“Do you respect your opponent? Why don’t you shake hands with each other after the game?” Standing beside the playground of Changchun 87 Middle School, Zhao Xin, the leader of Beijing Bayi soaring U13 football team, asked Yuan Shuai, member of No. 42, loudly. “I stretched out my hand, but he didn’t respond……” The little guy just wanted to explain a few words with tears, and the leader interrupted him severely, “Do you have this team in your heart? You are all doing this for yourself!”
This scene appeared at the scene of the national finals of the 2023 second China Youth Football League (men’s junior high school age group U13). In the second round of the group competition in Changchun green park division, Bayi soared behind twice and defeated Hainan Zhonghai club 4-2 after a hard battle. The game was full of twists and turns, and the small players of the two teams fought fiercely on the court, and there were also several small frictions. This happened when the two teams refused to shake hands after the game.
Learn to be a human being
“In fact, it is a very small thing, but the football match for teenagers is more than the football skills, and it is more than being a human being. If they develop such a bad habit now, it will be more troublesome to grow up.” After learning the little players, Zhao Xin walked over and explained two sentences.
From winning the first place in the Beijing division of the second China Youth Football League and winning all the way to the stage of the national finals, Bayi soaring cherished the opportunity of this competition from the coach to the players. “This is the first time that these players have played a national game, and it is also the first time that I have led the team to play such a game.” Hao Qiang, the head coach of Bayi soaring team, looked at the small players in front of him and showed some concern in his eyes.
In the era of players, Hao Qiang has been working hard in the professional circle. He started his career in Beijing Guoan youth training echelon and was selected into the 87 Guoqing team coached by Liu Chunming. Later, he played for the middle football teams such as Anhui Jiufang, Guizhou Zhicheng and Zhejiang Yiteng. Until around 2022, Hao Qiang retired from Meizhou Hakka team. After obtaining the coach certificate, he picked up the pointer of Bayi soaring team.
Standing on the edge of the stadium, Hao Qiang unconsciously recalled the appearance of his youth playing football. “At that time, they all played football on the land. Now the conditions for children playing football are too good, especially this time to the national finals, no matter eating, living, or training games, what children need to do is to play well and have no worries at all.”
The Chinese Youth Football League has not set any restrictions on competition since its birth. “Breaking Barriers” allows players from sports school teams, school teams, club youth training echelon and social youth training institutions to participate freely. This competition system gives a campus team like Bayi soaring the chance to compete with the echelon of a professional team like Guoan U13 in the division competition. In this regard, Hao Qiang, who has experienced professional players for more than ten years, is also quite touched. “making these small players from the campus compete with professional echelon players has a good promotion effect on both sides, the players of our team were very excited when they came to the competition area. The progress of the children was visible to the naked eye in the two games.”
Playing football does not delay learning
Bayi soaring comes from Bayi School in Beijing, which has a history of more than 70 years. In 2019, the school had already incorporated football into the compulsory curriculum and won the title of national youth campus football characteristic School. According to the leader Zhao Xin, at present, the school has formed its own 18-person school football team since the fifth grade. All the members of this Bayi flying team come from the primary department of the school.
In the match against Hainan Zhonghai club, Song Zijian, the left defender, helped Bayi soar to score the goal. In the second half, the little guy took advantage of the free kick outside the penalty area and pierced the opponent’s door with a beautiful “Fallen Leaf Ball. The brilliance of this goal is no less than that of the adult team. At the moment when the ball flew into ball net, both the staff and the players on the scene unconsciously burst out and exclaimed, “the skill of practicing the ball for a few years is absolutely impossible.” Until the end of the game, everyone was still recalling the wonderful goal.
With praise and curiosity, the reporter also found Song Zijian. Song Zijian didn’t care too much about the wonderful free kick that seemed not to be scored at his age. “I usually practice a lot. My dad bought me a small ball net at home and a badminton net to simulate the human wall, it’s okay. We often take it to the park to practice free kicks.” Xiao Song said lightly.
Similar to his teammates, Song Zijian started to contact football when he was 5 or 6 years old. “At first, I didn’t like it very much, but the more my teammates play together, the more interesting they are. Now football is my favorite sport. Anyway, playing football didn’t delay my study too much, the last exam was the fifth in the class.” The casual conversation of the little guy also revealed some taste of “Versailles.
Feel the charm of “career”
With the improvement of the overall level of Chinese youth football, especially the popularization and development of campus football, nowadays, at the age of U13, the professional echelon cannot see too many advantages when facing high-level campus teams on the court. Bayi soaring advanced to the national finals in the first place of Beijing division. In the final of the division, they defeated the U13 echelon of Beijing Guoan.
The same experience with Bayi soaring was the U13 football team of Zibo Zhangdian Experimental Middle School, which participated in the national finals in the Changchun green park division. In this year’s competition in Shandong division of China Youth Football League, this school team also defeated Luneng U13 echelon to win the championship in the final, thus joining the national finals. However, when they came to Changchun for the first game, they suffered a head blow and lost 0-2 to the first team of Wuhan Sanzhen.
Zibo Zhangdian District Experimental Middle School is a traditional famous football school in Shandong province. It won the champion of Shandong football league twice and the runner-up three times. It also won the champion of Shandong province in the five-member football match. To beat Luneng echelon in the final of the division, it was not luck. However, when they came to the stage of the national finals, facing the echelon of the champion of Xinke Super League, they still seemed unable to do so. They were scored by their opponents in the upper and lower half.
The first team of Wuhan Sanzhen and their first team “came down in one continuous line” and hired Japanese foreign teacher Suito Youjie as the head coach of the team. In addition, foreign goalkeeper coaches and physical fitness coaches have three foreign teachers in the six-member coaching team. This staffing is definitely a “luxury” in the youth football team “. Looking at the hardware configuration, from coaching Board to warm-up equipment, to advanced video analysis equipment, this youth army is also available.
Obviously, losing to such a luxurious teacher, Zibo Zhangdian District Experimental Middle School team will not be difficult to accept. Coach Lv Qiang continued to comfort the players after the game, “Everyone played very well. Only when we played against such opponents can we gain something. Although we lost the game, we learned a lot, let’s continue the game later.”
