In China, former champions to the rescue of school sport

Published on : 18/01/2022 – 12:14Modified : 18/01/2022 – 12:12

In the spacious, light-filled training hall of a Shanghai university, Sui Lu, a 29-year-old retired from the sport, leads a stretching and fitness session.

Selected at the age of eight to join the state training system for athletes, a true factory of champions, the young woman conquered world gold before winning silver on the beam at the London 2012 Olympics.

But the students she trains today have more modest ambitions.

The lessons given by former champions like Sui Lu are part of a government campaign to develop sporting activity among young people. And the next Winter Olympics (February 4-20) act as catalysts.

“Before, people didn’t like sports. They were under pressure to study and didn’t have time to exercise,” says Sui Lu.

“But now everyone understands the value of sport.”

The State wants to reduce the school workload of young people, in particular for the benefit of a target of two hours of daily physical activity.

A campaign in great demand for qualified teachers. Which gives Sui Lu and other retired champions new career opportunities.

“Before, everyone thought that the only thing professional athletes could do after retirement was to train other top athletes,” she says.

His new mission: to fight the received idea according to which sport is the prerogative of top athletes – and a waste of time for others.

“Natural Instincts”

This promotion of physical activity is part of a larger campaign by the Chinese state to encourage healthier lifestyles.

In recent months, he has attacked television programs deemed “vulgar” or even addiction to video games among minors.

The school system is very selective in China and contributes to limiting the sporting activity of young people.

The Chinese have been preparing since childhood for the passage, at 18, of the university entrance exam.

Many parents push their child to devote all their free time to studies. A situation accused of causing obesity, stress and myopia.

Junior badminton world champion by team in 2010, Jiang Yujing now teaches in a school in Shanghai which is a primary and secondary school.

Many parents realize that “schooling isn’t the only way” to success, she says.

“Today, they no longer necessarily force their child to take private lessons on the weekends,” says Jiang Yujing.

“They want to follow their child’s natural instincts more and have them release stress through sport.”

One of his students, Song Xuanchun, says he feels a marked change with these new classes.

“Most of my comrades are in better shape,” he explains.

Cycling and badminton

A mother of two elementary school children, Zhu Jing used to enroll them in countless private lessons.

Before changing their minds in recent months: “If they study every day (…) their thirst for learning will diminish because they will tell themselves that no matter how hard they try, they will have homework to do anyway. ‘more to finish.”

Since the start of the school year, Zhu Jing says he has reduced his children’s workload, freeing up time for cycling or playing badminton.

On some blogs, however, parents express their concern about this development of sport, which they believe could hinder their child’s results in math, Chinese or English.

But a sign of general awareness, provinces are now adapting entrance exams to high school and university in order to give more weight to the student’s sports results.

In another establishment in Shanghai, the deputy headmaster, Zhang Meng, explains that he has nearly 20 sports teachers and wants to recruit six more.

Proof of the change at work: the school has installed new lighting around its sports fields to allow students to practice until late at night.

“For me, a child who loves sport is someone who is good in body and in his mind,” summarizes Mr. Zhang.

© 2022 AFP