Xi'an, 11 July (Xinhua) -- Life cannot be "sloppy," and dreams never give up
——Interview sports movie "In the Octagon" starring sloppy
Xinhua News Agency reporter Zheng Xin
Sloppy, is a character in the currently popular sports-themed inspirational film "In the Octagon", who understands the true meaning of sports inspiring and changing fate after experiencing setbacks and ups and downs; Sloppy, also the real name of the character's teenage actor, is a member of the strong baseball Angels baseball team who came out of the mountains and the 2020 award-winning documentary "Awesome! The protagonist of "Teenager".
From sports crossover movies, from baseball crossover mixed martial arts, and sloppy from "home plate" into the octagon and to center stage, at the age of 18 who has only turned 18 a few months ago. In an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency a few days ago, he said that it is sports that increase the visibility of Shanliva and find a way out for them to fight hard for their dreams.
Shadow man
"I am sloppy, my name in the movie is sloppy, and my real name is also sloppy."
This sentence has become the usual opening statement for this dark-skinned boy to participate in every post-screening event for days. "Using my real name as the name of the character in the movie is the idea of director Wang Baoqiang, and he may feel that the name itself is very 'tiger' and fits well with the character's personality."
Sloppy (back row, second from right) takes a group photo with some cast and crew of the movie "In the Octagon Cage". Photo courtesy of interviewee
Playing a young mixed martial arts athlete who has just debuted in the movie, his sloppy figure and unyielding momentum in his eyes are very convincing. He confessed that in order to restore the image of a mountain boy forced by living conditions in the story who lacked food and clothing, he lost almost 30 pounds in a short period of time and received more than three months of mixed martial arts training. "Weight loss and training are very hard, but seeing the effect presented in the movie, these hardships are not in vain." He said.
As for the stubborn temperament, it is sloppy and innate. "It was already like this when I didn't practice baseball." At the age of 12, Sloppy came to Beijing from Ningxia in the northwest to join the "Strong Base" team. He said, "Great! "Teenager" is a true record of his training and life, but the sloppiness of "In the Octagon" is closer to his state when he first came into contact with sports.
Appeared in two acclaimed and popular sports movies in a row, and sloppy "naturally strong" natural colors are rare in domestic film actors. Recently, he has become a star in baseball circles. In his opinion, although movies have added a possibility for future development, baseball, a sport that changed his destiny, is still his main business.
"Since the screening of "In the Octagon", I have put a little more energy into the film, sometimes running two or three events a day. After all this time, I definitely want to go back to the baseball team and follow the coaches to improve the level of playing and coaching. ”
Awesome
In June this year, Sloppy traveled to the Philippines with Team Strong Baseball to compete in the U12 category of the Asian Zone of the "Pony World Baseball League". It is one of the largest youth baseball and softball events in the world, with more than 500,000 junior players competing each year.
"In the past, when I went abroad to compete, I always thought that I would find my own gap through exchanges with foreign players, but this is actually an opportunity to discover our strengths and strengths." Sloppy said. Now, with the increase of young players in the team, he has taken on the job of assistant coach of the junior age team, and cooperated with Sun Lingfeng, the founder of the strong baseball angel baseball team and the former captain of the Chinese baseball national team, to cultivate a new generation of young players.
Sloppy (first from left), Sun Lingfeng (middle) and team members. Photo courtesy of interviewee
He always used the tough field and equipment he used in his first practice to encourage his juniors. "If you can't endure hardship, you can't play baseball." Sloppy said, "In this big family, the eyes of every team member reveal that they do not admit defeat, and they dare to fight and fight in the face of the strongest opponent in the game, and put the interests of the collective in the most important position." That's our strength, and that's why we've won multiple baseball championship trophies in China. ”
Just as Sloppy shouted in the movie "Born like a weed, indomitable", the team members can stay, play well, and do their best for the same goal to "call the destiny", whether in "Awesome! Youth" or "In the Octagon Cage" has been fully interpreted. "Baseball and mixed martial arts, one is a team sport, the other is an individual sport, but the same thing for me is what is played out in the movie: we have to cheer Chinese on the international stage, in sports that used to be dominated by foreigners." Sloppy said.
juvenile
Perhaps because he has more ups and downs than his average peer, Sloppy has a calm that does not quite match his age when talking to people. Still, when it comes to chasing his dream toward the highest hall of baseball, he returns to the appearance of the teenager who is hungry for victory.
"When I first came to Qiangbang, I couldn't even speak a few words in Mandarin, let alone communicate with hundreds of viewers like I do now." Ma Hu said that in more than five years, sports has not only brought him out of the West Sea Gu Mountain, but also allowed him to see the world with an eye-level eye. "In this world, I can be the best player."
For him, sports have brought countless changes to mountain babies like him, the most important of which is to temper the mind. "Whether it's baseball or mixed martial arts, sports not only make me run faster, jump higher and think more actively, but it also makes me more tolerant and accepting people and things that are different from us. That's what I want to pass on to new people after I become a coach. ”
Sloppy in directing the game. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Umali)
In the movie "In the Octagon Cage", the club students shed tears when they learned that they had to give up practicing mixed martial arts, which is also one of the important "tear points" of the whole film. Sloppy admits that he is very aware of the loss and regret of not being able to continue to pursue his dreams, and because he does not want to be overwhelmed by this emotion, he tells himself to seize every second of his life, whether in front of the camera or in the arena.
He said that "finding a way" is a topic discussed in both of his films, and as a teenager with a hard journey, he knows that it is not so easy for peers with similar backgrounds to see the world or be seen by the world, even now.
"No matter what kind of expertise, the brilliance in them needs to get along and guide to tap out, which requires more Bole like Coach Sun Lingfeng and Xiang Tenghui (played by Wang Baoqiang in "Octagonal Cage") to maximize the potential of children." Sloppy said that he hopes to become such a person in the future, and is trying his best to become such a person.