On August 12, China's women's international soccer player Wang Frost, who is on her third overseas study trip, released a touching video on her personal social media platform. In the video, she shared a warm memory during her training in Qingdao on the eve of the East Asian Cup: she sent her sincere graduation wishes to more than 60 "wind chasing girls" who were about to graduate from elementary school.
"Wind chasing girls, it's really a lucky thing to be exposed to soccer at the beginning of your youth." Wang Frost sent a heartfelt message in the video, "Now, you are about to graduate and step into a wider world. May you always be with soccer in the future, and draw confidence and happiness from it!"
The "wind chasing girls" referred to by Wang Frost originated from a public welfare program - "wind chasing plan" - which aims to support the development of female football in rural elementary school. Since its launch in July 2019 by the Zhejiang Ant Public Welfare Foundation in cooperation with multiple partners, the program is committed to supporting 100 girls' soccer teams in rural elementary school in the next five years, helping more girls in rural areas to improve themselves, enjoy themselves and get more education and development opportunities through soccer. In the past three years, under the promotion of Ant Public Welfare Foundation and China Youth Development Foundation, the program has provided direct financial support to 60 rural elementary school girls' soccer teams in 23 provinces, cities, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government, and has benefited 200 rural schools.
According to the Ant Public Welfare Foundation's latest announcement of the progress of the three-year project, in addition to financial support, the "Wind Chaser Program" also donated 6,532 sets of jerseys, 2,735 pairs of shoes and 260 sets of soccer training equipment and other basic training materials to the 260 rural school girls' soccer teams, ensuring the safety and professionalism of the girls in training. Dong Mengnan, the main goalkeeper of Yuanbao Primary School in Dafang County, Guizhou Province, said, "In the past, we didn't even have gloves when we were pouncing on the ball, but now we are well-equipped with gloves and pads, so we don't have to worry about pain when practicing pouncing anymore."
In addition, the training of teachers is also the key to the support of the "Wind Chaser Program". 120 rural grassroots soccer coaches received a five-day training in Qiongzhong, Hainan in August 2020, with former Chinese women's football coach Ma Liangxing and former Chinese women's football player Gao Hong as the "Wind Chaser Mentors". Former Chinese women's soccer coach Ma Liangxing and former Chinese women's soccer player Gao Hong, as "wind chasing mentors", taught these special trainees professional and scientific training methods. During the epidemic, the "Wind Chaser Program" also linked up with the CFF's Vitality Rose Classroom app on Alipay APP to provide ongoing professional training courses for rural soccer coaches.
Last October, the "Wind Chasers" had a moment of glory. Wang Jiayue, a player from Yuanbao Primary School, one of the first schools selected for the Wind Chaser Program, was featured on the big screen at the San Siro Stadium in Milan, Italy. For helping her team win the Southwest Region of the Wind Chaser League in May and for being the best player, Wang Jiayue was awarded the same trophy as Euro 2020 scoring champion Cairo. Her story of coming out of the mountains was also witnessed by fans around the world at the UEFA Nations League final - Wang Jiayue and four other teammates from Yuanbao Primary School were selected by the Guangzhou Football Association to receive more professional training in Guangzhou, where they will complete their elementary school to university education, due to their outstanding performance on the pitch.
Like Wang Jiayue, there are many other "wind chasing girls" who have changed their destiny through soccer. Over the past three years, the "Wind Chaser Program" has helped a total of 4,129 rural soccer girls, of which 783 have graduated from the "Wind Chaser Girls", 119 of them have been better admitted to junior high school because of soccer, and 30 of them have been admitted to sports schools, youth training centers or soccer schools to receive professional football training. receive professional soccer training.
