Xinjiang kids look to score on their own field of dreams

Members of a village soccer team practice in Xuanen county, Hubei province, during the summer vacation in July.[Photo/Xinhua]

Golden era

Each team member has his own dream. Azimat yearns to play in the forward position again like his hero, Ronaldo, while Parhat wants to lead his boys to glory in the county competition and make soccer a specialty at his primary school.

As of June, the Ministry of Education had approved soccer as a specialty subject at 14,000 schools nationwide.

In April, the national development drive was endorsed in a government plan that set the goal of China entering soccer's "elite club" and becoming a "top-class soccer nation" by 2050.

The 14-page document, The Medium and Long-Term Plan for Chinese Soccer Development, outlined a vision of the sport's progress to 2050 and introduced pragmatic measures to achieve the goal.

By 2020, China will have 20,000 specialist soccer schools, and 30 million elementary and middle school students will be among more than 50 million active participants in the game, according to the plan.

All soccer schools, colleges and universities should have at least one standard pitch. In the next four years, 60,000 pitches nationwide will be renovated, refurbished or built, and at least two standard pitches will be built for public use in each county, except in mountainous areas.

"So-called specialist soccer schools teach every student to master soccer skills," said Wang Dengfeng, director of the ministry's department of physical, health and arts education.

"In terms of popularity and cognitive level, China's school soccer is experiencing a golden era."

Setting goals

"In spite of this, many sports, including soccer, still face indifference, a shortage of coaches, and a lack of fixtures," Wang said. "Sports are not on China's education curriculum, except for the entrance examination for secondary school."

To improve the situation, the ministry has trained 15,000 school soccer coaches across the country and issued a video training guide to schools nationwide. Wang said a new school soccer syllabus will be issued this month.

The plan stipulates that one pitch must serve every 20,000 people by 2020 and every 10,000 people by 2030 to realize the goal of becoming a global soccer power.

However, Wang said, urban areas don't have enough space for soccer pitches, while rural areas lack money.

"Matches are the perfect platform to promote sports," he said, adding that he would like to see a soccer competition system in primary and middle schools, and also in colleges.

"Regional leagues must be optimized," Wang said, arguing that the best players at the prefectural, municipal, provincial and national levels will emerge from the leagues.

China Features is a feature department of Xinhua News Agency, which writes in-depth stories for overseas readers.