Children are addicted as soon as they dip The coach's class depends on grabbing: too many ice babies, too few coaches

The reporter visited and found that how hot is Beijing ice hockey? There are more and more clubs, and gold medal coaches have to rely on grabbing.

Clubs are popping up everywhere

There are twice as many teams as there were 6 years ago

"Look, the thickness of these order books says it all." Liu Zheng, manager of the Capital People's Club, stacked the "Beijing Youth Hockey Club League Order Book" since 2016 and placed it on his desk. The reporter saw that with the chronological order, the 6 order books went from thin to thick.

"When our club was first founded in 2016, there were only 10 coaches, 84 children, and the game was made up of 6 teams. Liu Zheng said that today, the club has more than 40 coaches, and the ice hockey team has expanded to 40 teams and about 700 children. "As can be seen from the number of hockey teams, Ice hockey in Beijing has developed very rapidly in recent years."

The reporter flipped through the order book in turn every year and found that there were more and more registration photos of young players in the order book. In 2016, a total of 130 teams from 19 clubs and about 1,700 young players participated in the Beijing Youth Hockey Club League; in 2021, this number became 25 clubs, 256 teams, and about 3,600 young players. In other words, there are twice as many league teams today as there were six years ago.

The lively scene of "blossoming everywhere" is closely related to Beijing's new policy of accelerating the development of ice and snow sports in recent years. On March 7, 2017, Beijing Municipality's "Opinions on Accelerating the Development of Ice and Snow Sports (2016-2022)" and seven supporting plans were officially introduced, proposing the "1248" goal for the development of ice and snow sports in Beijing, that is, to create an ice hockey business card, establish two sets of competitive teams, create 40 billion yuan of industrial income, and achieve 8 million ice and snow population.

When talking about why ice hockey was chosen as Beijing's "city card", Sun Xuecai, former director of the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau, said that ice hockey is the most solid foundation and the most vigorous ice and snow project in Beijing. The reporter learned that after more than ten years of development, the Beijing Youth Ice Hockey Club League has become the largest and longest youth ice hockey event in Asia. The gradual growth of teenagers has also brought Beijing adult ice hockey to a higher level: in 2020, Beijing won the men's national championship for the first time and successfully defended its title in 2021.

Children become addicted as soon as they dip it

No matter how busy you are studying, you must insist on stepping on the ice and swinging the stick

"Defense – good! Hurry up, hurry up again! At 5:50 p.m., under the shouts of the coach, the children quickly slid, controlled, passed and shot on the ice rink of the Xinghong Ao Ice Activity Center, and the ice balls sometimes hit the wall of the board and made a crisp hitting sound, which resounded throughout the stadium. The reporter looked around, and among the nearly 50 children in the audience, the youngest girl was only more than 5 years old.

Chen Jiaming, who is in the fourth grade of primary school in Xicheng District, is 9 and a half years old and has been studying ice hockey for five years. He told reporters that he was fascinated by the sport the first time he went on the ice and currently trains 3 times a week.

The intensity of such ice hockey training makes Chen Jiaming's schedule quite tense. "Mom said it was okay to play hockey, but it couldn't affect learning. Every time I go to ice hockey training days, I always use my time to learn. I really like hockey, and no matter how busy I am, I will insist on stepping on the ice and swinging the stick. Chen Jiaming said. In fact, when the reporter met him, he had just finished his math homework at the hockey club.

"I like speed and collision, full of passion", "The classmates are also playing, they call me", "I feel like a warrior", "I like group sports, and I am very affectionate when I see the team members"... The reporter asked nine "ice dolls", most of their reasons for liking hockey are simple, and their faces are full of smiles of true love. One of the children couldn't even take off their skates when they got off the field, and shouted excitedly in the corridor of the ice rink: "I'm getting better and better at hockey!" ”

The father of 8-year-old Ice Baby Mark told reporters that after playing ice hockey, the child's physical fitness has improved, the sense of teamwork has been significantly enhanced, and he realizes that the strategy and cooperation on the ice are more important than the individual show. "That's enough. For me, I care more about whether he likes it or not than whether he's played hockey lately or not. ”

The training market demand is large

Gold Medal Coach lessons now depend on grabbing

"I'm really sorry, the class of the foreign teacher is already full, and I really can't make an appointment!" Less than a week after the start of school, Manager Zheng of an ice hockey club near Pingfang Road had already rejected more than a dozen parents who wanted to give their children a small lesson. He said that the curriculum of many coaches in the club has basically been fixed since the beginning of the school year.

"I was able to stand from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. at my busiest time, and I averaged more than 7 hours a day on ice last summer." Coach Wang of the Beijing Knights Club told reporters that he often only had 15 minutes to pull out the rice from the afternoon to the evening, "even so, it is impossible to meet the needs of all the ice dolls." ”

About 80% of the ice hockey coaches in Beijing are from the northeast, mainly in Qiqihar and Harbin. Most of them are very good hockey players, and some have even won the first place in the national men's ice hockey league or tournament for several years in a row. But for parents, the sports career of the gold medal coach is only one aspect, coaching success is more important, and coaches who have brought out many championship teams are often more sought after.

Why is the gold medal coach's lesson so hard to grab? The limited time to get on ice is key. The reporter learned that many clubs can attend small classes before 7:30 p.m., after which coaches need to take big classes. Children usually go to the ice rink at 5 p.m. A parent of Bingwa helplessly said that the parents around them wanted to rush one-on-one at the most golden time, but the coach could not meet the needs of dozens of children in two and a half hours. "There are more and more children playing hockey. The booming club is eager to divide an ice rink into more small pieces with a blue line for two or three teams to train at the same time. ”

A parent who is trying to get his child into the A team of the club told reporters that the big class of several people is to cooperate, while the one-on-one small class is to practice skills. Small lessons can help children recognize their position in the team and quickly improve their performance within the club. "Having invested so much time, effort and cost, I would definitely like him to have the opportunity to play or perform well in important games." The parent said.

Ice hockey thinks hot and cold

Focus on cultivating children's "ball quotients"

Driven by the Beijing Winter Olympics, more and more children are participating in ice hockey. The reporter visited a number of ice hockey clubs and found that practicing on ice 3 times a week is the normal training of children, and some children can even practice on ice 5 times a week, once for up to 4 hours. This level of energy and time, even in countries such as Canada, Russia, and the Czech Republic, where the level of ice hockey is very developed, only families who aim to become professional golfers will invest.

"A lot of parents complain that it's hard to get a puck personal lesson, and my advice is that it shouldn't start until the child is 12 to 14 years old." Paul Flyndor, who has more than 20 years of experience in hockey, has been coaching hockey in Beijing for seven years, with nearly 600 ice dolls. In his view, hockey is a team sport, and everyone must participate and cooperate with each other, not just want their children to be the best players. "One-on-one instruction can make a child feel good, but once he faces a player who is moving fast on the field, he will still crash into it and fall. Learning to play hockey isn't just about learning skills, that's why a team environment is so important. ”

An ice hockey practitioner also told reporters that most of the children who play ice hockey in China have determined their own game positions at a very early age, such as forwards or defenders, compared with children of the same age in Northern Europe or Canada who can often play in any position. "Premature positional playing training can indeed allow children under 10 years old to improve their grades quickly, but it is easy to lack stamina. We have noticed that in the past two years, the Municipal Ice Association has begun to require children to flexibly change the position of the game at any time, and pay more attention to the 'ball dealer'. ”

"My biggest advice to Chinese parents is to take it easy. Ice hockey is a team sport, it should be fun, it doesn't need your child to be the best child, the experience is the most important. Paul Flyndall said.

Source Beijing Evening News

Reporter Yuan Lu also took photos

Process Editor Wu Yue