When it rains, it is still cold in spring.

In the competition training hall of the National Disabled Ice Sports Center, the new training session of the Chinese wheelchair curling team is in full swing.

In preparation for the World Championships to be held next month, the Chinese wheelchair curling team has been training since the beginning of this month.

At the Beijing Winter Paralympic Games a year ago, the Chinese wheelchair curling team won the gold medal. Those exciting years and glory inspired the whole team to climb to the next peak.

  On the training ground, the reporter saw Yue Qingshuang, the coach of the Chinese wheelchair curling team, squatting down from time to time, carefully observing the trajectory of each player's curling throw, and helping the players to set and wipe the curling.

Due to the low temperature in the venue, she wore a thick down jacket on her upper body, a pair of cotton boots on her feet, and held a hot water cup in her hand.

Every day of training, she will spend 6 to 8 hours on the ice rink with her players.

"It's normal to train and prepare for battle," Yue Qingshuang said.

  Yue Qingshuang, who was born in 1985, was once one of the "four golden flowers" of the Chinese women's curling team. Because of her good looks, many curling fans regard her as the first goddess.

In 2003, Yue Qingshuang, who had only been in touch with curling for three years, won the National Winter Games Championship together with his teammates, and then entered the national team, starting a breakthrough journey.

In 2009, Yue Qingshuang, Wang Bingyu, Zhou Yan and Liu Yin won the Women's Curling World Championships, achieving a historic breakthrough.

In 2010, they won another bronze medal in the Vancouver Winter Olympics, which was the first team event medal of the Chinese sports delegation in the history of the Winter Olympics.

After the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, Yue Qingshuang returned to Harbin Institute of Physical Education and became a teacher.

In 2017, Yue Qingshuang was recommended by the Harbin Institute of Physical Education to the China Disabled Persons' Federation, and then she accepted the invitation to become the coach of the Chinese wheelchair curling national team, starting her coaching career.

At that time, the best result of the Chinese wheelchair curling team was the runner-up in the World Championships, and there was less than a year left before the Pyeongchang Winter Paralympics.

  "Why did you decide to be the coach of the Chinese wheelchair curling team?" the reporter asked.

Yue Qingshuang replied: "I have never won an Olympic gold medal in my career, and I always have this dream in my heart, and I want to make up for it. Although I have been engaged in curling for many years, I was faced with issues such as identity and role change, and I was a little confused at the beginning. But the dream pushed me to take on this responsibility."

  Yue Qingshuang quickly entered a new role. She successfully completed the task of the Pyeongchang Winter Paralympics and achieved zero gold medals for the Chinese delegation.

In preparing for the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympic Games, every member and coach of the Chinese wheelchair curling team feels a heavy burden on their shoulders.

"The team won the wheelchair curling world championships in 2019 and 2021 consecutively. At the highest point, the pressure from ourselves and the opponent was concentrated. At that time, everyone always adhered to a belief-down-to-earth and starting from scratch. " Yue Qingshuang said.

  At the Beijing Winter Paralympic Games, the Chinese wheelchair curling team did not perform well in the first two games. They lost to the Canadian team and the Swedish team successively, and the morale of the whole team was severely damaged.

At this time, Yue Qingshuang played the role of the backbone of the team.

As an athlete who has participated in many world competitions, she used her own experience to tell the players that the game is not about winning if you want to win, but that you have to let go of the psychological burden of wanting to win and focus on the game in order to play at a true level.

After timely adjustment, the Chinese wheelchair curling team played more and more smoothly, and finally successfully defended the title, making the Chinese wheelchair curling team a champion.

  "Why is the Chinese wheelchair curling team able to win so many times?" Yue Qingshuang said frankly that this is inseparable from the team's unity and harmony. The team members get along like a family, and the team members like to call her "Mother Yue".

"Calling me sister or mother doesn't mean how old I am, but to show mutual love." Yue Qingshuang said, "Once, when I was in a bad mood, the team members would ask me with concern, 'Mom, what are you doing? What happened today'. This kind of family-like concern reflects that we are a team with love, and only where there is love can we exert greater combat effectiveness."

  Before he knew it, Yue Qingshuang had been coaching the Chinese wheelchair curling team for 6 years.

During training, she helped the players improve, and the fighting spirit of the players often touched her.

"There are 3 and a half hours of ice training every morning. Some players are unwilling to rest because they are not playing ideally. But I have to drive them to lunch and tell them to continue practicing in the afternoon. They cherish every time on the ice. In this way spirit inspires me.”

  The 2023 World Wheelchair Curling Championships will start in Canada next month, which means that the new Olympic preparation period has officially begun.

Right now, the Chinese wheelchair curling team is facing new challenges such as the replacement of new and old players, and the newly added wheelchair curling mixed doubles competition.

Yue Qingshuang hopes that the whole team will still maintain the mentality of starting from scratch and prepare for the battle in a down-to-earth manner.

  Our reporter Zhuo Ran

  Photo courtesy of Visual China