Pan Hongyan's outstanding performance in the Beijing women's soccer team has earned her a good opportunity to further her studies in the national team. Photo/Xinhua News Agency
Warm-up Tour
Facing challenges, feeling the pressure, and learning from the pain
After the conclusion of the East Asian Cup, the Chinese women's soccer team flew from Japan to the United States on July 27 to officially begin overseas training. During this month-long training, the Chinese women's soccer team played a total of 11 warm-up matches against U.S. collegiate teams, sub-league and major league teams, and even against the men's youth soccer team. Head coach Shui Qingxia made sure that every player had a chance to work out, and Pan Hongyan played in three of the matches to visualize the gap between China's women's soccer team and the strongest teams.
In the face of high-intensity, fast-paced games, Pan Hongyan's deepest feeling is the pressure, she saw her teammates in the confrontation sometimes seem overwhelmed. In the game, she confessed that she sometimes feel overwhelmed, the opponent's shooting speed and power is very different from the domestic, let her feel overwhelmed.
On August 1, China's women's soccer team played its first game of the practice with the San Francisco Nighthawks, a U.S. Division II team, and although the Chinese women's soccer team won 6-2, the opponent's goalkeeper impressed Pan Hongyan with her outstanding performance.
The Women's Euro Cup allowed Chinese women's soccer girls to see the strong progress of European teams, while the U.S. training was a real-world test.
Returning from the national team, Pan Hongyan has a clearer direction for her future. Photo/Xinhua News Agency
Small goals, big dreams
Steady as she goes, she pursues higher goals
Pan Hongyan is well aware of the gap between herself and the strongest teams, which makes her work harder to catch up. After returning from the national team, she has a clearer learning goal, which makes her feel that she has made considerable progress. She said that she used to be a "train without thinking" kind of player, but now she has started to learn to think and integrate the coach's requirements into her training.
For Pan Hongyan, who only turned 18 this year, she still has plenty of time to correct her deficiencies. She listed the key points she needs to improve, including keeping her technique in front of the goal stable and improving her ability to pick high balls from opponents. She said she overcame the psychological barrier thanks to the teaching of Au Chuliang, who told her that experiencing an injury is not an inevitable situation for a goalkeeper to strike, and that as a goalkeeper, she should first dare to take action.
After returning home from isolation, Pan Hongyan was given a few days' vacation to go home and accompany her parents. After the vacation, she made her future goals clear: "This year, I will first play well in the league, keep my form in the Beijing team, and continue to move forward. As for the longer-term goal, I will slowly get a firm foothold in the national team and then try to fight with Sister Huan (Xu Huan) for the second goal position."
