In the past few days, a group of special young athletes have come to the Shanghai tennis team base. They ranged in age from 11 to 14 years old, bonded because of tennis, received professional training here, and participated in competitions of comparable level - the 2023 Yonex Tennis Junior Training Camp was held here, where 20 outstanding junior tennis players from Shanghai and surrounding areas ate, lived and trained with the team members in the professional team, participating in a unique professional training camp.
The teachers of this training camp are very strong. The training camp is led by Cao Xiaoying, the coach of three-time National Games singles champion Wu Di, Wu Di, who is the head coach of Shanghai Jiushi tennis team, Shao Donglu, the head coach of the men's team of Shanghai Jiushi tennis team, and Hao Lei, the physical coach of this training camp.
Cao Yunhua, vice president and secretary general of Shanghai Tennis Association, said that through the participation of senior coaches, this event brought cutting-edge technical and tactical concepts and tennis thinking to tennis teenagers, which brought great help to the improvement of tennis.
It is understood that the young players who can participate in this training camp are also leaders of all ages, and they can enter the final training camp after layers of selection and comprehensive consideration. 11-year-old Li Zhijinghan is the youngest player in this training camp. Having just graduated from primary school this year, she has been learning tennis for 6 years and usually maintains the intensity of daily practice. In the recent 2023 "Road to Masters" junior tennis points series, she finished third. This time she came to Shanghai Jiushi tennis team to participate in the training camp, which was also her first independent camp.
"She is very excited to go to the professional team to participate in training, live in the dormitory of the Shanghai team, eat in the canteen of the Shanghai team, and train with professional athletes. And this is where her idol Zhang Zhizhen grew up, so she is particularly yearning. Li Zhijinghan's father, Li Meng, comes here every day to see his daughter participate in the training camp. Although the heat is unbearable, seeing the sunny smile on his daughter's face, he feels that it is very worthwhile, "The coaches of the training camp are very professional, and the teammates are all excellent players who have been selected through layers of selection. People of the same level can train and play together and gain a lot. ”
As one of the 20 camps, athletes who excel in this camp will have the opportunity to participate in the national tennis camp, receive more professional all-round guidance, and have the opportunity to realize their dream of becoming professional tennis players. After a few days of training and competition, the performance of Shanghai young athletes made Cao Xiaoying's eyes shine. He said: "The performance of the 12-year-old group students is particularly outstanding, such as the male team members Wu Yuting, Lou Yitian and He Xiande who won the national U12-year-old singles competition in turn, and the female team member Shi Youwen is the top three in the national U12-year-old singles group, and the doubles is the level of the champion and runner-up, which is very high. ”
As the "host" of this training camp, Li Yao, general manager of Shanghai Jiushi tennis team, said that such a youth training camp can be placed in the professional team, and it also gives the team an opportunity to select good seedlings. "This is a group of children with dreams, and we hope to provide them with a platform for them to come to our cradle of tennis elites to see how Zhang Zhizhen and Wu Di train and grow." Others see the joy of winning, but behind it is hard training year after year, day after day. Coming here to feel for themselves whether they can continue this path in the future, they will have a more direct understanding. ”
Li Yao said that if these children are willing, the team will invite them to participate in the training of the team under professional evaluation. "Shanghai Tennis needs more youth training camps like this. At present, 16 districts of Shanghai have their own tennis teams, with more than 2,000 registered players, and there are 52 tennis schools in the city, and the situation of tennis development is very good. Taji is bigger, there will be more and more outstanding athletes at the top in the future, such a training camp can allow small athletes of the same level to compete with each other, and we are matched with the best coaches, I believe that Zhang Zhizhen and Wu Di will continue to emerge in the future. ”
Editor-in-chief: Chen Hua
Source: Author: Gong Jieyun