In the past years, Chinese women's soccer seniors shone on the world stage and captured countless hearts, and Wang Shanshan was one of them.
Today, she is an inspiring role model. In the recent Asian Cup, China's women's soccer team returned to the top of Asia after 16 years of trials and tribulations, and captain Wang Shanshan was honored with the MVP award.
Facing questions from Surfing News, Wang Shanshan revealed that she expects the trophy to inspire more girls to devote themselves to the sport: "This is not only an affirmation of our individuality, but also the common progress of women's soccer and soccer."
"We have witnessed the growth of previous generations of women's soccer. I hope more people are inspired by the spirit of women's soccer to take up soccer and embrace the sport."
Wang Shanshan
Asian Cup win inspires girls to dream
After the loss at the Tokyo Olympics and the turmoil over the coaching change, China's women's soccer team quickly found the thrill of victory and revived their fortunes at the Asian Cup.
Sixteen years later, the Chinese women's soccer team once again won the Asia Cup trophy, and the captain Wang Shanshan won the MVP for her outstanding performance. recently, Wang Shanshan, together with other famous female athletes such as Li Na, Liu Xiang, Wu Haiyan, etc., attended Nike's "Born Ready" athletes' round-table activity and shared their sports stories.
Talking about the legacy, Wang Shanshan said, "We witnessed the growth of the previous generation of women's soccer." And with this Asian Cup championship, she is confident that it will inspire more girls to take up soccer.
"We won the title not only on behalf of ourselves, but on behalf of the rise of women's soccer and soccer as a whole. I hope more girls are inspired by this to take up soccer and enjoy the sport."
In the eyes of Wang Shanshan, the development of domestic women's soccer is changing rapidly, and the hardware and software facilities are gradually improved: "We played soccer in the cinder land and yellow soil when we were young, and now the stadium is well-equipped and rich in resources, so we are much more fortunate compared to that time."
"The tournaments are also much richer, with leagues going on from toddler to university, when we only had sports schools. School soccer is growing rapidly now, we had to squeeze our way through to find a venue then, we are much happier today."
Wang Shanshan (far right) participates in Nike's "Born Ready" athlete roundtable.
Sports bring confidence and joy to girls
The second phase of Nike's "Spread Your Feet" program was recently launched. Since its launch in 2019, Nike has partnered with 323 elementary schools to help more than 30,000 girls start their athletic journey.
As one of the participants in the program, Wang Shanshan accompanied the girls to enjoy the fun of soccer while witnessing the benefits of the sport.
"I can feel the girls' love for sports. Life can't be static, and I think it's enough to find joy and meaning in sports."
"I was hesitant to play soccer as a kid, then I found joy in it and eventually strengthened my faith."
Wang Shanshan believes that sports bring everyone self-confidence, in addition to: "sports let me learn responsibility and responsibility, as a team project, we need to pay more efforts, constantly break through the self, tap the potential."
As we get older, self-discipline becomes more and more important: "Na (Li Na) is our role model and reminds us that we need to be disciplined on the court as well. As we grow older, if we are not disciplined, we can't maintain our competitive status."
Wang Shanshan said that her persistence over the years stems from her love of soccer.
Love and perseverance, never give up
Wang Shanshan's self-discipline is the key to her success. Before the 2016 Rio Olympics, she spent eight weeks recuperating from a knee injury: "At that time, she couldn't move, so she had to play in a brace and work on her upper body and waist and abdomen."
After returning to the team, her teammates teased her about practicing as "Schwarzenegger". "How do you guys practice like this? Said I practiced to no neck, upper body exaggerated. Because I didn't move the ball for 8 weeks, I could only train my upper body and waist and abdomen, and then I started jogging and gradually recovered." Wang Shanshan said with a smile.
Physical injuries, slumps in form, all these predicaments Wang Shanshan has encountered in her career, but she has never given up, just for the love of it."
In addition to Li Na, Wang Shanshan also has an idol in the soccer world - the Portuguese star C Luo. C Luo has become a legend in the soccer world by virtue of self-discipline and persistence.
"Sport gives one confidence and clarity about one's goals." After years of struggling on the green field, Wang is eager to continue to hold on to her love of soccer.
"We soccer players never want to give up because we love the sport so much. Now that the environment is getting better, we hope more kids will join us."
