Preface
Cai Yuanxin, former vice principal of Meizhou Sports School, senior football coach, and head coach of Meizhou Youth Football Team, is currently the deputy secretary-general and director of the technical department of Meizhou Football Association. For Cai Yuanxin, football is not only a sport, but also a window given to him by fate, allowing him to live his ideal life. Therefore, in his opinionOnce a footballer, always a footballer。
Cai Yuanxin was born in Meixian in February 1963. He has been passionate about football since he was a child. In 1974, because of his football talent, he was selected into the Meixian Amateur Sports School and studied under the Meixian football legend Yang Youbiao. In 1980, he joined the Meixian area youth football team and participated in the 16 key city football leagues for three consecutive years. From 1984 to 1991, he participated in the National Second Division League for eight consecutive years and served as an assistant coach and player of the Meixian Youth Football Team from 1989 until his retirement in 1994. From 1995 to 2018, he served as the head coach of the Meizhou Youth Men’s Football Team. From October 2018, he served as the vice principal of Meizhou Sports School until his retirement in February 2023. After retirement, he was rehired by the Meizhou Sports Bureau to the Meizhou Football Association as deputy secretary-general and director of the technical department.
Coaching results
1. Won the Junior Men’s Championship at the 10th Guangdong Provincial Games
2.Won second place in the men’s football competition of the Guangdong Middle School Sports Games three times
3.Won first place in the Guangdong Provincial Youth Men’s Football Championship for two consecutive years in 2004 and 2005
4. Won fourth place in men’s football at the 12th Guangdong Provincial Games in 2006
5. Won the second place in the Guangdong Provincial Youth Men’s Football Championship for two consecutive years in 2007 and 2008.
6. Won third place in men’s football at the Guangdong Provincial Games in 2010 and 2018
7. Won the 2017 Guangdong Province “Governor’s Cup” Men’s Football Championship
1
Cai Yuanxin was born in 1963 and is a native of Meixian County. In the era of his birth, China was experiencing the aftermath of the Great Leap Forward, followed by three years of famine. Poverty and backwardness were the background of that era. This also created a baby boom after the founding of the People’s Republic of China. It was originally thought that everything was waiting for improvement, but after that, China did not develop in a better direction, but experienced 10 years of political catastrophe. What is even more unfortunate is that Cai Yuanxin’s father was classified as a Category Five element during this political catastrophe and was sent to the countryside, causing all the burden of life to fall on his mother. Later, her mother could not bear the burden of life and passed away leaving her four children. In order to maintain the family’s livelihood, the 16-year-old eldest brother and the 14-year-old second brother bravely shouldered the burden of raising the 12-year-old third brother and 6-year-old Cai Yuanxin.
Even though life was so difficult, when it was time to go to school, his brothers still sent Cai Yuanxin to school for education without hesitation. Influenced by the strong football atmosphere on campus, Cai Yuanxin developed a strong interest in football and joined the school football team through her own efforts. However, the training conditions at that time were not as good as they are now. The courts in the school were all sandy fields, and there were no professional training shoes. Therefore, he mostly played football with bare feet. Toe injuries were commonplace, but he never Never thought of giving up.
A group photo of all the students in Class 63, front row, left: Cai Yuanxin, back row, right: Yang Youbiao
Because of this love, opportunities followed. In 1974, Meixian held a county-wide primary school student football competition. Cai Yuanxin, as a well-known football player from the People’s Primary School, represented the Dongjiao Commune team in the county-wide primary school student football competition. On the field, his flexible and aggressive attitude attracted the attention of coach Yang Youbiao of Meixian Amateur Sports School, and he was selected into Class 63 of Meixian Amateur Sports School and began to receive systematic football training. For Cai Yuanxin at that time, being able to enter an amateur sports school was an extremely lucky thing. The pure and simple sports school life not only left him many beautiful memories, but also laid a solid foundation for him to become a professional football player in the future.
2
In a blink of an eye, time came to 1980. After graduating from high school, Cai Yuanxin was recruited by the Guangdong Youth Football Team to participate in the National Youth Football Competition. At that time, the Meixian area youth team (professional team) had just been established and local players were needed to strengthen the team. As a football talent trained by Meixian Amateur Sports School, Cai Yuanxin naturally cannot refuse to join for personal gain. So in 1980, Cai Yuanxin officially joined the Meixian District Youth Team (hereinafter referred to as the Diqing Team) with Li Miaohai as the head coach as a professional football player.
1980 National Sixteen Key Cities Competition Chongqing Division, first row, first left: Cai Yuanxin
After joining the Diqing team, Cai Yuanxin participated in football competitions in 16 key cities across the country and related tasks at the Provincial Games for three consecutive years. As the top football talents in Meixian County are handed over to football teams at or above the provincial level, the team has performed poorly in the past three years and has been in the middle of the football league for a long time. Then, as the players grew older, they were no longer suitable to participate in the Youth Football League, and instead participated in the National Second Division League.
1982 Provincial Games, fourth from left in the back row: Cai Yuanxin
From 1984 to 1991, the Diqing team began to participate in the National Second Division League (tournament system). During this period, Cai Yuanxin competed in the Second Division League for eight consecutive years. These eight years not only allowed him to accumulate a wealth of practical experience, but also allowed his technical level to be qualitatively improved in the game, opening up a bright road for his future football career.
1984 National Second Division Football League Changsha Division, second row, first from left: Cai Yuanxin
It is worth mentioning that in the 1988 “Cigarette Cup” football match, the Guangzhou team was led by Chen Yiming as coach and Zhou Sui’an as the leader. Cai Yuanxin participated in the competition on behalf of the tobacco factory. During the competition, his strong physical strength, tough playing style and strong explosive power were noticed by Director Chen, who wanted to recruit him to the Guangzhou team.
It is a pity that the professional league had not yet been implemented at that time, and the matter of household registration was very important, and the conditions were not yet mature at that time, so this matter could not be achieved. It is impossible to say that I do not regret the quietly missed opportunity. Just when he was worried about his future, the leaders of the Meixian District Sports Committee decided to let him stay on the team as a coach after retiring. For him, this was a turn of events.
From 1989 to 1994, Cai Yuanxin served as an assistant coach and athlete in the team. He retired after playing the last National League Two game in 1994, and then the Diqing team was disbanded. This disbandment is both inevitable and accidental. It is inevitable that the wave of professionalization of European and American football has poured into China, pushing China to carry out football reform and turn the original professional system into professionalism. Occasionally, although Meixian County has a strong football atmosphere, its economic foundation is relatively weak, making it difficult to fully achieve professional transformation. Therefore, the team was eventually eliminated by the wave of the times.
3
The 1994 Provincial Games announced that from the next session (the Provincial Games will be held every four years) football events will be participated by the junior men’s football team. Therefore, Cai Yuanxin was entrusted with the important task of serving as the head coach of the Meizhou Youth Men’s Football Team. He was also able to continue to contribute to the development of Meizhou football as a coach.
In 1995, Cai Yuanxin began to form a junior men’s football team to prepare for the 1998 Provincial Games junior men’s football match. This is an arduous journey from scratch. At that time, the selection of team members did not have a complete and scientific measurement system like today, and could only rely on coaches’ naked eyes and simple tests, such as standing long jump and 30-meter speed test. At the same time, the provincial team also formed a team of the same age group, and Cai Yuanxin was greatly restricted in selecting talents.
In order to find suitable football players, Cai Yuanxin worked tirelessly, traveling every day between junior high schools and amateur sports schools in four key counties in the city to find suitable football talents. However, he encountered many difficulties during the selection process. Some families did not want their children to play football, but wanted them to engage in more promising careers. In order to convince these parents, he tried his best to get the parents to agree. Fortunately, Huangtian paid off. After more than a year of continuous efforts and careful selection, the Meizhou Youth Football Team has finally taken shape.
After the team was formed, we began to formulate a professional training plan. In order to allow young players to adapt to training life more quickly, Cai Yuanxin adheres to the concept of teaching students in accordance with their aptitude and uses different teaching methods for players with different personalities. Especially during the boring physical training, the team members gritted their teeth and persisted. Whenever a team member wants to give up, Cai Yuanxin will patiently advise him and often use his own experience as an example to enlighten him. This method quickly allowed the children to accept intensive training, and even though the training was difficult, they had no complaints. This is because their coach Cai Yuanxin always takes the lead in setting an example. No matter it is severe cold or scorching heat, he trains with the children and never relaxes.
In the 1998 Provincial Games, the person holding the trophy was Cai Yuanxin
After more than two years of hard training, it was finally time to test the results. In the 1998 Provincial Games, the Meizhou Boys’ Football Team, under the guidance of Cai Yuanxin, became famous in one fell swoop and won the Junior Boys’ Football Championship in the Provincial Games. At the same time, in order to find development options for the team members, Cai Yuanxin ran around and recommended them to better platforms. Li Jianhua, one of his first team members, was recommended by him to the Shenzhen Ping An Second Team. He was later selected for the Chinese Dragons and entered the training list of the Chinese national team for the first time in 2005.
The 26th Asian Middle School Football Competition in 1997, second from left in the back row: Cai Yuanxin
Since Cai Yuanxin coached the Meizhou Youth Men’s Football Team, she has participated in six consecutive Provincial Games football competitions and won the runner-up three times. She also represented the Chinese middle school student team in the 26th Asian Middle School Football Competition held in India in 1997, and also won the He has won the Guangdong Provincial Championship and the “Governor’s Cup” competitions.
4
During his more than 20 years of coaching career, he has successfully trained a large number of outstanding athletes, including Li Jianhua, Zhao Pengwen, Qiu Jiehua, Li Chi, Li Lingjun, Zeng Qixiang, Pan Jia, Lin Juyuan, Zhang Zhiquan, Rao Weiquan, Deng Xiongtao, Huang Long , Liu Sheng and Wang Xinhui, etc. These athletes have emerged in professional leagues such as the Chinese Super League and Chinese League One, and some members have been selected for the national team, the National Youth Team and the National Olympic Team, and participated in training and competitions. In addition, some athletes have transitioned to join the provincial hockey team, and four of them have been successfully selected for the Chinese national hockey team due to their outstanding performance. Other team members are currently serving as coaches in clubs and sports schools, or as teachers and coaches in schools, and continue to contribute to the development of China’s sports industry.
In 2018, 55-year-old Cai Yuanxin retired from his position as a coach and became the vice principal of Meizhou Sports School until his retirement in 2023. During his coaching career, he won many awards:
In 1999, he was named an outstanding Communist Party member of Meizhou Science, Education and Communication System;
In 2000, he was rated as an advanced worker in national youth sports work;
In April 2002, he was awarded the title of Meizhou City Model Worker;
In 2002 and 2006, he was twice named the Outstanding Coach of Guangdong Province;
In September 2010, he was rated as an outstanding coach in various sports schools at all levels across the country;
In March 2012, he was awarded the title of Outstanding Coach in Guangdong Province Youth Sports Reserve Talent Training;
In December 2016, he was named an outstanding football coach during the 60th anniversary of the development of Meizhou City’s “Hometown of Football”.
After retiring, he did not leave the football world. Instead, he was rehired by the Meizhou Municipal Sports Bureau to the Technical Department of the Municipal Football Association, responsible for training coaches and coordinating related matters for each team.
5
2018 is a watershed in Cai Yuanxin’s career. This change of identity came quite suddenly, which made him feel quite uncomfortable. After all, all of this was unfamiliar to him, and there was no buffering time at all. It was just a rush to get it on the shelves.
However, Cai Yuanxin expressed her understanding of this arrangement and began to work hard to adapt to her new identity. During his training in administrative positions, he has undergone many changes, his thinking has become more comprehensive, and his ability to deal with difficult and complex problems has also improved.
In his view, even though he has left coaching, his life has long been closely connected with football. In short, he has been tempered on the court all his life. Football changed him, broadened his horizons, and shaped his hard-working character.
Cai Yuanxin has a unique perspective on the identity of a coach. He feels that coaching is a noble profession, being a diplomat, conductor, scientist and designer. But if you want to teach athletes well, setting an example and being a role model is the key.
Regarding the future of football in Meizhou, Cai Yuanxin has always believed that as the hometown of football, Meizhou is full of talents and has huge development potential. The mass base here is good and there are many people playing football. The key is to discover potential players, strengthen their training, and do a good job in youth training, which is an extremely important link. Because only by building a solid foundation and cultivating players with creativity, fair play spirit and strong physical and mental qualities can we promote the continuous development of football. In addition, football is a systematic project and one cannot rush for quick success. As long as youth training is done well, Meizhou will surely be able to deliver more outstanding talents.
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