If we take the 13th National Winter Games as a reference, "the strength of ice and snow sports in Northeast China almost represents the strength of ice and snow sports in the entire China" - for a long time, in the ranking of ice and snow sports in my country, the three northeastern provinces have had an absolute advantage, with Beijing and Inner Mongolia Northern provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) such as Xinjiang and Xinjiang follow, while southern provinces that lack ice and snow usually have similar features: late start, weak foundation, weak foundation, and lack of hardware.
However, at the 14th National Winter Games (hereinafter referred to as the "14th Winter") being held in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, many southern teams completed their "debut" at the National Winter Games and successfully "broken the circle" with the active performance of the athletes. It shows the great changes that have taken place in ice and snow sports in the south in recent years.
Especially in snow sports, which had a clear gap with the provinces with strong ice and snow sports before, there were many contestants on the podium who had "never seen snow since they were young".
In the "14th Winter" snowboarding open group women's big platform competition, the southern delegation swept the top three. Guangxi teenager Gan Jiajia, who had never won a national competition championship before, won the gold medal with 149.60 points, winning the Winter Games for the Guangxi delegation. For the first gold medal in history, Chen Aldao of Yunnan team and He Tingjia of Sichuan team won the runner-up and third runner-up respectively. In this competition, there were also Junge of Jilin team, the first Chinese participant in this event in the Winter Olympics, and Ren Ziyan of Heilongjiang team, who has won many national championships. and other well-known players; in the youth group competition of this project, the 16-year-old Xiong Shirui who won the championship was from the Sichuan team; previously, the 17-year-old girl Li Ruilin from Shantou won the "Fourteen Winters" Freestyle Skiing Women's Double Snow Skills Open Although this Winter Games medal also made history for the Guangdong team, Li Ruilin, who had participated in the Winter Youth Olympics, already had the strength to "target the championship" before the game.
Driven by the strategy of "expanding south, expanding west, and advancing east" in ice and snow sports, it is no accident that the southern team performed well at this Winter Games.
In preparation for the Beijing Winter Olympics, provinces that are not strong in ice and snow have increased their efforts in “four-season expansion” and “cross-sport selection” of ice and snow sports. Thanks to the gradual improvement of domestic ice and snow talent selection and exchange and interaction mechanisms in recent years, more and more people have Athletes from the "snowless land" have broken into the white snow and dared to have "dreams without temperature differences."
They come from the "land without snow"
The first gold medal of the "Fourteen Winters" was produced on July 22, 2023. The gold medal was won by the Guangdong Women's Hockey Team. They won the championship with a record of 6 wins, making the Guangdong delegation's first National Winter Games. The trip turned out amazing.
In addition, the size of the delegation is as many as 191 people, which also shows that this typical southern province with an average annual temperature of 20-22 degrees Celsius is "prepared".
In order to prepare for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the national team came to Guangzhou in 2018 through cross-border and cross-sport selection. Li Ruilin, who started practicing trampoline at the Guangzhou Sports Vocational and Technical College at the age of 6, ushered in a turning point in his life.
From summer events to winter events, the temperature changes are what hit me. “It was close to minus 30 degrees Celsius in Chongli. I wore three pairs of socks, three pairs of pants, and two layers of gloves, trying every means to keep warm. In the end, I was frozen to tears." But after hitting the wind and snow time and time again, Li Ruilin saw her potential and persisted for 5 years. She set her short-term goal as "entering the top 20 in the World Cup". Therefore, she I knew before the race that I had the ability to get on the podium of the "14th Winter".
Not everyone can persist in a head-to-head confrontation with Fengxue. Among the players selected in the same batch, Li Musai and Li Ruilin are the only two children who have persisted in the national team.
He was originally going to compete for the men's snow skills podium in the "14th Winter" freestyle skiing, but he was unable to compete due to a training injury. However, he would applaud and cheer when almost every skater finished the game. When he heard the names of the top three at the award ceremony, he He introduced excitedly: "This is my teammate, this is my former roommate, this is the dark horse. We all think he has the ability. This time, our dream has finally come true."
"Unity, openness and tolerance." Li Musai, who switched from trampoline to skiing at the age of 15, was attracted by the special atmosphere of the project. "Every athlete is very hard-working and will not let you easily surpass him. Everyone will defend their own advantages." , but we are opponents on the court and friends off the court, communicating with each other and not hiding anything."
He remembered that when he was training and competing abroad, he met famous players such as Yukima Horishima and Kingsbury. He came up to ask for advice and the other players would give them all they had. “Snow trails also require the collaboration of athletes, coaches and staff. It can be repaired only if we can, this project is like a big family.”
The charm of "working together" cannot be weakened by cold or injuries.
Therefore, Li Musa rarely mentioned the difficulties in the process of changing events. Even if he was injured while competing in Japan, he smiled and said he had "experienced Japan's ambulance."
At that time, he was unable to participate in the Beijing Winter Olympics due to insufficient points. He did not indulge in regrets, but set his sights on the Milan Winter Olympics.
After all, for him, this switch is not just a change of track, but a life choice made for himself out of love. "Freestyle skiing does not have many rules and regulations and requires more subjective initiative. This is very consistent with Guangdong." human characteristics”.
"Skiing needs encouragement and education, and athletes must be guided to challenge from the heart." Chen Yang, the head coach of the Guangxi Freestyle Ski Team, was a world champion in trampoline. After retiring, he became the head coach of the single jump event of the Guangxi Trampoline Team. In 2018, 6 members of the team An athlete entered the national training team for freestyle skiing, slopestyle skills and big jumping through cross-event selection. He had English skills and was transferred to the staff to "change events" together.
"Changing sports" for coaches is much more complicated than for athletes.
Under normal circumstances, foreign coaches are responsible for arranging the annual training plan and each team member's growth plan, season goals, etc. Chen Yang needs to act as a translator, technical guidance and "housekeeper" of the athletes' lives, "buying groceries, cooking, driving, etc. Do anything.”
But for him, the biggest pressure comes from the safety of the team members. "Skiing is a high-risk event. Children in the south have less exposure to snow, and they are relatively slow to perceive changes in wind direction, wind speed, and snow temperature."
As a coach, Chen Yang has to act as an "observer" and give timely advice to the athletes, but he also lacks snow experience. "If I had influenced the athletes and caused her to have problems, I would feel guilty for the rest of my life."
"Ice and Snow Migratory Birds" from the North and South
"Guangdong's ice and snow sports started relatively late, but after the successful bid for the Beijing Winter Olympics, they used the resources of sports schools in various cities and sent a group of outstanding athletes to the national team through cross-selection. They are important for the development of ice and snow sports in Guangdong. Wealth." According to Pang Xiufen, the leader of the Guangdong Snow Skills Team, Guangdong has a rich talent pool for technical sports, such as trampoline, skills, gymnastics, etc., and is well-positioned to develop snow skills events through reasonable selection of talents.
The ability to show strength in the "Fourteenth Winter" is the result of joining forces with strong ice and snow provinces when it has human resources. "For example, through joint training with Heilongjiang and Jilin, we can quickly make up for our shortcomings and fill in the blanks."
She revealed that after the "14th Winter", this cooperation will not only be limited to competitive sports, but will also help the development of Guangdong's ice and snow projects in mass sports and the ice and snow industry.
Guangxi’s ice and snow sports development path is also very similar.
According to media reports, there are currently 32 local athletes in Guangxi’s winter sports, which mainly carry out competitive sports such as freestyle skiing, snowboarding, cross-country skiing, figure skating, and alpine skiing.
According to Chen Yang, usually summer training is concentrated in the Chengdu air-cushion ski resort. By the end of November, they move to Jilin Changbai Mountain and other northern ski resorts for winter training until March of the following year. This is also the "ice and snow" season in most southern provinces. The trajectory of migratory birds.
There are also some "migratory birds" that come from the northern provinces with strong ice and snow.
"Southern athletes have to adapt to the cold winter in the north, and we have to adapt to the heat in the south summer." Chen Can, coach of the Sichuan Ski Team, was a freestyle ski aerials player. In 2003, he switched to one of the earliest snowboarding athletes in my country. In 2009, , 23-year-old Chen Can joined the Harbin Institute of Physical Education, starting as an assistant coach and gradually starting her coaching career. Most of the time, her work and life focus were in the three northeastern provinces, but with the development of ice and snow sports in the southern provinces, With the increase, she also began to "migrate south".
In 2020, the Winter Sports Management Center of Sichuan Sports Vocational College and Harbin Sports Institute jointly built the Sichuan ski and snowboard team in the form of university cooperation. Chen Can came to Chengdu as a coach to participate in the co-construction and became the main force in cultivating Sichuan ice and snow talents. , she is responsible for the selection and training, while Sichuan provides support in terms of protecting athletes and providing resources. "In addition to the venue, the players are also equipped with team doctors and physical coaches." These help the athletes grow rapidly. "The young players have relevant Some people can participate in the 'Fourteenth Winter' after only practicing the sports foundation of the project for two or three years."
"The grassroots sports schools in the south are well-established and have a large talent pool." In Chen Can's view, the speed of development of ice and snow sports in southern provinces also affects the ecology of my country's ice and snow sports. She remembers that in the past, she only participated in two national competitions in the snowboarding project. There were only thirty people, but now there are more than a hundred contestants. “In the fierce competition, we can see the future of China’s ice and snow development.”
The problems associated with sustainable development are also becoming increasingly prominent.
Some coaches from southern provinces and cities said frankly that since the talent reserve in the province is not yet abundant, after the Beijing Winter Olympics, some players returned from the national team to the local team and faced the problem of lack of field training. “Although we have an indoor ski resort, For projects with high professional requirements like the U-shaped pool, training cannot be carried out."
The coach revealed that during the "14th Winter" period, the joint training method can basically ensure the training of the players, but after the competition, how to provide players with resource guarantees for further development is the key to determining whether the project can truly "live". .
"The venue problem has always been a problem." Chen Can revealed that in the early years, the only venue suitable for professional training was the Yabuli Ski Resort in Heilongjiang. Since then, Harbin Institute of Physical Education and Shenyang Institute of Physical Education have also built venues, including Zhalan, which hosted the "14th Winter" Tunjin Longshan Ski Resort has provided convenience for early training, but with the development of the project, there are higher requirements for the professionalism and diversity of the venue. Some inherent venues are difficult to adapt to the needs of athletes for training and competition. Now that southern athletes have expanded their talent pool, the situation of too many people and too little food is even more prominent."
"However, changes in the popularity of domestic skiing have attracted some foreign ice and snow experts to participate. Existing ice and snow talents can also feed back to various places in the future to provide a better development environment for younger players." In Chen Can's view, The event platform of the "14th Winter" has demonstrated the country's "dream of no temperature difference" for ice and snow sports. "I believe that with the implementation of more important ice and snow events, it will accelerate the professionalization of our ice and snow sports environment."
Report from Zhalantun, February 26th
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Liang Xuan Source: China Youth Daily