Zhang Qian

    zhqcindy@163.com

    Eight teams of kids aged from 7 to 9 years old will join a soccer league organized by four expatriate coaches in Shenzhen next week.

    Named the Shenzhen Youth League, games will be played among five private soccer clubs owned by expats and three clubs with Chinese owners. Each team will play two games a week in Futian District from November 22 to January 10.

    The league was created by four international coaches who have been playing soccer and training young players in Shenzhen for years.

    “We want to help the development of soccer in Shenzhen,” said Hassan Bo, the vice president of Shenzhen Youth League, who is also known as Bobo to most of his Chinese friends.

    The four experienced coaches are from different countries and areas, but all of them decided to start their coaching career in Shenzhen a few years ago. Marek Zajac, the president of the league, is a famous soccer player from Poland and has played on the Shenzhen Jianlibao team for almost six years.

    “Zajac is well-known in Shenzhen for his contribution to the local team and he is also focusing on developing youth soccer in the city,” said Bo, who is from America and a former player on the Egyptian national team and now owns a private soccer school in Shenzhen.

    The other two coaches, Milos Markovic from Serbia and Mark Fail from the UK, are also former professional soccer players and experienced coaches in Shenzhen. The four of them hope the league will help find the most talented young soccer players in Shenzhen.

    “We think the league can help the young players forge a team spirit and disciplines in their teams,” said Bo, who thinks teamwork prevails over individual talent.

    With almost six years of coaching experience in Shenzhen, Bo thinks many Chinese kids are talented, but lack the mentality to cooperate with other players and work as a team. “Soccer is not all about showing off individual talent, but what a team can achieve as a whole,” said Bo.

    According to Bo, the league is also a way to encourage local school teams to advance their training and compete with private clubs, thereby developing the general level of soccer around the city.

    Bo has coached at many public schools in Shenzhen and he found that most of the kids are not told to focus on the basic skills and tactics. “Many students from public schools here want to play games against each other all the time, but the most essential part of soccer training is basic techniques like how to control and dribble the ball or how to defend by using your body,” said Bo.

    Through the league, the coaches want to bring out the young players’ potential.