Young athletes may lose jobs after National Games

Young athletes are supposed to be the future of Chinese sport but a lot of of them are forced to consider their way out once the quadrennial National Games finish on Thursday.

U-18 soccer, basketball and volleyball players are in danger of losing their jobs after the national sports meet, as the provincial sport authorities are likely to stop funding them.

"If there are no U-22 categories in next National Games, most of these athletes will be 'useless' to their respective provinces," said an official from China's sports governing body GASC who asked not to be named.

Chinese sport authorities added the U-18 categories of soccer, basketball and volleyball to the National Games program in an effort to foster young athletes in these three popular sports where good results will weigh much more than individual events and other team sports including field hockey, baseball and softball in assessing provincial sport bureaus' work performances.

These athletes, however, will be overage for the next Games, not even eligible for the senior categories which require players are under 20.

"These boys have only trained for five or six years. If I am able to continue to coach them for another four years, I believe they might have a better future," said Liaonning youth basketball team coach Guo Shiqian. "But now the team is going to be dismissed, with very few picked by the professional clubs."

And the senior teams are faced with the same problems.

"After the games, my team will not exist anymore. A few of them may join clubs, and for others, the best solution is to become physical education teachers," said Parhat, coach of senior soccer team from Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The team finished a historic fourth at the games.

The GASC official admitted that China's professional leagues are not big enough to receive so many young players.

"It is easier for basketball players to continue their playing career as there are not only CBA but also CUBA and CUBS," he said. "They have more choices because they can always go back to universities, to study while playing."

CBA is China's top professional basketball league while CUBA and CUBS are for university students.

Soccer and volleyball players find no campus leagues to play, leaving them few options but fighting for professional club positions.

The official said the authorities had noticed the problem and planned to mend the rules for next Games.

"We may adjust the age categories to allow these athletes to continue their playing career," he said.