Missing out on medals

In a constantly changing society in China, sports education seems to be permanently stuck in the socialist Soviet era. Most of China's leading athletes, like NBA star Yao Ming and hurdler Liu Xiang, started their careers in dedicated sports schools where children spent long hours perfecting their skills and occasionally studying. Now there are growing problems with the system.

Many parents now are reluctant to send their children to sports schools which have developed a reputation for accenting the physical side of sport and neglecting education.

A recent nationwide survey showed that in the past decade the number of sports schools in the country dropped by nearly 40 percent, from 3,687 schools in 1990 to 2,112 in 2010. The number of children attending sports schools has decreased by half in 20 years. It seems Shanghai is one of the first cities to face up to the problem of the sports schools which do not have enough students.

"Shanghai started to face up to the problem of the falling numbers of junior students at sports schools in the 1990s. In 1999 the city began allowing students with sports talents to enroll and attend ordinary schools instead of sports schools," Yuan Liaoxin, a director in charge of the Youth Sports Education Department of the Shanghai Sports Bureau told the Global Times.

More than 10 years have passed since the problem was first identified and there are still dedicated sports schools in Shanghai.

Yao Ming, the new vice president at the Shanghai Sports Federation told a recent meeting discussing the problem of training and educating young sportsmen and women that they should be educated and trained in ordinary schools.

But the favored status of these schools is apparently hard to shake. "There are 44 State-run sports schools in the city. None of these schools have been closed. The sports schools are not being replaced," Yuan emphasized.

Aiming high

Xu Ziying (not her real name) is working in a career far from the one she was trained for. Xu was a student at the Yangpu District Children's Sports School but is now a reporter for a Chinese newspaper.

"I studied first at an ordinary primary school but was chosen because I had strong legs and long arms which were thought a good build for me to become an elite rifle shooter," Xu said. She trained at the Yangpu District Children's Sports School for 11 years.

"My parents were supportive because I was not from a rich family. The sports schools gave students free uniforms and food, there were no fees, and they even paid a small allowance," she said.

The regime was harsh and Xu always envied the students at ordinary schools. "We had school classes in the morning and did training in the afternoon, except for Tuesday afternoons. I felt really unlucky because that happened to be in the days when the television stations closed down on Tuesday afternoons - all I could see on television were bars on the screen."

Training continued on weekends when the students were about to compete at championships. "My biggest regret was that I had no summer or winter vacations. We trained all year long. Sometimes I wanted to get sick so I could miss training sessions," Xu said.

Parents liked the idea of sports schools in the 1980s and 1990s. "Families were not very rich at that time. Their children would get good food and clothes. And not so many students could go to college as they can today so sport was quite a good option," said Mao Peiwen, an international gymnastics judge and coach. "People were proud to be sportsmen in those days. Nowadays sportsmen are thought of as strong bodies and weak brains."

It has been reported that the key reason Yao Ming agreed to attend a sports school was that there was a bottle of milk provided each day and the school helped Yao's family by providing food and clothing which reduced the financial pressures.

Ye Beilun, a former president of the Shanghai Children's Sports School, said sports schools were also popular during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76). "If you were talented at a sport and performed well you could stay in the city and avoid being sent to the countryside," she said.

But times have changed. "Now some sports school staff have to go to construction sites or food markets where migrant workers can be found and try to persuade them to send their children to these schools," Ye said.

Recruitment troubles

The former president of the Xuhui District Children's Sports School, Zhang Zhengyuan told reporters in 2006 that he and his fellow coaches spent about 200 days a year searching for likely students for the school.

The Xuhui District Children's Sports School was named a "High-Standard Sports Talents Reserve Base" in 2005 and was one of the leading sports schools in Shanghai. Its alumni include many Olympic gold medalists including the champion diver Wu Minxia. Unlike the old days the school coaches now have few opportunities to recruit really talented students with potential.

Li Ya, a badminton coach at the Putuo District Children's Sports School, visits primary schools each year to find suitable students. But it has become increasingly difficult for her to attract talented players.

"When you find a child that could be great at badminton, you then have to persuade the parents. Even if the parents agree, their class teacher can oppose the move," Li said. Many sports schools are now open to anyone and offer places to any student who applies, regardless of their skills or potential ability.

"Many parents are worried about sending their children to sports schools because they believe that education is not given sufficient importance," director Yuan said.

"Sports schools put less emphasis on education because there was a mania for gold medals. The whole sports system was driven by gold medals. There was even a slogan telling sports schools to 'send (sporting talent) early, send it quickly, and send the best,'" he said.

"However the system was founded on the sacrifices made by the many students who did not become professional athletes and were also not well-educated. They had difficulty finding work," he said.

Cai Hao, a sports education lecturer at the Shanghai Normal University, said that one major cause of parents being unwilling to send their children to sports schools was the fierce competitiveness of the students themselves. "Very few of them will make to the top. Those who cannot become top athletes have to find jobs and look after their future lives by themselves," he said.

Cai said the top athletes are given jobs after they stop playing sport. Those who do not become professional athletes usually end up in vocational schools.

In China sporting prowess is graded from third class (beginners) to first class, then masters of sport and international masters. Additional marks can be added to students' zhongkao (national high school entrance examination) and gaokao (national college entrance examination) results, if they reach a certain level of proficiency in a sport, but only a few achieve this.

According to a city regulation, the only students who qualify for additional marks for the examinations have to be first-class sportsmen and women who have come in the first eight places in national or international events, or second-class athletes who have come within the first three places in provincial level events. These elites could have an extra 20 marks added to their exam scores.

The shooter Xu Ziying was a second-class athlete and got the extra marks when she sat the college entrance exam. "But only a fraction of the students in my team got the extra marks that year," she said.

Trying to win

Changes have to be made. In 2000 ordinary schools were told to work with sports schools and now some sports students are being educated and trained in ordinary schools.　

Qibao High School is one of the best high schools in Shanghai and was one of the first schools to participate in the project. The school has an excellent track and field team. But only students who have been awarded second-class sporting grades and have attained a set academic proficiency can apply to be one of the special sports students at the school.

"The athletes have classes in the morning and train in the afternoon. Though it is a little difficult for them to keep up with the other students as these students are usually the best of the best academically, they get extra classes in the evening. So far, they are doing well," said Yao Li, the director of sports at Qibao High School.

The school does have problems finding enough athletes for its program. "We enrolled eight student athletes once, but last year only three students could meet our requirements," she said. "It is difficult to achieve success both in study and in sports, especially for those who are training in track and field events," she said.

Only a few Shanghai children are involved in the track and field team. "Of the eight student athletes we enrolled in our best year, only one was a Shanghai local. Shanghai parents want their children to take part in non-strenuous sports," Yao said. Most of their student athletes come from the northeast and Jiangsu Province.

Zhu Liangchao, who coaches the international chess team at the Xuhui District Children's Sports School, said that these days parents are more willing to enroll their children in chess teams because brain games are thought to benefit academic performances.

"There are fewer and fewer willing to take up sport as it is more dangerous," he said.

Tang Xiaojun, who coaches gymnastics at the Minhang District Children's Sports School, is training his team in an ordinary school, the Primary School Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

"The team was founded in 2006. It was placed in an ordinary school so parents would be less concerned about the standard of education," Tang said. The team has had difficulties attracting students.

"We were under a lot of pressure. The public got the wrong impression of gymnastics after Sang Lan's accident," Tang said. Sang Lan, a champion gymnast, was paralysed after she fell while practising a vault in New York in 1998.

Tang and other coaches now visit city kindergartens to talk to teachers and parents to persuade them that gymnastics is not dangerous.

"In America there are more than 1,000 gymnastics clubs. Parents pay large amounts for their children to be trained. Parents in China pay almost nothing but very few want their children to be trained," gymnastics coach Mao Peiwen said.

In Tang's current team there are more than 50 children aged from 3 to 8. "It is the largest gymnastics team of any sports schools in Shanghai. Seventy percent of the team come from non-local families. Some parents send their children here because they believe gymnastics is good for them. But there are many who want their children to get into a good primary school through a coach's recommendation," Tang said. About 95 percent of the students in the team could be eligible for the Primary School Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University when they reach school age.　

"It is good that athletes can be educated and trained in ordinary schools. But there will be problems if the system is still obsessed with gold medals. If the students do not perform well in competition, will they lose the financial support altogether?" asked Mao Peiwen.