Text/Yangcheng Evening News all-media reporter Su Jing Yang Chuying
18-year-old Peng Zhiming danced to the music on the ice, jumping, gliding and spinning smoothly. It is understood that the Guangdong athlete was already an athlete of the national figure skating team three years ago, and it is the first case in the history of Chinese sports to be promoted directly from an amateur club to the national team.
Liao Zhijuan, deputy secretary-general of the Guangdong Ice and Snow Sports Association, told the Yangcheng Evening News all-media reporter that including Peng Zhiming, there are currently six Guangdong athletes competing for the ticket to the Figure Skating Competition of the Beijing Winter Olympics through the points race, and Guangdong Figure Skating has now been able to occupy a place in the Chinese figure skating world, including ice hockey, sledding, snowmobiling and other sports, and the national team is also not lacking in Guangdong athletes.
Although Guangdong is located in Lingnan, since the successful bid for the Winter Olympics in Beijing and the implementation of the development strategy of "North Ice South Exhibition Westward Expansion and Eastward Expansion" of ice and snow sports, there have been plans and actions to promote the development of ice and snow sports, and there have been certain results. On October 27, at the theme event of celebrating the 100-day countdown to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and the national ice and snow season in Guangdong (Shenzhen), the Yangcheng Evening News interviewed a number of industry insiders from their mouths to understand the development of ice and snow sports in Guangdong in recent years.
Guangdong figure skating has been able to occupy a place
Liao Zhijuan, who is mainly responsible for figure skating at the Provincial Ice and Snow Sports Association, still vividly remembers the scene when the association was just established in 2018, when she took Mo Tong, a figure skater excavated from the examination competition, to Harbin to participate in the competition.
"There will be no funds, no clothing, and no competition, the weather of minus twenty-four degrees will freeze us both straight, it is particularly easy to find Mo Tong, other teams have unified clothing issued by provinces and cities, and Mo Tong wears the flower cotton jacket brought by his home." But then we feel that we can compete, that we can give the children a stage to show, and we are already very happy. ”
Four years later, figure skating has made great progress in Guangdong, Liao Zhijuan told reporters that the last Guangdong Provincial Figure Skating Championships, the entry threshold is to have a three-level certificate of figure skating examination, but there are still more than 200 children registered to participate, more and more people joined the sport.
"Now we have a national team athlete Peng Zhiming and a national team coach Li Dongzi, and provincial team members Dai David, Li Qianrui, Mo Tong, Cheng Jiaying and Xiao Zixi are training in Guangdong and Beijing, and are actively preparing for the 14th Winter Games. Next year's provincial games also increased the ice hockey and figure skating project settings, figure skating has 9 gold medals, although this is still a niche sport, but our level and the national comparison is still OK, I believe that Guangdong players in the national competition will have a better and better display, not only for the province to win glory, I think in the near future for the country to win glory is also achievable. Liao Zhijuan said.
Peng Zhiming is a good example, this talented player who has studied figure skating for eight years, just won the eighth place in the men's singles at the Asian Championships held in Beijing last month, and successfully completed Axel's three-and-a-half week jump at the age of 16, including Yan Han, Jin Boyang and other national team players, only three people can master this action relatively stably.
For his future, Peng Zhiming is also quite confident, "The goal is to participate in the Winter Olympics and participate in the world's major competitions, if this session can not win the Winter Olympic quota, then the next session!" He is particularly fascinated by jumping moves, and he especially likes to watch Jin Boyang, who is "jumping strongly", and Yan Han, who has "strong steps", as for the gap with them, "it is getting smaller and smaller!" Peng Zhiming's face was full of young man's directness and self-confidence.
Guangdong people are physically suitable for ice and snow sports
In fact, not only figure skating, other ice and snow projects have developed rapidly in Guangdong in recent years. For example, the ice hockey project, according to Han Xingyuan, the second-level inspector of the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports, the Shenzhen Kunlun Hongxing Ice Hockey Club is an ice hockey club jointly built by the Guangdong Provincial Sports Bureau, Shenzhen Longgang District and social forces, which has been supporting the national ice hockey team to prepare for the Winter Olympics, training national team members in the form of clubs, supporting the national team to participate in the North American league, and promoting the development of ice hockey in Shenzhen and the popularity of ice and snow sports in Shenzhen through the form of running clubs.
In 2020, the club team won the Russian Women's Ice Hockey League, bringing honors to Shenzhen and the country.
At the event site, the Yangcheng Evening News all-media reporter also saw many parents with their children to the club to practice ice hockey, although they are about 6 to 10 years old, but most of them have two or three years of football age.
Interestingly, an 8-year-old girl happily showed her skills on the ice, telling reporters that her goal was to participate in the Winter Olympics in the future and participate in the International Ice Federation. Meanwhile, her mom was studying and taking exams in the hockey referee training class next door.
Liao Zhijuan told reporters that many parents are now very interested in niche projects such as ice and snow, because other sports are too fiercely competitive, and children may not stand out by doing their best, but like figure skating, as long as they get 10 levels in pace or rotation, they can directly get the title of athlete, which is the honor that other sports must get the top few in the national competition.
In addition, Guangdong children are also very suitable for playing ice and snow projects, and their sensitivity and coordination are very good. "I remember in 2018 I brought 6 children, namely athletes in weightlifting, fencing and running sports to Xi'an to participate in the cross-border selection of the Chinese bobsleigh team, and as a result, three children were selected by the foreign teacher team and stayed in the national training team, while other provinces brought twenty or thirty children to only select one person, our super high school selection rate made other provinces and cities very envious, we are also very proud, our children are indeed very strong in physical control. Now these children are still in the national team, preparing for this Winter Olympics, and are looking forward to the performance of our Guangdong athletes in this Winter Olympics. Liao Zhijuan said.
The number of standard ice rinks is still lacking
According to Han Xingyuan, Shenzhen currently has 11 ice rinks, and has been trying to introduce international ice hockey events, while building a youth echelon, and has relevant deployments in youth ice hockey and figure skating teams, and ice and snow into the campus is also one of the development directions.
Wang Yuping, director of the Guangdong Provincial Sports Bureau, revealed that there are currently nearly twenty ice rinks and snow fields in Guangdong, and more and more people participating in skiing are a very good phenomenon, and there are more than thirty teams participating in the southern ice hockey tournament held in Guangdong at present, and ice and snow sports still have certain conditions for indoor development in the south, especially in economically developed areas.
According to Liao Zhijuan, Shenzhen's ice rink and teacher conditions even attracted many children from Hong Kong and Macau to learn ice hockey and figure skating on weekends before the epidemic.
"There are a lot of retired national team players in Shenzhen who are coaching, we go out to play, and a lot of referees will say' our good coaches are running to your side!' However, the provincial team is now with coach Li Dongzi on the national team, high-level coaches are still in short supply, now the athletes of the provincial team have to take headsets on the ice, and Beijing to carry out 'cloud teaching', now many excellent coaches are more willing to stay in the club to coach, I hope that the relevant departments can give good policies, from other provinces to transfer some excellent coaches to the provincial team. ”
Although Guangdong's ice and snow facilities have made great progress compared with a few years ago, the training conditions are still insufficient compared with the traditional strong provinces of ice and snow. For example, Guangzhou still lacks a standard ice rink, and the provincial team members are supported by the clubs in Shenzhen and can use their venues for training, but in order not to affect the golden hours of the club, they can only "plug" training, such as 12:00 to 2:00 noon and 9:00 to 11:00 in the evening.
Liao Zhijuan hopes to take advantage of the opportunity of the next National Games to be held in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to emerge a standard ice rink in Guangzhou. In addition, if more good ice and snow events can be introduced, it is even more beneficial to the promotion of this project in Guangdong, "for example, the Guangzhou Gymnasium has undertaken ice exhibition matches, where ice can be poured, and the audience can see the figure skating action at close range from a level-up perspective, which is a good venue." Watching the game on the spot and watching it on TV feels completely different, if there are more events, I believe it will attract more people to participate in the ice and snow event. (For more news, please pay attention to Yangcheng Pie pai.ycwb.com)
Source | Yangcheng Evening News • Yangcheng Pie
Image | Courtesy of the organizer
Editor-in-charge | Liu Yi