Reporter | Yang Shu Hongji
Edit | Liu Sunan
1
In Gu Lijuan's impression, the parents who sent girls to play football initially carried different expectations, such as cultivating hobbies and exercising their personality, but in the end, most of the reasons that drove them to give up were worries about the future.
10 years ago, Gu Lijuan graduated from university and became a women's football coach at the Shanghai Putuo District Youth Football School. Today, more than 100 women's soccer players have received formal training through her hands.
The girls start playing football at no older than 10 years old. After that, among them, some of them started from Putuo Football School to become professional players, and 53 girls have become "international footballers"; there are also young players who have gone to school here, entered the university campus, and finally integrated into the urban life of Shanghai; some have given up halfway and returned to their hometowns to live a life unrelated to football.
On the evening of February 7, 2022, in the final of the 20th Women's Asian Cup, the Chinese women's football team won the Asian Cup after a gap of 16 years. The new trophy has brought the 30-year-old Putuo women's football team, which is known as the "cradle of women's football", a youth training school that has attracted attention again.
What kind of future will football bring to girls?
One
February 7, 2022 is the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, and Gu Lijuan has begun the busy new year. More than 20 members of her third and fourth grades came to the stadium as scheduled to carry out winter vacation special training.
The special training lasts from February 7 until the beginning of the school year, starting at 9 a.m. every morning, with breaks and lunch breaks at noon, and continuing training from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Usually, the girls board in school, but during the special training, they can return to the house every day.
This year's training mission is particularly important, because this team will be the main team for the next 16th Shanghai Games. Since the 12th Games, Putuo Women's Football Has pushed other participating teams and firmly held the championship trophy in their hands.
The 10-year-old No. 83 player Yin Zixin and the 9-year-old No. 20 player Cui Xinyu are the absolute main players of this team. In training, the two of them practiced with the ball to break through and intercept.
The tall Yin Zixin dribbled forward, Cui Xinyu decisively slid down to the ground, the two flipped to the ground, Cui Xinyu's expression was a little annoyed, but soon they held each other's hands and got up to continue the next round of confrontation practice. Such confrontation exercises are trained at least a hundred times in a day.
Although the age is small, in fact, the two women's football team members have been playing football for 5 years and belong to the "old team members". Yin Zixin told reporters that when he saw the boy playing football on the grass, he thought it was very fun, so he signed up for the team and liked football since then. She dreams of joining the national team and competing in the World Cup like Cristiano Ronaldo in the future.
Cui Xinyu decided to join the team after careful selection. She told reporters that when she was 4 years old, her parents had asked her: "Between studying and football, which one are you willing to choose?" She chose the latter and has since become a short-haired, dark-skinned stadium "Little Messi", galloping on the green field.
Gu Lijuan looked at the way they trained, as if she saw herself at that time.
Gu Lijuan is coaching young players in training. Image source: Jinshajiang Road Primary School 2
In 1994, Gu Lijuan entered the Shanghai Putuo District Youth Football School and became one of the "first generation" team members of the Putuo women's football team, under the tutelage of Qian Hui and Zhang Xiang, two coaches, who were the founders of the "combination of sports and education" model of Putuo women's football.
Just a year earlier, after graduating from the Shanghai Institute of Sport, Qian Hui, a former Henan female footballer, came to Jinshajiang Road Primary School in Putuo District to become the coach of the school's women's team.
At that time, women's football was just emerging around the world, and at the World University Games held that year, women's football competitions were first included in the Universiade. Two years later, the Chinese women's football team competed in the second Women's World Cup and won the palace army. Women's football has therefore received attention in China, and the reputation of "sonorous roses" has spread throughout the country.
Before Qian Hui and Zhang Xiang came to Putuo women's football team, there were a total of 11 players in the putuo football school women's team, and there was no full-time women's football coach. According to the Morning News, after Qian Hui entered the school, he spent three or four years digging seedlings in primary schools in the district. Subsequently, the number of members of the women's soccer team expanded to more than 30 people.
But in the face of the reality of further education, whether the girls can continue to play has become the main concern of the coaching team, the school and parents at that time.
Qian Hui said in an interview with the "Morning News": "People who are engaged in sports are most worried about having no way out, and when they become coaches, the most anxious thing is the way out for the team members." Recruit the children in, give them an import, can't help but give them an exit! ”
Coach Qian Hui led the players to the championship. Courtesy of respondents
Fortunately, with Qian Hui's continuous appeal, the sports department and education department of Shanghai Putuo District have worked together to open up the passage for these young players to advance to school.
Li Haijun, the current principal of Jinshajiang Road Primary School in Putuo District, Shanghai, told Interface News that young players receive initial training at Jinshajiang Road Primary School, after which they can directly enter Meilong Middle School for junior high school education, and can directly enter Cao Yang No. 2 Middle School at the high school stage. Since then, the Putuo women's football team has formed a "one-dragon" sports and education combination model in which Jin Xiao is the dragon's tail, Mei Zhong is the dragon's body, and Cao Yang's second middle school is the dragon's head.
For Shanghai parents, this is an attractive path to further education. This model also guarantees the sustainability of Putuo women's football team to continue to cultivate football talents for 29 years.
It was precisely because of the lack of worry about further education that Gu Lijuan was able to enter the Putuo women's football team for training when she was young, "although the climate of women's football had not yet formed at that time."
In putuo women's football, Gu Lijuan trained day after day, worked overtime after class to make up for homework, and faced an independent boarding life after late self-study.
She is also a beneficiary of the "one-dragon" combination of sports and education. After completing the training of Putuo women's football team, she did not enter the professional team like her teammates, but was admitted to the sports training major of Shanghai University of Sport, became a college student, and realized the "university dream".
Principal Li Haijun revealed that in fact, through the training system of Putuo women's football team, young players have the opportunity to enter the football club in addition to being selected to become professional football players in sports schools. In addition, they can also pass the general college entrance examination or the physical education college entrance examination and enter the corresponding university.
According to the data, so far, Putuo women's football team has sent 53 athletes to the national team, 49 to the first-line sports teams and clubs, and 176 to the second-line sports team. Among the women's football team members who have realized the "university dream", there are many students from famous universities such as Fudan University and Tongji University.
Three
When summarizing the growth process of Putuo women's football team in the past 30 years, Li Haijun believes that the success of the "one-stop" model lies in the formation of a mechanism for joint efforts and mutual coordination within and outside the school.
He further explained that in the process of advocating sports in the country, many universities have set up women's professional football teams and need women's football talents, which also provides direction for girls to volunteer in colleges in the future, which is an important reason for football schools to attract children to play football.
"The future of Chinese football is on campus, and in the context of the combination of sports and education, the future of football players is guaranteed." Li Haijun said.
In fact, as of 2018, Chinese football has established 14 national women's football youth training centers in Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Shandong and other provinces and cities, and will establish a women's football international youth training center in the United States, while hiring 4 experts in women's football youth training as women's football youth training directors.
The reporter noted that most of the 14 women's football training centers have cooperated with local schools, such as the chengdu football association women's football youth training center daily training arrangements in Tanghu Middle School and Wenjiang Experimental Middle School, the existing U18, U16, U14, U12, U11 five different age echelons, a total of sixteen coaches (including two foreign teachers), a total of more than 100 players and 3 team doctors; Wuhan Women's Football Youth Training Center and the famous school Wuhan Yucai High School and Wuhan Qiyi Middle School (junior high school) cooperation team.
At the same time, the Chinese Football Association also held the U-13 women's football elite training camp at the training base of the Chinese Football Association from July 20 to July 29, 2021, which is the normalization stage of epidemic prevention and control, following the successful holding of the U-16, U-15, U-14 single-age training camp, the Chinese Football Association organized the national training camp for this age group for the first time.
In the 2021 Chinese Football Association U-13 Women's Football Elite Training Camp, 6 female footballers in Shanghai passed the talent assessment and were named "Stars of Hope". Their information is entered into the big data platform, and the Chinese Football Association will further strengthen the tracking and growth record of talented players.
The young players of putuo women's football team are often men's football players of the same age. Courtesy of respondents
Of course, in the face of a more diversified path to talent, Gu Lijuan has also witnessed the departure of many talented players.
"10 years ago, parents who sent girls to play football had more direct ideas, wanted to go to school, wanted to find a way out for their children, and today's parents want their children to find pure happiness in this sport, even if this highly confrontational sport may bring injuries to their children." Gu Lijuan observed this change, "There are also talented players who do leave because of uncertainty about the future, but with the maturity of the talent model, they are more concerned about whether their skills can be improved, and therefore there is pressure." ”
Li Haijun pointed out to Interface News that the success of football youth training lies not only in the training on campus, but also in the cooperation of resources outside the campus.
Gu Lijuan said that as more and more children are willing to play football, there is a gap in youth football coaches. Generally, a team needs at least 2 coaches, but the reality is that one coach picks up the beams and manages the child's training and life at the same time.
In addition, Li Haijun pointed out that the construction of football-related facilities should be accelerated. With the success of the Putuo women's football "one-stop" sports and education combination model, under its radiation driving effect, several schools around Jin Xiao have also carried out the exploration of campus football, more and more children to participate in this sport, but the lack of space has become a major bottleneck.
The interface news reporter noted that the "14th Five-Year Plan for The Development of Sports in Shanghai" proposes that by 2025, Shanghai's comprehensive sports strength and international influence will be significantly enhanced, and it will basically build a world-famous sports city. The plan proposes to increase the sports and fitness facilities around the citizens, and vigorously promote the construction of community civic fitness centers, citizen fitness trails, citizen stadiums, citizen puzzle fitness gardens, sports parks, urban greenways, bicycle lanes, and venues and facilities such as football, ice and snow sports.
Li Haijun revealed that with the improvement of the fame of Putuo women's football team, the support policies of relevant departments are about to be in place, and the demand for multiple football venues has also been supported by higher-level government departments.
In 2022, the General Office of the State General Administration of Sport issued the Notice on Announcing the First Batch of National Football Development Key Cities during the 14th Five-Year Plan Period, identifying nine cities including Shanghai, Chengdu, Wuhan, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Changchun, Chongqing, Dalian and Qingdao as the first batch of national football development key cities during the 14th Five-Year Plan period.
Gu Lijuan said: "As long as these girls don't give up playing football, I won't give up being a youth women's football coach." ”