"The first day of turning 20 is still spent in training." On February 18, Su Yiming, who was preparing for the "14th Winter" at Zhalantun Jinlongshan Ski Resort, celebrated his 20th birthday. For skiers, being born in February is like a contract with the snow, which must be "reviewed" every year to grow.
On February 16, 2019, at the Yunding Ski Resort in Chongli, Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, Shanxi team players appeared on the men's big jump of snowboarding at the Second Youth League. A curly-haired boy slowly slid out of the snow slope on his skateboard. After taking off, flying, spinning, and landing steadily, he finally won the men's snowboarding platform event with 92.00 points. People will remember "No. 101 Su Yiming." Two days later, he once again won the men's championship in the snowboard slopestyle event with high scores, and this day happened to be his 15th birthday.
Since then, Shanxi's report card in winter sports is no longer "zero". Su Yiming's appearance has opened the door for this province with weak ice and snow sports, allowing more children to start setting foot on snowboards.
Three years later at the Beijing Winter Olympics, Su Yiming won the gold medal in the men's big platform event of snowboarding, achieving a breakthrough of zero gold medals in China's snowboarding Winter Olympics. Three days later, he celebrated his 18th birthday. One gold and one silver medal in the Winter Olympics became the most "Versailles" birthday gift he gave himself. Overnight, Su Yiming planted ice and snow dreams in the hearts of countless young people.
Those children who were the first to feel the power of idols had already started their own journey, and when Su Yiming officially became the "Adult of Ben San", he was given a special gift - under the influence of the "Su Yiming Effect", A group of 11 or 12-year-old young snowboarders from Shanxi Province have already entered the "14th Winter" competition.
"Ice and Snow Dream" Starting from Su Yiming
"A native of Jilin, he followed his parents to practice skiing when he was 4 years old, and often trained abroad." According to media reports, Huang Haihong, director of the Shanxi Ice and Snow Sports Center, first knew Su Yiming in "no more than 30 words." At that time, he was preparing for the Second Youth League. I will look for "soldiers" in winter sports. Shanxi has a weak foundation in ice and snow, so it can only seek cooperation from provinces with strong ice and snow such as Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Inner Mongolia. However, the two projects of "Snowboard Slope Obstacle Skills" and "Big Jump" have just started in China. Therefore, Huang Haihong Turning his attention to "civilian masters", Su Yiming came into his sight. At the Second Youth Conference, 15-year-old Su Yiming represented Shanxi and won two gold medals, and showed the talent and psychological quality that only a few top athletes possess.
"The introduction of Su Yiming has a demonstration effect." Huang Haihong told reporters from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily that in order to prepare for the "14th Winter" and even accumulate ice and snow sports talents for Shanxi in the long term, an extensive selection was carried out in August 2020. In the end, more than 50 children were selected to practice snowboarding, "most of them are from Shanxi, and many children are 'original materials' who have never seen snow." In January 2021, the children officially started snow training.
"The first time I went snowing was at an indoor ski resort in Yunnan." 11-year-old Zhang Shuya remembered that everyone was a little scared at first, and the coach pulled their hats to slide down a little bit. After trying a few more times, they began to feel the joy of skiing. hapiness. After that, when they saw the U-shaped field, the feeling of fear reappeared. 12-year-old Zhang Xiaoran remembered that the coach also led them to slide down from the field on their stomachs or sitting down. When the snow season was coming to an end, the snow changed. You have to be softer and slower, and you will gradually get used to it.
After completing the transition from 0 to 1, after the Beijing Winter Olympics, Su Yiming's Japanese coach Yasuhiro Sato gave suggestions on talent selection. In the end, less than one-eighth of the children in the training team remained and became the "Shanxi Class 20". Among them are the six teenagers born in the 10th generation who appeared in the "Fourteenth Winter" Snowboarding Open Group Women's U-shaped Track Skills Competition. Five of them entered the preliminaries for the first time. In addition, fighting alongside them on behalf of Shanxi this time is Zhou Yizhu, who is known as the "Future Star of Chinese Snowboarding". At the age of 12, she is already well-known in the circle - in 2023, she will ski at Copper Mountain in Colorado, USA. At the Winter Mountain Dew Tour held in Beijing, Zhou Yizhu, who was only 11 years old at the time, won the runner-up in the women's snowboard U-shaped track skills competition. In the preliminaries of the "Fourteenth Winter", Zhou Yizhu became the only player among this group of "child soldiers" to advance to the finals.
Whether Zhou Yizhu's joining or the establishment of "Class 20", in Huang Haihong's view, they are all continuing manifestations of the "Su Yiming Effect". According to him, taking the contestants of the "14th Winter" as an example, there are already three echelons in snowboarding alone. Su Yiming and Zhou Yizhu are in the first echelon. The second echelon consists of players who are three or four years younger than Su Yiming and participate in the youth group competition. , and the third echelon is the "baby army" of U-shaped field skills.
"I know very well that with their current age and level, it is not easy to enter the qualifying rounds." Huang Haihong said that one of the obvious differences between the children in "Class 20" and players such as Zhou Yizhu is the high-level competition experience. Accumulation, therefore, knowing that they cannot achieve good results, they must create the best competition conditions for the children as much as possible. "I hope they can grow through the experience of the competition. Four years later, these children will be more mature at the next Winter Games." , perform better than now.”
Started as a baby and continued with love
"I used to practice martial arts, but I would get a little dizzy when I practice martial arts. Skiing is very exciting and fun." She is young and short. When she first joined the team, Guo Wanshi had a short haircut, and her teammates regarded her as a little boy. , so she quietly grew long hair and learned to cut her own hair. On the ski slopes, this girl who is used to changing her habits in silence also looks down-to-earth. She said that her small goal is to perfect the 360-degree forward turn. When asked about her "big goal", she did not mention competing for gold and silver. , just said with a smile: "Then try to open the swivel 540."
Wang Manni experienced the joy of turning 540 last year, "extremely happy and extremely excited." She clearly remembers that she completed a set of consecutive actions and "stand" smoothly at "around 11 o'clock" at noon. It took her 10 and a half days to unlock this set of actions. After getting the best result in the "class" in the "Fourteenth Winter" - 12th place in the preliminaries, she has gone to Changbai Mountain to continue training. "I hope to lay a solid foundation and strive to develop the 720 twist." The 13-year-old always emphasizes the importance of the foundation. When communicating with Zhou Yizhu, she often asks questions about how to lay the foundation. "It's like building a building. If the foundation is not laid well, it doesn't matter how high the building is."
"Competitive sports cannot encourage growth." Huang Haihong said frankly that we should not only give the players time to gradually grow up, but also invest resources reasonably to help them avoid detours. After becoming the "Class 20" coach in 2022, Zheng Yunlong experienced new changes in training guarantees and training methods. Even though he was only 22 years old, "The venue was not that standard when we practiced, the ski equipment was also made of older materials, and the bottom of the board was not as good as Now it's smooth and furry, and it slides and stops." He stood on the edge of the "Fourteenth Winter" competition field and directed the players. If the new crown epidemic had not postponed the competition, his stage should have been the track - at that time, he had already qualified for the "Fourteenth Winter" competition, but the event was postponed for 4 In 2021, he eventually retired due to injury.
Changing his identity, Zheng Yunlong witnessed the development of scientific training. "There are 6 children in 6 states. With the help of the scientific research team, we need to adjust the training plan according to each person's situation." He remembered that traditional training in the past easily emphasized the accumulation of "volume" and ignored the fatigue problem of athletes. Moreover, with the rapid development of ice and snow sports in our country, training venues and equipment have become more diverse. Not only can there be four-season ski resorts, but the use of protective air cushions can also help athletes break through themselves. "What remains unchanged is that you can't go home during the New Year." . Summer in Chengdu, winter in Changbai Mountain and Chongli, all year round, the trajectory is clear.
While in Chengdu, the children in Class 20 had the opportunity to watch Su Yiming train. "Handsome" is their unanimous evaluation of "senior brother", "so awesome, he basically does every move while standing still." Wang Manni emphasized that while enjoying the performance, they will also learn Su Yiming's take-off movements and aerial concepts. In Huang Haihong's view, the biggest inspiration that Su Yiming can give to young athletes is to "love this project from the heart". In other words, it is to change "I want to practice" into "I want to practice", which determines how far the athletes can go. The key to how far you can go, "He loves it deeply and will take the initiative to delve into it, so that he can achieve the ultimate goal of this project."
The team members of "Class 20" all developed a "preference" when they saw snow for almost the first time. However, summer physical training, wearing snow goggles caused "yin and yang faces" due to sunburn, homesickness, injuries and the involuntary fear of standing at high places. They have all become test questions, testing their sincerity for skiing again and again.
Zhang Xiaoran remembers that when she first joined the team, everyone was unfamiliar with them and they were too embarrassed to reveal their homesickness. They all hid in their quilts and cried. When the commotion got louder, the coach came up and asked, "What's wrong with you?" She replied, "We're hungry." After laughing and joking for a while, their sorrows were eliminated, but friendship was established; and faced with half-white and half-black faces, they also found a way, "Take off the mask and tan evenly"; as for injuries, after the pain, they have become In Zhang Shuqi's opinion, "stuck (falling) is unavoidable, so practice well, do good movements, reduce injuries, and don't let your pain go in vain." In the face of difficulties, this group of teenage girls Because "I like the feeling of flying when skiing", he said that "you have to climb the road you choose."
Among the six girls, Zhang Yiran was the only team member who failed to make it into the preliminaries of the "Fourteenth Winter", but the qualifying experience made her very unforgettable, "I completed the first 360 in my life, and I did it by flying out to grab a board. I used to do it in a trough, but I don’t know where I got the courage this time.” Although she eventually fell down on the track, she began to admire herself as she completed the move in the air.
"The feeling of snow in snowboarding is very important. The younger you are, the better." Huang Haihong revealed that the growth experience of Su Yiming, Zhou Yizhu and "Class 20" gave him a deeper understanding of this project. "According to the characteristics of the project, Snowboarding must be exposed to and participated in by children from an earlier age. At the same time, we must try to break through the traditional competitive sports training methods and look forward to the participation of society and more families in talent cultivation.” He said frankly that after the "14th Winter" is over, he plans to select a group of younger children to "really start from childhood."
This newspaper reported from Zhalantun on February 19
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Liang Xuan Source: China Youth Daily