Data figure: Female players competing for waves. Photo by Luo Yunfei
Zhongxin.com client Beijing, June 20 (Wang Hao) The 20th is the annual World Surfing Day. Surfing, which will soon play a role in the Tokyo Olympics next year and become an official event, seems to have always been popular in a niche in China. Why do Chinese people love surfing less? How far is surfing from ordinary people? Can surfing in China truly usher in a moment of "breaking out of cocoons"?
A wave scores less than half of foreign players
In January this year, the World Shortboard Surfing Challenger Series was held in Hainan. As Qiu Zhuo stopped in the second round, all 32 Chinese players with wild cards ended the competition.
As a Tokyo Olympic Qualifying Tournament, this is a big training for the Chinese National Surfing Team. However, from the perspective of competition results, the gap between Chinese players and top foreign players is still very large. In the competition, the results of a wave are not even half of those of high-level foreign players.
Data map: Female players in the game. Photo by Luo Yunfei
Qiu Zhuo is a Hainan native. He started learning surfing at the age of four. When he was seven or eight years old, he determined to become a professional surfer. In the surfing circle, players like him are called "Ronin", and in the current national team, in addition to "Ronin", some players are transferred from other events.
In Qiu Zhuo's words, the national team is currently "a little too far out." "Places like the United States, Brazil, Australia, and Japan have been in contact (surfing) for a long time, and there are more specialized training. It is estimated that China will enter real professional training in less than 4 years."
In August 2016, surfing was included in the official events of the Tokyo Olympics. The following year, the national surfing team was formally established. For many surfers, this provides them with a bigger stage.
Ling Junwei, like Qiu Zhuo, is also a "Ronin" in the national team. He was born in Shenzhen, a place near the sea. At the age of 13, he began to contact surfing, slowly found his talent, decided to become a professional surfer. At last year's Asian Championships, he won the men's short board U20 third place.
Ling Junwei is surfing. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)
In his view, the current strength of the Chinese team is indeed a certain distance away from the world's strong teams, but progress is relatively fast. "For example, two years ago, the Chinese team could not even enter the preliminaries. Then we reached the third round in Japan (World Championship) last year."
Both boys are 17 years old this year. They look much darker than ordinary boys. There is not much talk in the world, which is consistent with people's fixed impression of extreme sports players. Talking about the results, the two looked humble again.
In the future, will they become a star player in the niche project of surfing? For example, Ding Junhui in snooker, such as Gu Ailing in skiing. No one can answer this question exactly.
Ling Junwei is surfing. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)
The national team is still growing, and the lack of star players in the team is an important reason why surfing is not well recognized by the Chinese public. Sometimes, an Olympic medal can withstand participation in countless popular science and publicity activities. The sweat that Qiu Zhuo and Ling Junwei melted in the sea day after day may be the hope to change this status quo.
How much does it cost ordinary people to learn surfing?
The characteristics of China's vast land and natural resources determine that many places do not face the sea. And fresh waters like the Qiantang River that can be surfed are, after all, a few. Many people have questions in mind. Is the "cost" of surfing the high?
Qiu Zhuo said that at present, it is still very expensive to buy surfboards of relatively good quality in China, because many are imported from abroad. "Then because everyone is in the city and doesn't live on the beach, it will be relatively expensive."
And Ling Junwei believes that if you want to become a surfer, the cost of time is not low. For example, you need to practice eight or nine hours every day. "Abandoning a lot of time for making friends and spending time with family."
Ling Junwei is surfing. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)
Is there a way for ordinary people without surfing conditions to experience surfing and find a “fun”? Some surfing clubs provide this opportunity.
In 2016, Liu Xianqi created Cool Wave Club, and the business has been good since he opened the business. In the pool of the surfing club, waves are made by robots. The water is very shallow, and the deepest position is only about 15 centimeters. Even people who cannot swim can come to "addiction" to surfing. Liu Xianqi introduced that this method is called skateboarding and the risk factor is not high.
"It has a choice of two boards. One is the standing board. The standing board is suitable for young people, people who like to challenge or people who have played skateboarding, wakeboarding, and skiing. Children can play party board, and it is relatively easy to get started." Liu Xuanqi said. "This sport is not difficult to get started, from elementary school students to people in their fifties (to experience)."
Surf club daily. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)
According to him, different surfing clubs have different prices. In his shop, the board is provided to customers for free.
On a common group buying platform, a surfing club also located in Beijing has a per capita consumption of 189 yuan. A 30-minute surfing group lesson with a coach, the price is 200 yuan.
The price on the market is not a price that most people cannot afford, but there are not many domestic surf clubs in China. Although there is no official statistics, Liu Xianqi, as a person in the industry, understands that there are currently only about 20 nationwide. Searching on the group buying platform will also find that the number of such surfing clubs is indeed very small.
Surf club daily. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)
The surfing club is not like a normal swimming pool, it can receive dozens of people at the same time. The equipment in Liu Xianqi shop can be used by up to two people at the same time, and each person can stay on the water for up to two minutes, and everyone takes turns to "surf".
For many ordinary people, they have encountered flyers distributed on the street in gyms, swimming pools, even martial arts halls, and taekwondo halls, but I am afraid that few people have received flyers from surfing clubs. Surfing has not yet become a pastime for ordinary people.
"Surfing culture" takes time
Just now that "surfing the Internet" has gradually become the outdated Internet term in the eyes of young people, people's understanding of the "surfing" project itself still looks like a blank piece of paper.
On January 7, the Corona WSL (World Surf League) World Men’s and Women’s Shortboard Surfing Challenger Series (Wanning Station) is being held in Riyue Bay, Wanning City, Hainan Province. 220 surfers from nearly 30 countries and regions started a seven-day showdown here. Photo by Luo Yunfei
In 2014, the International Surfing Association held the China Cup competition in China, as the host has a place to participate. However, there was no official national team in China at that time. Bao Xuping, as the team leader, assisted the China Extreme Sports Association in temporarily setting up the first surfing team to represent China.
Now, as the CEO of Surf China, Bao Xuping is dedicated to holding surfing competitions and activities in China to promote the popularity of this project. In his view, what China currently lacks is "surfing culture". "(surfing popularization) I think it's just the first step."
"In the traditional sense, if we classify surfing as an extreme sport, there may not be so many people who want to try it. Still, we know less about this culture and the sport itself. When we hear surfing, we think of that big wave, so I think the risk is greater."
Information Picture: The giant wave surfing challenge is held in Nazar, Leiria District, Portugal. Surfer Kai Lenny of Hawaii surfs on the stormy North Beach. The thrilling challenge attracts many tourists to watch.
"There are about 23 million people surfing in the world, among which there are about 3 million surfing participants in the United States." After introducing the statistics of 2018, he added another sentence. "(China) I roughly estimate that without authoritative statistics, this is a perception of our small area. There are currently about 30,000 to 50,000 people in China (have surfing experience)."
In recent years, many sports events have been promoted in ways that are more in line with the interests of young people. The e-sports live broadcast platform invited Jay Chou to play an exhibition match. The China Sports Dance Federation invited Zhang Yixing to become an ambassador for street dance promotion... Surfing also stepped on the waves of the traffic era.
Some time ago, iQiyi released a variety show called "Summer Surf Shop". Huang Xuan, Han Dongjun, Qiao Xin and Huang Minghao were the resident guests, and Wang Yibo was the flying guest. During the show, they will go to Wanning, Hainan, and jointly run a summer surfing shop with surfing instructors. These stars will also unlock new surfing skills.
According to the current public information, surfing elements occupy such a large proportion of variety, is relatively rare. From the perspective of the lineup, the guests of the show faced different audiences. In the era of celebrities' "carrying goods", such variety shows will undoubtedly attract the attention of many fans. Many of these fans are probably not familiar with surfing.
Data Map: Surfers on the beach in the sunset. Image source: Visual China
From the perspective of the popularity of surfing projects, Bao Xuping is more optimistic about the form of "Summer Surf Shop". He feels that he may "let the people have a real understanding of the word surfing."
In addition, Bao Xuping believes that surfing into the Olympics is an important opportunity to cultivate a "surfing culture". "Because after entering the Olympics, first of all, the country will pay more attention to this sport, and will promote and slowly accumulate the domestic surfing culture through more official and club-organized surfing events and extension activities; secondly, in terms of public awareness, including parents 1. Young people will pay more attention to surfing and let more people go to the beach." (End)