Ten student athletes of Shenzhen Experimental School football team were admitted to key universities this year. Among them, Wang Yifan and Qi Tianchen were admitted to Tsinghua University and Ou Jinhao to Peking University.

Qi scored 610 on this year’s Gaokao, China’s national college entrance exam, and won the admission as a high-level athlete to Tsinghua University. His score is over 100 points higher than the required score. Qi, who has played soccer since the first grade in elementary school and has maintained excellent academic standing throughout his schooling, chose math as his major in university.

“Only smart people can play soccer well. Our coach keeps telling us that we should use our brain to play soccer. Playing soccer is complementary to study. Most people think that students who play soccer are bad at their studies. But we have proven that we are not only good at playing soccer, but also at studying,” said Qi.

On the soccer team, there are also two twin brothers, Ou Jinhao and Ou Jinxi, who always confuse teachers and other students. Ou Jinhao, the younger of the two, is the captain of the soccer team. With a score of 480, he was admitted to Peking University while his elder brother Ou Jinxi was admitted to Sun Yat-Sen University with a score of 452.

The twin brothers both think that in order to balance training and study, discipline and efficiency play a key role. They spent more time studying during weekends to ensure solid academic performance.

Coach Yang Nong explained that they never let training interfere with study time. “We squeezed one hour after they finished class in the afternoon and before the self-study session at night for training. We all lacked time so we focused on efficiency.”

Wang laughed as he recalled that as a team they brought textbooks with them when they traveled to games, and other teams would give them a surprised look.

The soccer team were the runner-up at the national soccer game “Who Is the King,” the champion of the U13 and U14 of China Youth Football Championship, the champion of Guangdong Governor Cup and the champion of Fujian-Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Championship.

According to Yang, Shenzhen Experimental School focuses on facilitating well-rounded development for the students and sticking to cultivating a soccer team with good personality, excellent academic performance and good soccer skills.

(Chen Xiaochun)