As a non-professional physical education teacher in a mountain village, Chen Yuanyang taught wrestling by himself, insisted on taking students to carry out wrestling training for 40 years in a harsh environment, teaching students according to their aptitude, selecting talents in the first line, and training in the first line, so that students could go out of the mountains and become outstanding wrestlers in the province and even the whole country, completely changing their fate, and fully embodying the excellent character of perseverance, persistence, selflessness and love for students.
The picture shows Chen Yuanyang's students going out to participate in the competition.
On March 28, when he saw Chen Yuanyang again, he happily shared a happy news: two wrestling students he taught, Chen Zhijie and Yang Ziyi, embarked on a journey to Zibo to participate in the U17 competition. Knowing the news, Chen Yuanyang was extremely excited, he was not only happy for the students, but also honored for his lifelong career.
Forty years ago, Chen Yuanyang recalled his "wrestling" life, and couldn't help but sigh: choose one thing, and spend his whole life through ups and downs.
Sprout - Grow and grow your hobby into a lifelong career
The Wuling Mountains stretch endlessly, surrounded by mountains, there is a small town - Tangxi Town, Yinjiang Tujia and Miao Autonomous County, Tongren City, Guizhou Province. Here the water and trees are Qinghua, and the wind and moon are boundless. Born in Si, raised in Si. As a teacher, Chen Yuanyang knows how difficult it is for children in the mountains to get out of this mountain!
In 1987, Chen Yuanyang was in his third year of teaching, and he always adhered to the post of teaching and educating people from village primary school to township primary school. And he, because of his hobby, has influenced many people's lives.
The picture shows Chen Yuanyang and students taking a photo at the competition site.
In the eighties and nineties of the last century, martial arts films such as the movie "Youth Temple" swept the country, setting off a martial arts boom across the country, and Chen Yuanyang, who was young at that time, was no exception. He is also a Chinese teacher, and in his spare time, he always likes to follow the comparisons in the movie and practice his fists and feet, so his physical fitness and physical flexibility are stronger than ordinary people. By chance, he saw a wrestling match on the TV and thought, "What's so difficult about this, isn't it just a wallowing fight, and I can practice it too."
When you have an idea, you act. Subsequently, Chen Yuanyang went to Zunyi Sports School and Guizhou Sports Work Brigade many times to understand and learn about wrestling on the spot.
"Through a detailed understanding, I found that through wrestling to take the road of sports specialties can indeed go on to higher education, thinking of some cultural classes are not ideal for students, it must be difficult to go to school in the future, rural dolls are very leather, practice wrestling should be possible, after all, these places in the mountains are too backward, playing basketball and football and other sports are not realistic. Recalling the original intention of teaching students to learn wrestling, Chen Yuanyang said.
Chen Yuanyang went to Zunyi Sports School and Guizhou Provincial Sports School to study freestyle wrestling related courses at his own expense, and looked for wrestling seedlings in the school, and took the students to practice free of charge after school every day. There was no relevant venue and wrestling mat, and he was afraid that the students would be injured, so he led the students to the lawn and the river sand bar for the regular training of wrestling.
The picture shows Chen Yuanyang and students taking a photo at the competition site.
Whether it is weekends or winter and summer vacations, day after day, year after year, this has been the way through 40 years of life.
"Thinking about it, the conditions were really tough, and my biggest concern was that the doll was injured during training. Chen Yuanyang said. Looking back on those years, Chen Yuanyang couldn't believe that he had persisted in wrestling for 40 years.
However, although Mr. Chen Yuanyang was kind enough to take the children to practice wrestling for free, he did not get the support of parents and schools at the beginning, and his wife was also full of complaints.
"He basically doesn't care about things at home, every day after school, he has to take students to the riverside Shaba to do training, and he doesn't come home when it's dark, so my family eats the latest, and the same is true on weekends and winter and summer vacations. Chen Yuanyang's wife, Deng Mei, said that the most angry thing was that some parents came to my house to question, but they didn't charge a penny.
"At first, I learned wrestling with Mr. Chen, but my parents were against it, thinking that it was useless and unprofessional, but I liked it myself, so I still secretly went to the training, and when I was hungry, I ate some dry food and water brought by Mr. Chen. "Wrestling training is not understood and supported, which is also confirmed by Yu Zhou, Chen Yuanyang's student and current wrestling head coach of the Guizhou Provincial Sports Work Brigade.
But these difficulties did not make Chen Yuanyang give up, and he still chose to persist in all kinds of incomprehension.
Chen Yuanyang takes the students to train on the lawn.
With the first batch of students he took in 1995, Yu Zhou and others were admitted to Zunyi Sports School after graduating from primary school by taking the road of wrestling, everyone's attitude and views on this have also changed, and at the same time, he has strengthened his determination to persist in the cause of wrestling training.
"Some children's cultural achievements are not good, but they are outstanding in sports, since wrestling can also allow children to go to school, why not do it, I think it must be done and done, education is to teach students according to their aptitude, and to tap and cultivate students with this potential. Chen Yuanyang said.
It was not until 1996 that Chen Yuanyang officially introduced the freestyle wrestling program into Tangxi Primary School, and the following year, the wrestling program was established as a key curriculum project of the school. Since then, he has insisted on leading students to train for more than 4 hours a day, sacrificing his spare time and time with his family.
Because of love, he has always enjoyed himself. Even in the most difficult year of 2022, when his wife Deng Mei was sick and hospitalized in the People's Hospital of Yinjiang Tujia and Miao Autonomous County, he ran two ends a day, going back and forth between the county hospital and the school, and never missed a day of training for students.
"Because the daily training of sports is very important and cannot be delayed, no matter how hard and tired I am, I must overcome it, and I can't delay the children's training and future. Chen Yuanyang said.
The picture shows Chen Yuanyang taking students to train in the wrestling room.
Wrestling is a very hard and ever-changing sport, in addition to taking students to daily training, Chen Yuanyang also continues to learn the latest wrestling knowledge and rules through various channels in order to better train children.
"In addition to studying on the Internet, as long as there is a wrestling match, I will actively take students to participate in the observation, every time I send students to the sports school to participate in the training camp, I also seize the time to study on the side, and often learn from the students who have gone out, discuss and ask for advice from peers, they must know more than me in the front line of the competition all year round. Chen Yuanyang said that only by understanding the latest relevant rules of the province and the whole country can he guide students to win in the competition.
It is in this long-term continuous study and practice that Chen Yuanyang started from a rural Chinese teacher and a part-time physical education teacher, and successively won the honorary titles of "Excellent Coach" and "National Wrestling First-class Referee" in the 11th Guizhou Provincial Games, and Advanced and Outstanding Individual in Tongren Education Work.
Chen Yuanyang's national first-class wrestling referee certificate.
The picture shows Chen Yuanyang's provincial wrestling referee certificate.
Harvest - Fruitful peach and plum fragrance
Over the years, under Chen Yuanyang's selfless dedication and careful training, the "mountain" dolls starting from Tangxi Primary School have gradually grown into outstanding wrestlers in Guizhou Province and even the whole country.
The picture shows a corner of Tangxi Primary School.
Yu Zhou, who graduated from Tangxi Primary School in 1995, entered the wrestling team of Zunyi Sports School in Guizhou Province and is currently the head coach of the wrestling team of the Guizhou Provincial Sports Work Team. In 2011, he won the first prize in the 62kg national wrestling competition of the National Minority Traditional Sports Games, and was the first young man of the Miao nationality in Guizhou to win the championship in the national competition; Yu Shui, who graduated from Tangxi Primary School in 2002, entered the wrestling team of Zunyi Sports School in Guizhou Province, a national wrestler, and participated in international competitions on behalf of the mainland many times, won the 60KG championship in the 2011 National Championship, won the 60KG championship of the Nanchang City Games and the third place in the Asian Youth Championship in the same year; Luo Zheng, who graduated from Tangxi Primary School in 2010, entered the Guizhou Provincial Sports School and was later admitted to Guizhou Normal University to studyLiao Guangsheng, who graduated from Tangxi Primary School in 2013, entered the Guizhou Provincial Sports School, and won the silver medal in wrestling in the 2nd National Youth Games in 2019, and is a national first-class athlete.
The picture shows the honor wall of the wrestling hall of Tangxi Primary School.
These dazzling achievements made Chen Yuanyang extremely proud, and the wrestling special course has also become the golden sign of Tangxi Primary School, and it is also the best proof in the face of doubts.
In 2021, Tangxi Primary School won the title of "Tongren Wrestling Training Base", and in 2023, it successively won the title of "Guizhou Wrestling Sports Promotion Advanced Unit" and "Guizhou Wrestling Association Wrestling Reserve Talent Training Base".
The picture shows Chen Yuanyang introducing the students' participation in the competition.
The picture shows the elite students trained by Chen Yuanyang.
Today, Tangxi Primary School has two special wrestling training classrooms, which are equipped with professional wrestling mats and equipment, and the students are maintained at more than 30 people all year round.
"Not only are students from various local towns in Yinjiang consulting, but also netizens from other counties such as Zunyi, Jiangkou, and Sinan are consulting whether their dolls can learn wrestling, but our school really can't accommodate so many people, and it's not convenient for people from other places to come. Chen Yuanyang said that he hopes that the wrestling project can be promoted in more schools, so that more children who are interested in suitable wrestling can participate, so that children can have one more way out of the mountains.
Inheritance – Relay development to take wrestling further
Although the candle is slight, the light can shine in the four fields, and the power of dripping water moistens and cultivates the peach and plum.
The years do not live, and the seasons flow. More than 30 years have passed in a blink of an eye, and the first group of wrestling students led by Chen Yuanyang are now in their 40s, but no matter where they are and what achievements they have achieved, Mr. Chen is still the most respected and grateful person in their hearts.
Every year on Teacher's Day, Chen Yuanyang receives a lot of blessings, and every Spring Festival, he basically does not go out to visit relatives and friends, but specially receives students who come to visit at home.
"Every year during the Chinese New Year, our family is very lively, and the students will come to visit him and chat with him, and I feel happy to see it, and at the same time, I understand his approach and support him to do what he loves to do wrestling. His wife, Deng Mei, said that her husband never asked the students to buy anything at a broken bank, and always said that they would just come and see it.
The picture shows Chen Yuanyang training a wrestling reserve coach.
"If I didn't have the guidance of Mr. Chen to choose to take the professional sports road of wrestling, I probably wouldn't be able to get into the school, so I could only go out early to work or do a small business. Coming out of the ravine, I feel very satisfied and fortunate to have come to this day. Yu Zhou, who is now the head coach of the wrestling team of the Guizhou Provincial Sports Work Team, said that he has now settled in Guiyang. In addition, his younger brother Yu Shui was notoriously mischievous when he was young, followed by wrestling and achieved good results, and now teaches at the Zunyi Sports School.
"Teacher Chen was very strict with us during training, but he treated us very kindly, and did not ask for anything in return, and even had to pay out of his own pocket to buy us food, I am both grateful and admiring him, I will take Teacher Chen as an example, do my best to bring more people out of my hometown, and make a contribution to the growth of our wrestling career in Guizhou." Since Yu Zhou, nine people in Yinjiang have entered the wrestling team of the Guizhou Provincial Sports Work Brigade, and the next step, he plans to call for a provincial wrestling event to be held in Yinjiang.
Although the students have graduated from Tangxi Primary School and entered the next level of school, Chen Yuanyang still pays attention to them from time to time and keeps track of their situation.
Chen Zhijie, who lives on the street of Tangxi Town, is 17 years old this year, graduated from Tangxi Primary School and studied at Zunyi Sports School, and won the third place in the 2023 National U15 International Wrestling Championship free wrestling 41KG group, and has been selected to participate in the Guizhou Provincial Sports Work Team to participate in training.
Students receive awards.
"We trust Mr. Chen very much, there are a lot of dolls who come out of Tangxi to learn wrestling, and he likes the child to learn wrestling, and he spends very little money on physical education, we don't bother much, I hope the child can get good results. Chen Zhijie's mother Dai Zeying said with a smile.
Nowadays, in the wrestling class of Tangxi Primary School, there are not only boys, but also girls are very popular, and Chen Siyu from Class 5 (1) is one of them. At the age of 10, she looks thin and quiet, but as long as the coach and teacher give an order, she is better than some boys in the class when she falls over-the-shoulder.
"I really like to learn wrestling with Mr. Chen, learning wrestling can protect me and exercise my body. Chen Siyu said that her parents at home also supported her in learning wrestling.
Under the efforts and influence of Chen Yuanyang, the wrestling project was not only welcomed by the students, but also loved by some teachers, including three outstanding ones, namely You Guiyong, a physical education teacher at Tangxi Primary School, a national second-level wrestling referee, and a member of the Guizhou Wrestling Association; Tian Luji, a sports teacher at Tangxi Primary School, a provincial wrestling coach, a national third-level wrestling referee, and a member of the Guizhou Wrestling Association; and Wei Xianchao, a physical education teacher at Tangxi Primary School, and a member of the Guizhou Wrestling Association.
Students receive awards.
Decades have passed in a flash, and now Chen Yuanyang is 58 years old. As he is about to retire, he is still most concerned about the sustainable and healthy development of the wrestling team of Tangxi Primary School, and these three teachers are also the reserve successors of the wrestling coaches he has carefully cultivated.
"I am a math teacher myself, and since I started wrestling with Mr. Chen in 2015, I have gradually followed him to learn and train, and I have continued to like him until now. Over the years, my physical fitness has been greatly improved, and I have also learned from Mr. Chen the perseverance and dedication of a teacher, and I will take him as an example to continuously improve my professional level of wrestling coaching and continue to develop the wrestling program in our school. Tian Luji said solemnly.
Reserve coach Tian Luji leads students to train.
The picture shows the backup lesson Wei Xianchao leading the students to train.
"Over the years, I have been engaged in wrestling with my personal interests, and I am very happy to open a new door for the growth of children in the mountains to realize their dreams and go out of the mountains, and until I retire, I will continue to dedicate myself to the students and the sports I love. Chen Yuanyang said.
Yang Xuefang, principal of Tangxi Primary School, said: "It is Chen Yuanyang's efforts and persistence that have contributed to the sports work of Tangxi Primary School and even Tongren City, which has made the physical education class of Tangxi Primary School brilliant, injected characteristics and vitality into the school's sports in the 'simultaneous development of five educations', created a platform and carrier for Tangxi Primary School to strengthen the school with the characteristics of wrestling, and also set a good example for the teachers of the school." ”