Tsinghua physical education teacher Ma John: Play sports, no questions asked
"One-two-three-four!"
"One-two-one!"
"Look up!"
In the pouring rain, an old man with white hair is leading a team of students to run in the muddy playground. Although the sound of the rain was "rushing" underground, the old man's slogan was clearly heard and unusually loud.
▲ Screenshot of the movie "No Questions Asked"
This is a scene in the movie "No Questions Asked", and the old man with white hair is the protagonist of today's article - Ma John.
You may wonder: Who is John Ma? foreigner? What kind of person is he?
In fact, Ma John is not a foreigner, but a native Chinese. Born in 1882 in Gulangyu, Xiamen, Fujian Province, he entered a private school at the age of 13, went to Shanghai at the age of 18 to attend middle school, was admitted to st. John's university preparatory department at the age of 22, graduated from st. John's university at the age of 29, studied at Springfield University in the United States twice in 1919 and 1924, in April 1930, he served as the head coach of The National Athletes in China to participate in the Far East Games; in 1936, as the head coach of Chinese athletics, he participated in the 12th World Olympic Games in Berlin.
Since childhood, John Ma, who has been an avid sportsman, climbed and swam with his peers all day before going to private school, and his body was very strong; after going to college, he was the main player of various teams such as school, tennis, baseball, etc., and won the championship in off-campus competitions many times.
In 1905, John Ma, who was studying at St. John's University, signed up for the "World Athletics Games". At the beginning of the competition, four Japanese athletes lined up to deliberately block the other athletes, followed by Ma John's classmate, and 9.144 meters behind this classmate was Ma John.
In the final lap, 9.144 meters behind the Japanese runners, Ma John picked up speed, overtook his compatriots, said "keep up with me" to him, and then leapt in front of the Japanese runners and won the championship with a distance of 45.72 meters.
The Chinese classmate behind him also surpassed the Japanese player and won the second place. At this point, the cheers of the entire audience had been raised by "John! John! Change to "China! China! ”
Because of his outstanding athletic talents, John Ma was selected as a physical education teacher by Tsinghua School in 1914, and until his death in 1966, he taught at Tsinghua University for 52 years.
▲ Ma John came to Tsinghua in 1914 to teach
During his tenure, Tsinghua has established more than 10 representative teams such as football, basketball, and long-distance running, and has shown its sharp edge in various competitions.
According to relevant statistics, in the 10 years from 1911 to 1921, Tsinghua played foreign football matches 58 times, winning 44 times, drawing 7 times and losing 7 times.
Once people have achievements, it is inevitable that they will have an arrogant heart. In the Tsinghua team, the atmosphere of pride and complacency and arrogance is growing day by day.
A center in the Tsinghua football team, the technical level is very high, very proud and complacent, but also learned the bad style of "pressing people". When Ma John learned of this, he sternly warned him: "If you don't change it, the team will fire you!" ”。 Later, the center changed his ways and was not expelled.
In 1928, Ma John led the Tsinghua football team to participate in the fifth competition in North China. In the championship competition, the main players of Tsinghua were kicked in the chest by the other side, and the whole audience was in an uproar, looking like they were going to make trouble. John Ma immediately made a decision, replaced and fought again, and tried to save the storm, although he lost this ball, he won the praise of the audience and set a "benchmark" for the sports world.
He also often taught athletes: "The ball can be lost, but sportsmanship cannot be lost". He believes that sports can not only enable students to obtain health, but more importantly, it is also conducive to the exercise and cultivation of moral character.
"The sports field is an excellent place to cultivate students' character, to criticize mistakes, to encourage nobility, to cultivate temperament, and to motivate quality. Exercise can cultivate the brave spirit, strong will, self-confidence, enterprising spirit and determination to win the young people. ”
If there is one word to describe Ma John, it is "stupid".
Why? The matter should start from Ma John's overall responsibility for Tsinghua's sports work in the Tsinghua Sports Department.
▲ John Ma teaches students to learn kurama at the Western Sports Playground of Tsinghua University
At that time, the "forced movement" had been practiced in Tsinghua for several years, but with little success. (Note: "Forced exercise", that is, every Monday to Friday from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m., the library, dormitory, classroom are closed, and every student in the school must wear a short coat to the playground to exercise.) But the "forced movement" at this time was only a general call for the coercion of executive orders. When it comes time to exercise, some students hide in the shade of trees, corners and other quiet places to read. Even if some students go to the playground to exercise, they are just going to "play soy sauce".
As the saying goes, "Heroes are born out of chaos." Tsinghua's physical education is so sluggish, Ma John can just take the opportunity to vigorously rectify it - what roll call, deduct points, and even punish students to run around the playground!
What is puzzling is that the "clever" trick of the physical education teacher, Ma John did not use a single one.
Every day, he either personally took the students to do group exercises in the early morning, or at 4 p.m., the whole school exercise time, deliberately took a small book to the corner of the campus to "catch thieves". But the use of small books is not to take names and punish them, but to persuade students who have escaped exercise to voluntarily participate in physical exercise.
In this way, he followed the students' butts every day to find someone, although clumsy but extremely cute.
▲ John Ma teaches students to run by hand
In fact, the reason why John Ma is so persistent is not only because he is a physical education teacher.
When he was young, John Ma witnessed the pale, weak and weak faces of his classmates around him;
While studying at St. John's University, he personally heard a foreign teacher mocking Chinese students as "stupid, not as good as American children!" Even in a fit of anger, he also "quarreled" with this foreign teacher;
After coming to Tsinghua, he often heard about students getting angry in foreign countries - foreigners called us "sick men of East Asia", which was very sad.
The sense of national honor and deep patriotism are the main driving forces for Ma John's diligent work in physical education. In order to let students no longer be crowned as the "sick man of East Asia" after studying abroad, (Note: Tsinghua University at that time was called "Tsinghua Preparatory School for Studying in the United States", and the students trained were mainly sent to the United States to receive foreign education. He often told his students not to be afraid, to be brave, not to go out and embarrass Chinese.
"You have to exercise well, be brave, don't be afraid, be energetic, and work hard. Other people play baseball and soccer, you have to play, you have to play, you have to play; whatever they can play, you must also be able to play, don't go out and embarrass Chinese, don't let people push you, you fall; when others are fierce, you are afraid..."
John Ma is giving a lesson to a student
In addition to the implementation of "forced sports", Tsinghua University more than 90 years ago also had a "desperate" rule: those who failed to pass the sports score could not study abroad.
The famous translator Wu Mi wanted to go abroad, but he was delayed for more than half a year because of his unqualified high jump score; the famous essayist Liang Shiqiu had to work hard to make up the exam because of his unqualified swimming score.
It is particularly worth mentioning that the famous scientist Qian Weichang was almost rejected from tsinghua university because his height was not up to standard.
Speaking of Qian Weichang, Ma John really didn't use his brain! At that time, Qian Weichang's performance in each sport was "out of scale": too light weight, insufficient lung capacity, basketball could not be thrown into the basket, running two laps (that is, more than 200 meters) was breathless...
Even so, Ma John did not intend to give up on him, and every time the results came out, he would kindly say to Qian Weichang: "It doesn't matter, you can exercise!" ”
In this way, under Ma John's persistent education in sports to serve the country, the small and weak Qian Weichang fully carried forward the spirit of tenacious struggle, never stopped for a day, his height jumped from 1.49 meters to 1.66 meters, and he also won the third place in the 100-meter hurdles competition of the National University Games, completing the perfect counterattack from sports scum to sports five tigers, so that in his old age, he still often missed his mentor.
"Through sports, Mr. John Ma has cultivated our personality and exercised our will. Even in the most difficult period of my life, I did not fall, and I was still optimistic. On the long road of life, I have the courage to bear the wind and rain, the perseverance to overcome difficulties, and the will to constantly overcome myself. ”
Coincidentally, the famous architect Liang Sicheng often confessed to his descendants in his later years that Mr. Ma's physical education class laid a physical foundation for his ancient architectural surveying and mapping career.
"Don't look at me now, I was a good student of Mr. John Ma, a famous football player, who won the first place in the high jump at the all-school sports meeting, and the skills of single and horizontal bars and rope climbing were also croaking... I am very grateful to John Ma. Think about how to do field research if you didn't have a good body back then? The training of single and double bars and climbing ropes in school enabled me to climb beams and columns with ease later when mapping ancient buildings. ”
Today, although Ma Lao has left us, the sportsmanship he left behind has shone brightly in the inheritance of generations.
▲Statue of John Ma on the Tsinghua campus
Every year, the "Ma John Cup" competition is still in full swing at Tsinghua University. And Ma John has always adhered to and required the "Tsinghua Sportsmanship" - to move forward, to work hard, to pursue innocence, to cooperate and help each other, to embrace the homeland, and to shine more and more in the sports field and sweaty years.
As a line from the movie "No Questions Asked" says: "Love what you love, do what you do." Listen to your heart and ask no questions. ”
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Text: Meng Yuehua |