"Bringing 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports" is the goal proposed by Beijing and Zhangjiakou when it bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. In recent years, mass ice and snow sports have developed vigorously, and on this basis, China's competitive ice and snow sports have also ushered in a great development. In just a few years, it has realized 109 sub-projects of the Beijing Winter Olympics, "full project development", "whole project team building" and "whole project training".
The vigorous development of ice and snow sports, ice and snow athletes stand out, inseparable from the professional coaching team, and those retired athletes who once represented the Chinese team on the world stage are also silently dedicated to the cause of mass ice and snow sports and ice and snow competition. Zhang Jing, a member of the Beijing Winter Olympics propaganda team and the former captain of the national women's ice hockey team, is such a person.
In 2019, the Beijing Youth Women's Ice Hockey Team, trained by Zhang Jing (back row left), participated in the first national competition (the Second National Youth Games) in Chengde, Hebei Province, and achieved a good result of runner-up. Courtesy of respondents
Zhang Jing, a member of the Beijing Winter Olympics propaganda team. Photo courtesy of the Information and Propaganda Department of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee
recall
Chinese women's ice hockey team misses "ticket" to Turin Winter Olympics
Beijing News: You started practicing ice hockey when you were very young?
Jing Zhang: Yes. The intensity of ice hockey is unimaginable to the average girl. I've been playing hockey since I was 12 years old, and I can't leave it until I can't move the club.
Beijing News: You have participated in the qualification rounds for the Turin Winter Olympics, but in the end the Chinese women's ice hockey team did not qualify for the Winter Olympics, which is a pity for you, right?
Zhang Jing: It should be said that November 14, 2004 was a day that I will never forget. That was the last qualifying match for our Chinese women's ice hockey team to attack the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, and it was also my third impact as an athlete on the Olympic Games. We are full of confidence in this qualifier, the Chinese women's team is still strong in that year, and the advantage compared with the Swiss team behind us is still quite obvious. As long as we draw, we can enter the Winter Olympics.
But the game was not as we expected, and by the third set, the score was 2-2 draw. We all felt that the Chinese team's qualification was a foregone conclusion, and the accident appeared: 4 seconds before the end of the game, there was a dead ball on the field, the referee blew the whistle, but the referee did not stop the watch, just when we cheered the victory, the Swiss coach questioned, after consultation, the referee set back the time back 10 seconds. The match continued and with just 5 seconds left, Switzerland scored a long-range shot and the score was set at 3-2 and we lost.
Beijing News: Passing by the Winter Olympics, everyone is sad, right?
Zhang Jing: We lost the ticket to the Winter Olympics, everyone cried bitterly, some questioned the referee, some sat on the ice silently weeping, my mind was blank, staring dead at the dazzling score on the big screen, I couldn't believe that what happened in these last few seconds was true, and tears of regret flowed on our faces. This incident became an eternal pain in my heart.
choose
Do youth training, and run the schools around the ice rink
Beijing News: After retiring, you chose to do basic training for teenagers, why is this?
Zhang Jing: When I retired in 2007, I made a decision that everyone did not understand, gave up the opportunity to stay in a professional team as a coach, and started basic training for teenagers.
At that time, the idea was particularly simple, that is, to let more people know about ice hockey, understand ice hockey, like ice hockey, and reserve ice hockey talents for our country. At that time, there were only a hundred chinese women's ice hockey registrants, and the number of registered people in the international ice hockey powers was thousands and tens of thousands, far more than us.
The best result of China's women's ice hockey team in the Olympic Games is the fourth place, it is too difficult to get on the podium with only a few people, and I deeply understand that if Chinese ice hockey is to be really strong, it must have more people participating.
Beijing News: Are there many people involved in training schools?
Zhang Jing: There are very few girls playing ice hockey, when they were first established, there were only a dozen children of different ages, during that time, I was sick, I ran through the schools around the ice rink, as soon as I saw the little girl, I first asked how old people were, whether they were registered, whether they loved to play ice hockey. Everyone laughed at me for becoming an occupational disease.
Wu Shuwei, who entered the team at the latest, liked ice hockey at the age of 6 and felt that playing ice hockey was particularly "handsome". Her parents disagreed, afraid she wouldn't be able to stand such intense exercise. But the little girl has never forgotten about ice hockey, and in junior high school, she wrote a six-page request letter to her parents, with such a sentence: "I know that playing ice hockey will be very tired, and if I really don't stick to it, I don't regret it." Please support me! "Mom and Dad were impressed and fulfilled their daughter's wishes.
dream
I believe that the players will be able to win glory for the country in the Winter Olympics
Beijing News: How do you train them, and will you also use professional standards to require children?
Jing Zhang: Absolutely. Ice hockey training is really tiring. From gliding techniques to ball handling techniques, it takes thousands of practices, watching them drop a drop of sweat, plucking the ball again and again, I think of my former self.
I told them about my beads of sweat frozen in the minus twenty degrees Celsius, I told them about the fact that during the game, a collision knocked my brow bone open, I told them about my pride in representing the national team in two Winter Olympics, and I told them about the regret of the black six seconds I experienced in 2004. I used my experience to educate and inspire them.
I also told them, "Raising our flag at the Winter Olympics is a dream that many of our athletes have always insisted on!" We didn't do it, you can do it. Shu Wei nodded vigorously, "Coach, I will work hard." "Since then, she's been the first to come and the last to go every time she trains. In 2020, she has been selected for the national u18 (referring to the 18-year-old age group) training team.
Beijing News: Later, the "little athletes" you trained also participated in the National Youth Games?
Zhang Jing: In 2019, I led the team to participate in the national competition for the first time - the second National Youth Games. When we were almost done in the first game, the score was 3-3. I recalled the scene when I fought with Switzerland for the Winter Olympics qualification match, and the emotions and reluctance that had been suppressed for many years suddenly poured out.
I shouted "come on" and "win" to the squad members. The players also really fought, the final score was 4-3, we won the first victory after the team. At the end of the five games, our team of amateurs achieved a good result of runner-up. At that moment, I shed tears of excitement, and I saw in them the hope of the development of Chinese ice hockey.
Now, there are more than 4,000 registered ice hockey players in Beijing alone, and our country's sports industry is booming, and I believe that these players I trained will be able to put on the national team's jerseys and stand on the field of the Winter Olympics in the future, win glory for the country, and complete the dreams that we did not realize in those years.
Beijing News: In recent years, the level of competitive ice and snow sports in China has also been continuously improved, will you also participate in the training of professional athletes or coaches?
Zhang Jing: I participated in the training of first-level coaches in Beijing, which is a training organized by the Chinese Ice Hockey Association. I've done 2 sessions this year and trained 200 coaches. During the epidemic, many face-to-face work can be carried out, but it is also very difficult.
From the history of ice hockey and the development in China, I mainly talk about the technique of sliding, and some teachers will explain the possession, confrontation, and testing of coaches. Each training session is attended by coaches from all over the country who return to their posts to train professional athletes.
Beijing News reporter Wu Wei
Edited by Fan Yijing Proofreader Zhang Yanjun