Yang Shuhui joined Ligue 1 Club Suva O'Charente. Photo by Ma Xingjian, a reporter for the European Times
On January 22, Yang Shuhui, who joined the Ligue 1 SuvaO club, made her Ligue 1 debut and scored a goal just 2 minutes after the debut. On the 28th, The European Times, the largest Chinese-language media in Europe, published an exclusive interview with Yang Shuhui. Ms. Yang, 21, told her story of life, training and the arena in France. The full text of this website is reproduced as follows:
From the origin of the French highway in front of Notre Dame Cathedral, follow the navigation directions for 455 kilometers to the southwest, or start at the Place de la Ilton in Bordeaux and head northeast for 123 kilometers, and the trail will come to a French city called "Soyaux" in the charente department of southwestErn France.
Like the word Paris, which was derived from Latin, soyaux is derived from Latin, a land that dates from the fifth to sixth centuries AD, where the first census in 1789 showed 490 people living scatteredly, and by the nineteenth century, urbanization was gradually unfolding. Today's Suvao is only a small city with a population of about 10,000, and in terms of scale, it naturally cannot be compared with metropolises such as Paris and Bordeaux; in terms of fame, it cannot be compared with Cognac, which is also a small city 40 kilometers away but sits on the aura of brandy.
"There are very few Chinese here, about 50 people, Chinese restaurants and an Asian shop," said Mr. Liang, who has lived in Suvao for years and is in his sixties, while driving.
"Small territory, few Chinese" is a significant feature of a large number of small French cities, including Suvao, for Chinese who have studied and worked in these cities, in addition to the two-point and one-line "school/unit - residence" programmed life, the remaining time is mostly the loneliness of "good mountains, good water and boring". When they "survived" this experience and were in a big city with "big territory and many Chinese", they would feel that the Chinese heart and Chinese stomach finally found their belonging, and sometimes attached a sentence similar to "but if you have not experienced the life of a small city, your travel to France is incomplete, and after experiencing the tranquility and far-reaching of small cities, you will know that the traffic in big cities is not necessarily a good thing for you to improve yourself".
'I think there will be a lot less distraction for you here, which will be good for you to adapt quickly to France and play with peace of mind.
"Hahaha, yes," Yang Shuhui, who was sitting in the back seat of the car, responded with a smile.
One
On December 25, 2021, staff at Shanghai's Pudong Airport encountered a strange incident in which a Chinese girl named Yang Shuhui, dressed in a white sweatshirt and wearing a gray scarf, was checking in to depart from here for France. There was no problem with her ID, her luggage was a little overweight but it didn't bother, but no matter how you looked it up, you couldn't find her ticket information.
21-year-old Yang Shuhui and other girls of this age group are no different from the outside, her smile is full of sunshine, her eyes are full of agility, and simple clothing will release the vitality of life without reservation. But unlike most of her peers, Yang Shuhui is a professional footballer who played as a left-back for shanghai women's football team and was selected for the Chinese women's U19 national team in 2019, this time going to France to join Ligue 1 Suva O'Charente.
"Looking again, I found that it was the club that mistyped my name when booking the ticket, omitted the u in the middle of Hui, and happened to be the Christmas holiday here (France), and finally contacted the airline and changed the name when there were only 10 minutes left," Yang Shuhui said. Recalling the scene at the airport at that time, she confessed that "I was always very scared, what to do if I couldn't fly, I had to wait a long time, and I had to wait very late to participate in the team's training, but fortunately I caught up in the end."
After a dozen hours of flight, Yang Shuhui's flight arrived in Paris smoothly, and after a relay by train and car to her destination Suvao, she updated social media for the first time in this brand new land, featuring six pictures and the words "Good luck", as well as a four-leaf clover emoji symbolizing good luck.
Yang Shuhui competes in the Chinese national team. Courtesy of Yang Shuhui
Two
If you temporarily put aside the identity of professional footballer, Yang Shuhui, who has just arrived in France, is actually no different from a novice international student, embarking on the road of finding her dreams alone without relatives, and she is fortunate to meet a reliable and weighty person who helps her solve the trivialities of life, this person is her translator Liang Jianhua:
"I am very grateful to the club for finding a translator, I made my own meals with one hand to count out, many times the translators take me to eat at home, many meals are eaten at home by translators," Yang Shuhui said.
In life, they get along like relatives, Yang Shuhui calls Liang Jianhua and his wife "father" and "mother", and they are happy to harvest a dry daughter when their daughter is not around.
"It's not easy for Yang to play here alone, you young people have a chance, you still have to support her more," Liang Jianhua said.
Stepping through the first challenge of basic life, Yang Shuhui ushered in the opportunity to experience whether those legendary French romances and efficiencies are real:
"Romance is indeed everywhere, when you rest and go shopping, you will often see that kind of old husband and wife holding hands on the side of the road, which is still rare in China, but it is very common here."
"The matter of doing a bank card, in China, I have heard that it will be slower, but I did not expect it to be so slow, and it will end in about 15 minutes to 20 minutes in China." But here, from going in to out, it took about an hour and a half, after the end of the card I can not get, the password I do not know, and later learned that this card can be sent to the mailbox after eight days, the password and the card or separate to send, this thing memory is quite deep. ”
The different cultural and social models between the East and the West meet Yang Shuhui's expectations for "cool" staying in the ocean, and for almost every newcomer, this difference is both an eye-opening magic wand and a fuse for detonating tear glands:
"Before coming to France, I followed the Shanghai team in The rest adjustment in China, came to France the next day and the team for the first training, their confrontation is very strong, the ball speed is very fast, it will lead to a fast pace of the game, that day two practices and confrontation, my state is very poor, it can be said that passing ten balls and losing nine feet. After the coach asked me if I could adapt, I felt that I could not adapt to the team, worried about my ability, so I cried in the room once. ”
Returning to the essence of a professional footballer, the student space belonging to Yang Shuhui only exists in the small villa she shares with her teammates and roommates, and when she steps out of the residence and steps onto the green field, she needs to use the thinking style of a professional player to demand herself.
Yang Shuhui poses with Roommate and teammate Argentine striker Julieta. Courtesy of Yang Shuhui
Three
Of the 48 years of women's Ligue 1 history, 41 of them can be seen at Suva Ochaland, a club founded in 1968 that last won the Ligue 1 title in 1984. Despite its long history, Today's Suvao Club, like many established clubs, faces a competitive bottleneck, scoring 31 goals in the 12 rounds of the season[1], while the defensive hazards restrict the team's record, but also create an opportunity for Yang Shuhui to land in Ligue 1.
"The opportunity came suddenly and the agent told me that Suvao FC in Ligue 1 was looking for defensive players, Ligue 1 is a strong league in the world and I also wanted to go out and exercise and improve myself. The club didn't tell me the reason for choosing me, but I think it may be my hard work," Yang Shuhui said of the reason why she joined.
Before starting from China, Yang Shuhui made a clear plan for the first period of her career in the west that will last for two and a half years, that is, "first integrate into the team as soon as possible, slowly buy time, and then prove herself in a limited time, and then slowly occupy the main position according to her own efforts." So even after the first training is obviously uncomfortable and sheds tears for this, she can quickly adjust her mentality and face the dilemma with the right attitude:
"Fortunately, I have done psychological construction, these difficulties will not affect my long-term planning, I have thought of these before going abroad, sad to be sad, anxious to return to anxious, but still think of fighting, work hard towards this goal, coupled with everyone's comfort and encouragement, now getting better and better every day."
On January 9, Yang Shuhui made her debut in the French Cup, and her debut left foot shot hit the crossbar in the 78th minute of the game, rubbing shoulders with the good luck of the court that was the debut goal, but this foot helped her teammates score points, and the team finally won 2-1.
"The head coach was very happy after the game, saying that he wanted to give Yang more opportunities, and during the training they found that her left and right foot skills were excellent, and the team was very satisfied with today's performance," Liang Jianhua said when recalling the game.
Coach Tsvetkovic made good on his promise on January 22, and in the team's home match against paris FC, third place in the league, Yang Shuhui made her Ligue 1 debut in the second half, and just two minutes after she came on the scene, the team scored a goal.
"Yang Shuhui has a very positive attitude on the field, dares to fight and dare to fight, and does not fall behind at all against players who are half a head taller than her. After the game, I saw local fans greeting her on the sidelines and giving her encouragement, indicating that her performance and personality were recognized by local fans, and I was particularly happy to see it," said Gao Leiting, a Chinese women's football fan who came from the Netherlands.
While Yang Shuhui is moving forward according to her own plan, the club has not stopped in bringing in reinforcements, especially in the introduction of defenders. For this, Yang Shuhui admitted that football as a competitive project, the team has been introducing defenders themselves can not be without pressure.
"In fact, it is very realistic, you have this ability, the team will use you." Or to improve their ability, and then to fight, to seize the position of the main force. Try to convert pressure into motivation, after all, if you choose, you have to find a way to do it well, even if there are many difficulties, this is what needs to be accepted," Yang Shuhui said.
Yang Shuhui made her Ligue 1 debut as a substitute in the team's match against Paris FC. Photo by European Times reporter Gao Leiting
Four
The day after helping the team reverse the win, Yang Shuhui wrote on social media: "I am very happy that the team can reverse the score and win, Continue d'essayer". Like many young people, Yang Shuhui will update her dynamics from time to time, some focus on football itself, some highlight the life points, but no matter what platform and what language is used, her signature reads "Everything is the best arrangement".
Shui Qingxia, the head coach of the Chinese women's football team who coached Yang Shuhui in Shanghai and now leads the national team to the Asian Cup, said in an interview with the AFC in mid-January that she supports players to play abroad, which not only helps players deepen their understanding of modern football, but also an opportunity to communicate with international players.
"I hope that more players will choose to play abroad in the future," shui said.
At the end of the interview, when asked whether it is the best arrangement for her career to choose liuyang in combination with coach Shui Qingxia's point of view, Yang Shuhui said that whether it is from football itself or language and culture, it is very difficult to stay in yang, but it will be a good thing to use a good mentality and think from another angle.
"I don't think every choice is very important, but how to do it after making a choice, this is very important. Every step you take, you feel like you're slowly going uphill, you're improving, you feel like you're growing, that's good," Yang Shuhui said.
[1] There are 12 teams in the women's Ligue 1, and the season lasts from September to June of the following year, with a total of 22 rounds and 132 matches, most of which are held on weekends and Sundays.
[2]. In addition to Yang Shuhui, the current players of the Chinese women's football team are: Tang Jiali (Premier League Tottenham women's football team), Shen Mengyu (Su Super Celtic women's football team), Shen Monroe (Portuguese Premier League Oren Athletic women's football team).