China News Service, Chengdu, March 10th: The wind-chasing teenagers in the silent world play their own music on the ice and snow
Author: Han Jinyu
On March 10, on the primary ski run of Jianfeng Dry Snow Ski Resort in Chengdu, Sichuan, 15 children with well-equipped equipment slid down from the top one by one, slowing down and turning, squatting and accelerating, parallel braking...all movements were smooth and smooth.
"Turn more dexterously, and pay attention to grasping the center of gravity." Cao Jian, the ski instructor on the side, wrote this sentence with a pen on the white writing board, while making gestures.
If it weren't for such details, you probably wouldn't notice the difference in this group of kids.
This is a ski team composed of students from the special education school in Xindu District, Chengdu. It is also the first hearing impaired ski team in Sichuan Province, including 9 hearing impaired students and 6 intellectually trained students.
Cao Jian used a white writing board to explain the technical essentials to the team members.
Photo by Wang Lei
Training in the silent world
need more sweat
A few years ago, in the context of the upcoming Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics in China, the Chengdu Xindu District Disabled Persons' Federation came up with the idea of forming a disabled ski team.
In November 2018, the first hearing impaired ski team in Sichuan Province was officially established.
Before serving as the head coach of this ski team, Cao Jian had taught skiing for nearly 20 years, but when facing this group of children, Cao Jian felt the difficulty of teaching for the first time.
"The main difficulty is in communication. We can only let them understand through constant demonstration." Cao Jian said that in his usual training, he would carry a white writing board with him to convey technical essentials to the children.
"I broke two writing boards before, this is the third one." Cao Jian said with emotion.
Cao Jian explained the technical essentials to the team members.
Photo by Wang Lei
In general ski training, the coach will correct the wrong actions of the student during the skiing process. However, for this group of children, it takes more time to learn than others.
"Because after he made this move, if he made a mistake and you called him from behind, he couldn't hear him, so he could only slide down and explain it again." Cao Jian said.
He also thought about expressing in sign language, but Cao Jian was still in trouble because of the numerous ski terms.
"Because some sign languages can't be expressed, you can only rely on the instructor to keep demonstrating the movements, sliding down the slide and climbing up again and again, and the children have to spend more time and effort than normal children to complete the movement. standard."
In order to give the children sufficient training, Cao Jian combined daily training with intensive training in accordance with the standards of professional sports teams.
Children switch between classes and training. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons are the daily training time. The intensive training is usually arranged on holidays or winter and summer vacations.
Skiers in training.
Photo by Wang Lei
In order to form a tacit understanding with the children, Cao Jianhui repeatedly used the same body language to express his meaning until the students understood.
"I downloaded two sign language apps, and I practice some sign language at ordinary times." Cao Jian said that over time, he and the children also formed a unique tacit understanding, an irregular gesture or a mouth type, they know what they mean.
Looking at the children galloping down from the top of the snow field, Cao Jian silently wrote four words on the whiteboard - "your wish".
The seemingly ordinary dry ski resort under his feet was famous for attracting Gu Ailing, Su Yiming, etc. to train here, and now, this venue is "breeding" new dreams.
Hu Haitao in training.
Photo by Wang Lei
The dream of a silent world
slide like the wind
"It felt like the wind when it came down."
Perhaps it was the thrill of speed that made Hu Haitao feel the "sound" of the wind blowing in his ears. As long as he mentioned skiing, his face would be uncontrollably excited.
15-year-old Hu Haitao was diagnosed with hearing impairment at the age of 1 and has lived in a silent world ever since.
In October 2018, the Xindu District Special Education School selected 10 hearing-impaired students to participate in skiing training based on the students' physical coordination, communication and understanding ability, and Hu Haitao was among them.
Who knew that he showed amazing talent when he first came into contact with skiing.
"This child is very self-disciplined, has strong perception, and is also very explosive." Cao Jian said that when they first started learning, children were more afraid of the acceleration of rapid sliding and would unconsciously slow down their skiing speed, but Hu Haitao was not afraid , he has a great sense of speed and does not fear the acceleration of sliding down the top of a hill.
Hu Haitao is training.
Photo by Wang Lei
After training for less than 3 months, Hu Haitao won the bronze medal in the 100-meter final of the men's listening group at the 10th National Games for the Disabled and the 7th Special Olympics Mini Ski Competition, filling the gap for disabled athletes in Chengdu to participate in the winter. The blank of the project and zero medals has achieved a historic breakthrough.
Speaking of that race, Hu Haitao said that he had a chance to win first place in the 500-meter event, but because he was not familiar with the rules of the race, he stopped before reaching the finish line.
When he found that the coach and teammates were still beckoning and cheering, he reacted, so he cheered up to the finish line, and finally won the fourth place.
After two years of hard training, Hu Haitao participated in the 11th National Games for the Disabled held in Xi'an last year and won two silver medals in the mini-skiing event.
"I like Gu Ailing, she is great!" Hu Haitao's eyes shone while looking at the big diving platform not far away.
Yang Changrong in training.
Photo by Wang Lei
child of the silent world
Skiing makes them braver
In the ski team, the youngest girl is 11-year-old Yang Changrong.
She has a smile on her chubby face all the time. In Cao Jian's words, she is the "pistachio" in the team.
"I was not afraid when I learned to ski for the first time, I felt very happy." On the ski resort, the small Yang Changrong was like a smart bird, shuttled through the snowfield, even if she fell, she would get up immediately.
"Her comprehension ability is very strong." This is Cao Jian's evaluation.
"Just after giving her two months of training, she participated in the Chengdu Youth Ski Championships and won second place in the 10-year-old group," said Cao Jian.
In Cao Jian's view, skiing itself is a brave sport. In the process of learning, children are not only to get grades and medals, but also to gain courage and build confidence.
Skiers in training.
Photo by Wang Lei
Brave, confident and persistent, some changes are gradually emerging in the children.
After winning the award for the first time, Hu Haitao brought a large bag of snacks to the school and shared them generously with teachers and classmates.
He began to actively search online, learn about skiing, and would like to try snowboarding in the future.
Skiers in training.
Photo by Wang Lei
In a class, Yang Changrong bravely stepped onto the podium and shared his dream.
"I love skiing and want to compete like an Olympic champion."
For the future, Cao Jian said that he hoped that the members of the ski team could participate in more competitions and become more optimistic, confident and cheerful.
Skiers in training.
Photo by Wang Lei
Although they could not hear the friction between the snowboard and the snow, nor the cheers and shouts of the audience outside the track, they worked hard to play their own music in this world of ice and snow.