园岭小学足球五连冠背后的故事

The 14th Futian District Inter-School Cup soccer match and the 2018-2019 Shenzhen School Soccer League came to a successful close on October 25, with the Yuanling Primary School team winning the championship for a fifth consecutive year.

When the team first participated in this competition in 2004, they only scored the eighth place. Eight years later, they won the championship and have kept the title ever since.

Mei Yanqi, headmaster of Yuanling Primary School, said the key to their success lies in a passion for soccer that involves everyone at the school. The school has inspired students to love soccer, which organically increases soccer’s popularity on campus.

Soccer is also made a part of the school’s curriculum. According to Liu Jin, the teacher in charge of soccer-related matters at the school, a weekly soccer lesson is arranged for each grade to help all the students master basic soccer skills.

“According to feedback from teachers and parents, soccer has raised children’s spirits significantly. They have developed stamina and sportsmanship, and their physical fitness levels have improved,” said Liu.

Yuanling Primary School also attaches great importance to the training of soccer coaches. They have introduced veteran expat coaches, and the Chinese teachers are constantly teaching themselves more soccer techniques to pass on to students. Liu himself has taken several national-level soccer training classes in the past three years.

The school also utilizes high technology to aid soccer training. Instruments are used to collect data such as heart rate and running distances to analyze a specific student’s physical fitness and tactical skills, and a database has been built to record their work and research.

Many of the school’s students are soccer fans familiar with the teams and players at the Russian World Cup. The school also launched the on-campus Principal Cup games to provide students with the opportunity to compete on the pitch. During the one-month Principal Cup, a total of 1,760 students participated in soccer skill tests, soccer cultural studies and other events, 465 participated in soccer matches, more than 500 participated in cheerleading competitions, 93 took part in soccer knowledge competitions, 30 served as reporters, and 15 worked as referees. “Not every child is good at or interested in sports,” Mei said. “So we designed various kinds of activities to get everyone involved.”

With rookies joining in each year, Yuanling Primary School has been able to build up a mature soccer team that not only wins honors on behalf of the school, but also helps students bond with each other.

(Zhang Yiling)