Jiangsu women's football coach Chen Wanting: I hope to make football a "lifelong career"
She is certified by Guinness World Records as "the world's first female football coach to win the title of the top men's football league championship". The story of "men's soldiers and women's coaches" has made her highly regarded in football; she is a top student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong , the majors she studied for her undergraduate and master's degrees were not football, and her status as an "amateur player" made her coaching career even more legendary; she led the "severe blood loss" Jiangsu Women's Football Team to temporarily occupy the second position in the Women's Super League. The eye-catching "Youth Storm"... She is Chen Wanting from Hong Kong, China, a 34-year-old young coach who is "special" enough in football and can still create infinite possibilities.
Yangzi Evening News/Ziniu News reporter Zhang Chenbao Sun Yunyue Zhang Hao
Beckham's 'little fan girl' signs autograph for 'fake' mother who plays football
When she first met Chen Wanting in the dormitory of Jiangning Football Base, she had just moved into this "home" in Nanjing not long ago.
The small room is well-organized, and a prominent "big piece" in the room is a dryer.
"I'm afraid of bugs," Chen Wanting said with a smile.
The dryer dries the clothes as quickly as possible and avoids the humid environment and insects.
The coach, who has attracted much attention in football, suddenly exposed his "weakness", and a warm, talkative and cheerful image appeared in front of the Yangzi Evening News/Ziniu News reporter.
When Chen Wanting was 13 or 14 years old, she became "connected" with football, and she also had a "little girl" mentality.
In the youth and girlhood, everyone chased after their idols, and Chen Wanting's idol was Beckham.
"At that time, I thought Beckham was very handsome, so handsome, and then he hit the set-piece and scored directly. It's amazing!" Chen Wanting talked about Beckham, but she still did not change her "fan girl" character.
Later, she kept chasing Beckham's football games. Although she was not very familiar with football at the time, she kept chasing, from Manchester United to England, and then to many Premier League games. The more she watched... Anyway , in her words, "Turn on today's news, and you will watch football."
During the summer vacation of the third year of junior high school, there was an activity similar to women's football training near Chen Wanting's house.
She took a classmate to sign up together. Because she was afraid of her family's objection, Chen Wanting faked her mother's signature when signing up, so she passed the "parental permission" level by "killing first and then playing".
"At that time, the family still felt that girls shouldn't play football and should learn to dance or something." Chen Wanting said.
The coach of this training later also brought the women's football team in the area where Chen Wanting's home is located, and Chen Wanting has also started her football career since then.
Entering high school, the pressure of study increased sharply. Chen Wanting played football almost once a week, at most twice.
At the same time, she claimed to "don't like to read", but her grades were very good, because her personality was "unwilling to lose" when she was a child.
She herself did not like the character at the time, and this character was also reflected in playing football at the beginning.
"I hate losing, I want to cry if I don't play well, I hate the feeling of losing, and I don't know how to cooperate with other teammates, so I feel that I can solve many problems by myself," Chen Wanting said about her personality or values The change happened, in fact, because of football. "When I became a coach later, I really felt that my life was completely changed. At least I knew how to face failure."
Later, Chen Wanting was admitted to the Department of Geography and Resource Management of the Chinese University of Hong Kong: "I was naive when it came to choosing subjects in high school, and I didn't think about what they wanted to do in the future, unlike some young people now who know what path they want to take in the future and just choose The subjects I studied. At that time, I didn’t understand anything. Because I was interested in geography, I applied for this major, and then I also entered.” However, a lot of her time in college was spent on the court: “Anyway, I just I go to play football every day, the school team, the regional team, and then I have the opportunity to play for the Hong Kong team, maybe six or seven days a week. When my classmates want to discuss in the classroom, they often can’t find me, because I am on the court.”
"Men's Soldiers and Women's Handsome", winning the championship depends on learning and more on trust, fairness and hard work
After graduating from college, Chen Wanting did not find a professional job, but first became a youth training coach, taught children to play football, and met some coaches in the football circle.
By chance, a coach asked her if she was interested in doing technical analysis for a professional team.
"It was very new to me at that time, and I was very curious about what a professional football team is like and what professional football is. Then I quickly agreed to try it out. In fact, there were still quite loud opposition in my family, but I Let's just try it for a year, do it first, try it." And this test, Chen Wanting couldn't take it: "It turns out that the world of football is so big! It's not just the perspective of our fans, there are many things. inside."
Beginning as a technical analyst, Chen Wanting went deep into the football industry step by step, becoming a youth training and assistant coach, and her interest became her career. Despite the hardship, fatigue, and meager salary, she still felt happy.
A detail at the scene is enough to confirm - even in the face of the "football novices" such as the female anchor of the Yangzi Evening News/Ziniu News, Chen Wanting was very patient and gentle to demonstrate the foot arch passing action time and time again, and gave encourage.
Of course, professional football is also cruel. She has experienced the dissolution of her club in Hong Kong three times, and she has to find a job again and again.
She also thought about giving up football: "But I don't seem to be ready to interview for other jobs. I don't want to do it in my heart. I still want to go back to football."
In the line of coaching, she also continued to learn and was well prepared.
Chen Wanting mentioned the difference between "red pants" and "academic school": "Many coaches retired from professional football and became coaches. The Chinese Hong Kong side calls them red pants, and then we are called academy school. I As an academic coach, frankly speaking, it is impossible to run faster than my players, and it is impossible to play football as well as them. They are professional players and male football players. So what do I use to convince people that I have the ability What about being a coach?"
Therefore, Chen Wanting kept dabbling in all aspects of modern football, sports science, sports medicine, big data, etc., and she later continued to study for a master's degree at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, majoring in sports medicine.
She also took a step by step and obtained the A-level coach qualification certificate.
Professional standards and professional qualifications are available, and opportunities will naturally favor the "ready" one.
Coincidentally, when the head coach of the Hong Kong Oriental Team left the team, the club needed to choose one of several assistant coaches to be the head coach, and Chen Wanting was the only one with an A-level certificate.
So, she naturally became the head coach of the East team.
"Men's Soldiers and Women's Handsome", Chen Wanting was under a lot of pressure at the beginning, and her "hands were shaking all the time" during the meeting.
Then, I gradually got used to managing the team, learned to deal with difficulties, and found some methods.
"For example, how to communicate with the players, because each player has a different personality, you may have a tougher attitude towards some people, and some people have a softer attitude. You have to talk to him slowly as if you were taking a child. Frankly speaking , I am an amateur female football player, I definitely have not experienced the professional football career they have experienced, but if you communicate and understand more, you will know what the players' views are." Chen Wanting said.
When talking about her interest and love for football, Chen Wanting almost never stopped laughing; but when it comes to rules or management, Chen Wanting's expression is relatively serious.
Chen Wanting summed up the most critical points of being a head coach - first, you have to trust your players; second, you have to be fair; third, you have to give 100% to the team.
Under the leadership of Chen Wanting, the Hong Kong Oriental team finally won the Hong Kong Super League championship in 2016.
Chen Wanting was also certified by the Guinness World Records as "the world's first female football coach to win the title of the top men's football league championship".
The outside world may think that a female coach leading the men's team to win the championship should have a more severe style. In fact, Chen Wanting does not think that she is a very strong coach: "Because I think the times are different, if you keep forcing your players to do something What they don't want to do, in fact, I've never seen a good result. If you're going to force him, you might as well use another method to make him realize that it's for his own good."
'Out of comfort zone' accepts challenge to make football a 'lifelong career'
In the 8 years of Hong Kong football, I have experienced the basic experience, won some honors and awards, and experienced the bitterness of failure.
At that time, Chen Wanting chose to jump out of her "comfort zone" and go to the outside world to see.
Chen Wanting sighed: "Basically, if I have achieved a little in Hong Kong, when I left Hong Kong, I actually felt nothing. I saw that the world is so big, and I am very small."
She accepted the invitation of the women's national football team, and also led the Qiongzhong women's football team to the women's first team, and even participated in the application for the Chinese women's football coach... Now, she has come to the Jiangsu women's football team to coach.
During the quarantine period before officially reporting to the team, she watched almost all of the team's game videos over the past two years, and posted photos of each player all over the room to "identify" them.
Under her leadership, this young team ranked second in the Women's Super League after ten rounds.
Talking about the "how to get along" with the players, Chen Wanting said: "I think I am a more 'warm' coach, which may be more important in women's football. Women's emotions are relatively delicate, and many times there are many different Thoughts, but I will take care of everyone's emotions and communicate more with the team members, they are also willing to communicate with me candidly, everyone is like friends." She also thanked the players for their concern and care for her life: "The players They would cook noodles, cook me desserts, and sometimes ask me if I had sunscreen on.”
From Chen Wanting's words, learning, progressing, and developing to a higher level are her attitude and goals: "There is no right or wrong in football, football changes every year, and you will see a lot of beautiful players. , very good football, fast-paced football, how can you play so well? In fact, there are many things in it, like I just talked about medicine, science, and many different training methods, in fact, you really need to learn There are a lot of things. I feel that I still have a lot of room and a lot to learn. Then I think as a young coach, you need to have this mentality, and then push yourself to keep improving.”
Chen Wanting has an endless love for football, and she also laughed at herself, "I don't seem to know anything except football."
She hopes to regard football as a "life-long career": "Being a coach is indeed a very unstable job, but at present I have no idea of quitting, I also hope that this can teach football at a higher level, and then go to a higher stage . Even if I don't become a coach in the future, I want to do football-related work."
Quick question and answer
Y=Yangtze Evening News/Ziniu News reporter
C=Chen Wanting
What are your favorite and most hated foods?
C likes chocolate the most and hates eggplant the most.
Y uses three words to describe his character traits?
C happy, positive, fair.
Y your favorite team?
C Actually, I still love Manchester United the most, but Manchester United has disappointed me a lot in recent years.
I like Liverpool and Manchester City, I like both managers (Klopp and Guardiola).
Among the active players in Y, which star is your favorite?
C Manchester City's De Bruyne.
He is really great.
Y recommend one of your favorite Hong Kong dramas?
C haven't watched Hong Kong dramas and movies for a long time.
Y Besides football, what is your favorite form of entertainment?
C eat, listen to music, run.