shaolin kungfu seeks to strike a blow for chinese soccer
Last Updated : GMT 09:03:51
Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today
Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today
Last Updated : GMT 09:03:51
Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today

Shaolin kungfu seeks to strike a blow for Chinese soccer

Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today

Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today Shaolin kungfu seeks to strike a blow for Chinese soccer

Students practise wushu at the Tagou martial arts school in Dengfeng
Dengfeng (China) - Arab Today

The young martial arts pupils cartwheeled across a pitch, before football coach Sun Dawei ordered one to deliver him a kung fu kick to the stomach.

"You see I avoid the kick like this," Sun said, dodging out of harm's way before grabbing his young charge's leg and throwing him to the turf.

As tackling and defensive techniques, both would be short cuts to a red card. But the "Shaolin soccer training base" -- set up last year near the home of China's fighting monks -- has ambitions to use traditional martial arts techniques to produce elite football players for Team Dragon.

China's national team is struggling: the world's most populous country ranks a lowly 84th according to FIFA and the latest setback to its fading hopes of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia was a 0-0 home draw this week with Qatar -- which has only around 300,000 citizens.

But China is investing hugely in football training and has vowed to have 50 million school-age players by 2020, as the ruling Communist party eyes "football superpower" status by 2050.

The vast Tagou martial arts school, a few miles from the cradle of Chinese kungfu, the Shaolin Temple in Henan province, has 35,000 fee-paying boarders, who live in spartan conditions and are put through a rigorous training regime.

Some 1,500 of its students, both male and female, have signed up for its new soccer programme, centred on a pristine green Astroturf football pitch where dozens of children play simultaneous five-a-side-games.
A concrete viewing stand is under construction to accommodate future spectators, with cement mixers churning and a crane swinging girders above the children as they practised.

"We are responding to the country's call," said Sun, a crewcutted former martial arts champion who took a soccer coach training course last year.

"What we want to do... is combine Shaolin martial arts with football and create an original concept," he added.

Sun's class of 12-year-olds wore red jackets emblazoned "Shaolin" and the canvas-style shoes favoured by practitioners of Chinese martial arts, known as wushu.

They cartwheeled from one side of the pitch to another, before assembling in formation and running through tightly choreographed routines of high kicks and punches.

"With a foundation in wushu, their bodily flexibility and force is a great help when they are playing football," said Sun. "Their jumping ability is helpful."

- 'Awesome things' -

The training base has drawn comparisons with the hit 2001 Hong Kong film "Shaolin Soccer," about a ragtag band of out-of-shape martial artists who defy the odds to storm to victory in a football tournament.

The film's heroes play in yellow monks' robes, flying through the air, carrying out dazzling dives and overhead kicks of tornado-like power and winning one game 40-0.
"The flying... and those sort of awesome things I can't do," admitted 12-year-old winger Sun Linyuan.

But he added: "In the future I will be able to do spinning kicks and bicycle kicks. Then I'll be a better footballer."

When the soccer programme opened a year ago the province's top sport official Zhang Wenshan addressed a ceremony which saw thousands of students carry out a tightly choreographed martial arts routine. 

"We have carried out deep research into using our province's advantage in traditional martial arts to develop youth football," he said.

A provincial document vows to "build shaolin soccer into a brand", and the school has given itself five years to become one of the province's top three youth teams.

Each child who signs up for the soccer programme practises for several hours every day and the school has signed a deal with a British firm to import coaches.

- Nation's best -

Sun's group split into two teams, with captains assigning positions. One striker in a number 10 jersey backflipped his way onto the pitch. 

Despite their years of kung fu training, the students' football skills were still a work in progress, school staff admitted, with sloppy defending, shaky shooting and poor ball control all in evidence.

"You're just running wherever the ball is! Do you think that's ok?" an exasperated Sun told his students in a half-time huddle. "Should you be marking people or not?" 

"Yes!" the students all affirmed at once.

Long a football fan, Sun admitted there was a "vast" difference between the Beautiful Game and Shaolin kungfu.

Still, he said, "We are the number one school for martial arts. So we have the confidence that in another area we can also be among the nation's best."

Source: AFP

almaghribtoday
almaghribtoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

shaolin kungfu seeks to strike a blow for chinese soccer shaolin kungfu seeks to strike a blow for chinese soccer

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

shaolin kungfu seeks to strike a blow for chinese soccer shaolin kungfu seeks to strike a blow for chinese soccer

 



Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today Skincare PR Performance Full Year 2017

GMT 09:22 2018 Monday ,22 January

Skincare PR Performance Full Year 2017
Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today New hunt for flight MH370 gets under way

GMT 11:03 2018 Wednesday ,24 January

New hunt for flight MH370 gets under way
Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today Modern colorful bedroom renovation

GMT 10:57 2017 Thursday ,21 December

Modern colorful bedroom renovation
Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today Puigdemont candidate for Catalan president

GMT 13:56 2018 Tuesday ,23 January

Puigdemont candidate for Catalan president
Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today Turkey detains dozens more

GMT 10:47 2018 Wednesday ,24 January

Turkey detains dozens more

GMT 10:38 2017 Saturday ,23 December

German consumers to start new year in high spirits

GMT 13:56 2017 Thursday ,21 December

Thick smog keeps schools closed

GMT 18:35 2017 Tuesday ,14 November

French skier Poisson dies in training crash

GMT 09:55 2017 Friday ,27 October

Russia conducts ballistic missile tests

GMT 15:53 2011 Thursday ,10 November

Ferrari: green is the new red

GMT 21:22 2017 Saturday ,25 March

Consumer Protection Agency bans Uber ad campaign

GMT 01:44 2012 Sunday ,01 January

Abdou Benziane passes away

GMT 10:10 2017 Friday ,13 October

US Air Force woman trailblazer to guide

GMT 12:22 2013 Monday ,03 June

Moroccan spicy soup

GMT 07:27 2017 Saturday ,04 March

Nesreen Amin is dancer in “Faisal Apartment”

GMT 06:18 2017 Sunday ,12 February

Twitter struggles to turn headlines into cash

GMT 09:27 2017 Wednesday ,25 January

Berlin now 'home sweet home' for Syrian pastry chefs

GMT 19:37 2012 Thursday ,15 March

The sleeping beauty
Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today
 
 Almaghrib Today Facebook,almaghrib today facebook  Almaghrib Today Twitter,almaghrib today twitter Almaghrib Today Rss,almaghrib today rss  Almaghrib Today Youtube,almaghrib today youtube  Almaghrib Today Youtube,almaghrib today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

.almaghribtoday .almaghribtoday .almaghribtoday .almaghribtoday
almaghribtoday almaghribtoday almaghribtoday
almaghribtoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
almaghribtoday, Almaghribtoday, Almaghribtoday