PROFESSIONAL TRAINING: Han Shuo (forefront), 19, lifts weights with his classmates on April 7 as part of their regular training at the Sangao training base in Beijing (WEI YAO)
A boom in juvenile football is anticipated with a national reform plan worked out
Developing the level of youth football teams and leagues is seen as a crucial factor for enhancing the overall strength of the sport in China. The recent release of a reform plan on the sport by the State Council, China's cabinet, aims to cultivate football talent from a young age.
School football
"Through the plan, I can see the future of not only juvenile football, but the future of China's football as a whole," commented Liu Pengzhi, Principal of the High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China, who also is a counselor of the State Council, in an interview with Beijing Review.
The football education of the high school has been a shining example in China. The school has been the chair school for the Chinese School Football Association since the association was established in 2004, and Liu has been the chairwoman of the association since then.
"Adolescents are the key to the future of Chinese football," said Liu, stressing that she agreed with the reform plan in setting its mid-term target on the growth of juvenile football players.
"As the chairwoman of the association, I feel an obligation to promote the development of football in schools," she explained, expressing that she is delighted to see the plan has mentioned working out a cultivation plan from primary school to college for youngsters who are talented in football, so as to provide football players. "This is what our school has been working on for 20 years," said Liu.
Today, the school has become a successful talent scout because of its emphasis on football education. In 1992, the Beijing Sangao Football Club, a football training camp of the school, was established. It is the earliest high school football club in the country. Six years later, Liu made a bold decision to build a 180-mu (12 hectares) football training base for the school in northwest Beijing.
"The biggest achievement of this model is that we have successfully combined school education together with sports training," said Li Lianjiang, Director of the Sangao Training Base and Deputy Principal of the high school, who has been in charge of the training base since construction started in 1998.
During the past two decades, the high school has built the training base into a complete schoolyard with teaching facilities and high-level faculty team, as well as professional football training facilities including four football fields.
There are 120 students in six grades, with 20 students in each class forming a football team. Han Shuo, a 19-year-old boy from Xuzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, is one of them. He has been studying at the school for six years.
Han and his schoolmates were chosen from across the country for their outstanding football talent through a nationwide selection from among primary school students every year. They are still formal high school students, who will participate in the national college entrance examination after finishing their studies.
Han's daily life is similar to ordinary high school students. Usually, he takes the same courses in the morning and afternoon as those at the headquarters of the school in downtown Beijing. As all students at the training base are boarders, they also have regular night studies. Between the afternoon classes and night study, they train. This schedule rarely changes, only being interrupted before important matches when the students need to spend more time preparing for national and international games.
