Two army-green pads are spread close to the concrete floor. 11-year-old Bi Huimei, holding the thick gloves of a soccer goalie, practices her saves under the guidance of her coach.
After all, underneath the mat was cold, hard concrete. Coach Tigerweather encouraged her in a firm tone, "If even the goalie is afraid, won't the others be even more afraid?"
Photo credit: Screenshot of video material from the official blog of our women's soccer team.
Bi Huimei, the goalkeeper of the girls' soccer team from Weize Qinglian Expectation Primary School in Changhu Township, Shilin County, Kunming City, Yunnan Province, has tanned skin and a round face with naturally curly hair that gently flutters as she makes saves.
This is where they train - next to the concrete playground on campus, the nets inside the soccer goal are in tatters.
Poojun Joo, also 11 and the team's defender, complied with her teammate's request to demonstrate the pounce on the mat. She did it without expression or hesitation. Standing up after the pounce, Pu covered her butt and laughed, "My butt hurts."
Photo credit: Screenshot of video material from the official blog of our women's soccer team.
In 2017, the "National School Football Characteristic Demonstration County" settled in Shilin, and the girls' soccer team was born. Due to the lack of space, the girls can only practice physical, technical and tactical exercises on the concrete floor every day.
When Pu Junjun joined the soccer team, her family was not supportive. "My mom just said I girls should dance and sing, and when I hurt myself with this kick, she said I deserved it. What's the point of participating? Can't even kick a ball."
But Pu Jun潓 character stubborn, this does not agree: "You say I kicked the soccer ball is not good, I will kick it to you. If I kick the penultimate, I will not participate."
The walls of the girls' dormitory were covered with colorful bento stickers with everyone's wishes written on them. Pu Junjun wrote on the bento sticker, "Play to win against BYU, always play against others and get first place. Grow up and join our women's soccer team and compete for our country."
Photo credit: Screenshot of video material from the official blog of our women's soccer team.
"North University," referring to North University Village Elementary School in Shiprock County, played a friendly game between the two teams on April 12 of this year.
On the way to Beida Village, the girls sat in the bus and sang in unison. When the bus arrived at the end of the journey, the girls looked through the bus window and marveled at the "other people's stadium": how could this be possible? How can this be possible? It's such a big stadium!
But the girls' excitement quickly fades and they lose the game as the other team scores three goals. Bi Hye Mi sits on the sidelines angry and Poo Joon Joon sheds a tear, and the bento sticker wishes that the game didn't start well.
On the way back, there was no more singing on the way in. Wong Ming Chu was a little disconcerted: "They just got used to the grass because we've been playing on concrete floors for months and then we got used to it [the concrete]."
Photo credit: Screenshot of video material from the official blog of our women's soccer team.
Huang Mingzhu is 11 years old and is the team's striker. As her name suggests, she is a pretty girl with big eyes and a lively and cheerful personality. She says, "I want to get out of the mountains, I want to play soccer on a bigger field."
Training on a concrete field and playing on a grass field really affected their play. There was a time when we went out to play a tournament and the girls only won one game out of four opponents in the group stage.
Coach Tigerweather said, "It was a fluke win because they didn't have a soccer field either. Couldn't win any of the other kicks, had been training a lot and just suddenly realized the importance of a soccer field."
Losing a lot of matches hit Bihuimei's confidence a bit. "Goalkeepers train harder than the others, but what's the point? Teachers say friendship first, competition second, anyway, we are friendship first, competition third, competition fourth, competition fifth, competition sixth, no progress at all."
On April 13, China's women's soccer team reversed South Korea in the second round of the Olympic Qualifying Tournament play-offs, defeating the opponent with a total score of 4:3 and obtaining the ticket to the Tokyo Olympics. The match became the highest-rated program on CCTV at the same time, and hit the peak of the simultaneous ratings in the past two years.
After the match, our women's soccer team was a hot topic on social media for several days. But such heat is often fleeting, and the popularity of women's soccer competitions in the country is so low that many people don't actually understand how women's soccer survives at the grassroots level.
The girls' soccer players from Vizier Youth League Expectation Primary School were also in front of the TV to watch the match. They lamented every lost moment and couldn't help but cheer for the players on the field through the screen. Many of these girls aspire to be part of the women's soccer team in China.
After that tournament, the coach told them that the first women's soccer-themed stadium in the country would be located on their campus, and these girls would no longer have to train on concrete.
Photo credit: Screenshot of video material from the official blog of our women's soccer team.
During the construction of the field, the girls stood side by side on the school building looking down, talking and laughing. Halfway through the repairs, Huang Mingzhu once went ahead and stomped on the grass with her teammates. "It felt cozy and was still soft." She said with a smile.
On April 28th, the day the stadium was officially completed, Sun Wen, Liu Ailing and Wang Liping came to the site and coached the girls in the new stadium. 1999, they represented our country in the Women's World Cup, and finally achieved the second place. That was the most glorious moment in the history of Chinese women's soccer.
Twenty-two years later, China's women's soccer team is no longer a top international team, but every generation of women's soccer players has brought encouragement and emotion to the people of China on the field. At the side of this stadium, there are photos of generations of women's soccer players. It's as if these big sisters are running together with their little sisters on the field.
On an ordinary evening, the kids on the girls' soccer team gathered to soak their feet and chattered and discussed again.
"Will the next generation of our women's soccer team be us?"
"There's no chance of that."
"Will it be one of us?"
Photo credit: CNA by Li Jiaxian
There was no answer, and they ended the conversation with a hearty laugh.
But who's to say that it won't come true?
Every wish, starts from this moment. (Author: Wang Hao)
