Liuyang's 10-year-old "Little Iron Man" made his debut in the competition

Red Net Moment, October 19 (Reporter Wu Sijing Liuyang Rong Media Center Reporter Jiang Hui) On October 16, the Chengdu-Chongqing Twin Cities Little Ironman Invitational Tournament opened at the Guancang Triathlon Stadium in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, and more than 200 "Little Ironmen" competed fiercely on the field.

Li Simon, a 10-year-old "little iron man" from Liuyang, won the fourth place in the U11 men's ultra-short distance group in his first competition. From learning to swim and ride a bicycle at the age of 9 to completing his first triathlon at the age of 10 and winning his first Triathlon medal, the young Simon Lee has a bigger goal - to become an excellent "old iron man".

Fore

Liuyang's youngsters won the fourth place in the men's U11 ultra-short distance group

On October 16, autumn was high, and more than 200 "little ironmen" were warming up before the game on the Guancang Triathlon. Next, they need to complete the challenges of swimming, cycling and running in a row.

It is reported that this invitational tournament set up U9, U11, U13, U15 these four different age groups, and set up a men's and women's short distance, ultra-short distance, mini distance 3 different distance schedules, is the "little iron man" is one of the few swimming competitions in open water. The atmosphere of the international standard competition and the professional competition is very challenging for the young players participating.

This competition was the first regular game of Simon Lee's "Iron Man" career, and he was both nervous and excited about it, and began training and preparing for the game more than a month in advance. This summer, Li Simon learned to freestyle under the leadership of coach Li Xinyu, usually training in the pool. But for this competition, under the premise of ensuring safety, he would swim in the Liuyang River at 6 o'clock every morning to adapt to the open water environment in advance. Every day after school, I also went straight to the training base to practice running and cycling.

"Simon Lee is very hardworking and has made rapid progress, although he has not learned to swim for a long time, but now his speed of 1700-meter breaststroke is comparable to the speed of adult women." Li Xinyu said.

"I feel like I can finish the race." Li Simon participated in the U11 ultra-short distance race of 8.7 kilometers, and he needed to complete a 300-meter swimming, a 6.8-kilometer bicycle ride and a 1.6-kilometer run at one time. The three items were less difficult than when he trained on a daily basis. However, due to venue limitations, Li Simon had never practiced systematically in Liuyang before, but he was not worried at all, and set himself a small goal: "I hope to get the 10th place." ”

At 13:00 on the 16th, with a gunshot, the young contestants set off in groups.

The first event was swimming, and as soon as he got into the water, Li Simon encountered the first problem - because he was not adapted to unfamiliar waters, the speed of departure was somewhat slow, the waves came from time to time, and in order to overcome the resistance in the water, he needed to exert more strength every time he waved his arm. Seeing the other players catch up, he began to become agitated.

As soon as he landed, there was no time to rest, Li Simon quickly rushed to the change area, changed his personal equipment independently, and pushed the bicycle non-stop to the next project. The 6.8 km cycling track has 3 steep hills, which test the athletes' physical strength distribution and explosiveness. For Li Simon, who likes to ride, this is his advantage project, although the new bike has not yet been fully run-in, but after getting on the bike, he pedaled hard, sped forward, and quickly mastered the rhythm of the race.

As the race was halfway through, the fatigue of the body surged up, but Li Simon knew that the more tired he was, the more he could not relax in the slightest, and he instantly accelerated when he went uphill, catching up with 6 players in one breath, riding more and more vigorously.

When he entered the running stage, Li Simon began to feel physically weak, but he knew that he could not stop, and he had to bury his head and run forward. In the end, Li Simon finished fourth in the men's U11 ultra-short distance group with a total of 37 minutes and 19 seconds.

Self-pressure

In one year, he grew from a sports "little white" to a triathlon

The 10-year-old Simon Lee has reached 160 centimeters tall, making him particularly tall among his peers.

However, a year ago, Li Simon was still a sports "little white" who was not tall, could not exert his strength, and his physical fitness was not strong, and his dream at that time was to become an e-sports athlete.

"I don't want to be a little fat guy." Talking about the reason for the triathlon of "getting into the pit" (internet buzzword, which means focusing on one thing) Triathlon, Lee Simon is embarrassed to say that he wants to stay in shape through exercise.

"His physical coordination is not good, and he doesn't know how to make a long jump, so he can only jump 1.2 meters." Li Simon's mother Guo Yao said that in order to improve the child's physical fitness, after communicating with her son, in March 2020, she sent Li Simon to a sports club for systematic physical training, "hoping to improve his motor coordination ability." ”

Monday to Friday, an hour of physical training every day, Li Simon never cried out tired, and even had to practice after class. Under the guidance of the coach, I learned a bicycle that I did not learn in the summer, and in less than half an hour, Li Simon was able to ride alone, "I especially like to go downhill, and the wind blowing in front of me is particularly cool, which makes me feel like flying." ”

The changes that sports have brought to Simon Lee are obvious - they have grown taller, and people have become more confident and sunny. "He had never signed up for a school sports day before, but this time he signed up for several sports." Guo Yao said with a smile that when the coach told her that Li Simon's standing long jump result reached 1.7 meters, she felt incredulous.

"Purely practicing a single project, students have no motivation, so 'Iron Three' is more like a small goal, pushing them to continuously improve their comprehensive ability." Li Xinyu said that seeing that Li Simon's progress was so obvious, he proposed to Guo Yao that Li Simon try to participate in triathlon.

"I want to give it a try." After the communication, Li Simon affirmatively told Guo Yao: he wants to practice triathlon.

"We respect our child's decision, and once he makes up his mind, he will do it seriously." Guo Yao's WeChat circle of friends is full of Bits and Pieces of Li Simon's training, running under the scorching sun, swimming in streams and rivers, riding 81 kilometers... For training, Li Simon did not slack off in the slightest, and constantly pressurized himself.

"It's good to be able to finish the race safely and smoothly." Guo Yao admitted that for this competition, she only hoped that the child could successfully complete the entire schedule, but did not expect to give her such a big surprise, "The child himself feels a little sorry and thinks that he can achieve better results, but I am proud of him!"

Features

Exercise replaces electronics and allows children to harvest health and happiness

"In the past, children would often play with their mobile phones, and after a long time, their eyesight would decline, and they would hunch over their shoulders." Guo Yao told reporters that after more than a year of sports, the biggest change brought to Li Simon was to put down the mobile phone. Nowadays, mobile games have long been left behind by Simon Lee, and whenever he has time, he will go out to ride with his friends, and his dream has changed from "e-sports athlete" to becoming an "old iron man".

In fact, it's not just Simon Lee, according to a survey of teenagers in a random range by relevant institutions, 67.3% of teenagers believe that they rely on mobile phones or the Internet. With the popularity of smartphones, children are spending more and more time on technology products.

"At present, there are more than 80 primary school students doing basic physical training in our club, and the training time is one hour after school." Li Xinyu said that the exercise made students put down their mobile phones and become happier and more confident. To this end, parents must not use mobile phones as "coaxing artifacts" or pursue "holiday mobile phone freedom", not only to guide children to use mobile phones reasonably, but also to take children outdoors to cultivate their sports hobbies.