combat. After the camp, they will continue to track their growth in their respective schools.
The players who were selected for the Olympic training camp cherished the opportunity, and many players had a heavy workload in college and had a lot of time, but they still maintained normal ice hockey training every day. Some players are very talented, but they can still see their progress. The Olympic training camp coach once said, "You can see their efforts after the end of the training camp, there is no need to say more, there is no need to stare at all times, all they pay will be reflected in the game, such players are the players of a strong team." ”
One example is Conmulan, who showed her great potential while still in high school when she attended the Vancouver Training Camp, and she has attended every bootcamp since then. In the first half of the 2021-2022 Season of the Russian Women's Ice Hockey League (WHL), the 20-year-old Kon Mulan scored 10 goals, 11 assists and 21 points in 22 league rounds, topping the team's scoring list and winning the title of the league's rookie of the month in October.
The sense of identity is stronger
In August 2021, in Detroit, Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver and other North American cities, Zhang Xifang, Fei Anna, Chen Tia, Lin Jiaxin, Kang Mulan and Huang Hui'er bid farewell to their family and friends and embarked on a long-distance flight, their destination is the same: Moscow, join the Chinese women's hockey national training team that is training there, and strive to participate in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
The Olympic training camp, which opened three years ago, gave them this opportunity to become members of the Chinese women's ice hockey national training team. Despite the language barrier, their Chinese ancestry, their love of ice hockey, and their familiarity with their Chinese teammates on the field over the past few years have allowed them to quickly find their sense of belonging in this team.
Goalkeeper Tia Chen said: "Thanks to the Olympic training camp, not only did the coaching staff teach us a lot, but also through participating in the training camp, I was able to travel all over the world, meet many outstanding friends in North America and China, and realize my Chinese ancestry." At the training camp in Beijing, Kang Mulan met Wang Yuting, a sister of the University of Minnesota Duluth, for the first time: "We were in the locker room together, and immediately established contact. Because every time I meet an alumnus, it's special to be able to communicate with her and now be a teammate with her. ”
Lin Qiqi, a graduate of the University of Connecticut who participated in the Shenzhen training camp, said in May 2018: "Before coming to this training camp, I never dreamed that I might participate in the Olympic Games. Now that I stand here, I feel like the Winter Olympics are no longer a dream. As a Chinese of 100% Chinese descent, I must seize this opportunity. Today, Lin Qiqi has become the vice captain of the Chinese women's hockey national training team, and the opportunity is now.