As the clock ticks down to the end of the year and International Women's Day, we talk to three Shanghai-based players from the Chinese women's soccer team that won the Asian Cup last month.
"Dreams, precious because they are unfinished."
After the quarantine was lifted, your social activities seemed to go on unabated. How do you feel about these activities and the sudden and widespread attention you have received since the women's soccer team won the championship?
Li Jiayue:
After returning to my daily routine, the schedule is full. In addition to giving all kinds of interviews, I went back to my alma mater to inspire the kids who love soccer. Although I am tired, it is my duty. I hope to take the opportunity of winning the championship to do more positive publicity for women's soccer and attract more people to join the sport.
Lena Zhao:
The activities were intensive and busy beyond imagination. I was interviewed, filmed for promotional purposes, and attended a charity dinner with Li Na and Liu Xiang to encourage girls to break boundaries and take up sports. I think these activities are full of positive energy and enjoy participating in them. I hope that through my actions, more people will realize that soccer is not just a male sport, and that women's bravery, confidence and sunshine on the pitch are equally fascinating.
q This Asian Cup win has stirred up a frenzy of fans in the country, what do you hope this win will do for women's soccer in the long run?
Lena Zhao:
After winning the championship, my fan base surged beyond expectations. In recent years, I have put a lot of effort into making short videos, hoping to become a bridge between women's soccer and fans. I look forward to the day when the outside world can learn more about our coaches and athletes.
Lina Zhao teaches everyone to drive a big ball in the air in the video
I thought there would be more attention ...... However, before the Asian Cup, women's soccer did not get much attention, and that attention tended to fluctuate with the ups and downs of the tournament. Before winning the championship, people's understanding of women's soccer was more of a passive acceptance of media reports, and not many people were actively concerned. I hope that by winning this championship, people will pay attention to us for a longer period of time in a more sustained and inclusive way, and be more encouraging and supportive of our different personalities.
Lena Yang:
I remember our Shanghai women's soccer team's attendance peaked at around 5,000, and that was in 2016, when Hongkou Stadium became our home ground. Many Shenhua fans came to cheer us on, something we never dared to imagine. Before that, our home crowds were usually only a couple hundred. In the past few years, the attention of women's soccer has gradually risen, and before the epidemic, there were about two thousand fans at home. I expect the crowds to be even more enthusiastic when the league reverts to a home-and-away system. I hope people don't just pay attention to us because of one championship, but continue to care and support.
Li Jiayue:
While external attention is important, we ourselves have to work hard and keep improving. This kind of attention will only last if we keep producing good results. For me, I still have dreams, such as winning the Asian Games gold medal and playing in the World Cup to reach the quarterfinals. As the saying goes, "Dreams, precious because they are unfinished."
Nowadays, both men and women in our society are "age-phobic". As players, your careers are shorter than normal, do you have any concerns about this? Does age affect your life after retirement?
Li Jiayue:
I'm about to turn 32, but so what? I'm still pursuing a bigger stage and higher achievements. I have no worries about age. Many of my sisters who played soccer retired at a young age, which is a shame. For me, as long as I can still play and want to play, I will keep going.
Lena Zhao:
When I was young, I set a lot of limits for myself, such as retiring when I was a few years old and getting married and having children when I was a few years old. But as I got older, I found it harder and harder to leave soccer. I would feel empty when I stopped training and playing. The moment I chose soccer, I was ready to face different eyes, and now, I want to break all the restrictions.
q Some conventional wisdom might suggest that women who play soccer don't look like women, do you guys feel like women?
Li Jiayue:
Maybe not traditionally female, but I feel very female. In this day and age, no one says you have to have long hair and pale skin to be considered a woman. Aren't confident, sunny, healthy women beautiful? I feel like I'm living in a time where I'm very inclusive and the definition of female is breaking down, which is a good thing. As long as you are good and confident, I think all are wonderful women.
Lena Yang:
I played soccer with the boys when I was a kid and didn't join the girls' soccer team until I was in fourth grade. Before that, I didn't realize I was a girl because there was no gender awareness. After Coach Qian brought me to the girls' team, I began to realize I was a girl and started living in a residential school.
Lena Zhao:
I grew up knowing that I was a girl, and my personality and hobbies skewed female. I'm not gruff, I'm gentle, just slightly built.
q Relative to the average woman, you lack opportunities to learn and work with men together, does this lead to a lack of understanding, confusion and uncertainty about how to get along with men?
Lena Yang:
In elementary and middle school, Coach Qian took us to play and interact with many boys' soccer teams, and we almost never lost. Growing up in such an environment, I felt a brotherly relationship with the boys.
Li Jiayue:
Although I lacked the experience of studying and working with men, I have many male friends, and I even feel that I may have better communication with men than the average girl because our personalities are closer.
q Your upbringing may have made you realize your femininity later, when did you start to realize that you were a girl and that there would be times when you were soft and hurt and needed to be loved and protected?
Lena Yang:
For those of us who play soccer, physical injuries have long been taken for granted. I remember that when I was training on the yellow sand field, I fell down and my skin was split open, and the yellow sand and soil were embedded in my flesh. My mother was heartbroken when she saw it, and she wept as she sterilized me. But I was fine with it, and I never shed tears easily since I was a kid. After I became a professional player, I broke the back of my head once in a year, had seven stitches in my eyebrow bone, and broke my nose once, but I never said a word.
In 2013, my grandfather passed away. He was my strong support and encouraged me to play soccer all the way. His greatest wish was to see me make a name for myself and become the pride of my family. His death was a big blow to me, plus after the National Youth Football League came back, the coach was changed after the Shanghai National Games, and the old players came back to the team, so I had very few chances to play. At that time, I was in a bad state of mind, but I have a strong character and would not let others see my vulnerable side. I was very confused and wanted to retire for a while, but after the water coach came on the team, he gave me a lot of opportunities to play, which brought back my passion for soccer.
Li Jiayue:
Everyone has moments of vulnerability and needs comfort. It has nothing to do with profession and nothing to do with gender. I've encountered this too many times on the soccer field. For example, in the 2015 World Cup, I had been a starter, but when I got to the field, I was a substitute and didn't play a minute. At that time, it was really difficult to accept, other people's comfort can only play the role of emotional relief, and ultimately we have to rely on ourselves to come out.
Lena Zhao:
I have not been good at showing my emotions in front of people for a long time. When I watch a movie, if the person next to me is not familiar with it, I will hold back my tears when I see something touching. When I was aggrieved, I would keep my guard up in front of people and wait until I was alone to secretly shed tears. But as I grow older, I realize that tears have become a very natural thing, I cry when I want to cry, and I don't wait until I'm alone.
q What do you guys think is the most accented thing you've done since you were kids?
Li Jiayue:
Chose to play soccer.
Lena Zhao:
The moment you stand in front of the goal in your national team's uniform.
Lena Yang:
I remember that day when I finished buying a house for my family, completed the paperwork, and walked out of the real estate transaction center, standing in the sun, feeling so sure of my life. It was one of the things I was most proud of.
Source: News Morning News Weekly App Reporter - Shen Kun Yu
Photo credit: courtesy of the interviewee
