Six years ago, when Xu Zehui was still in junior high school, he could not have imagined that his bond with the BGBC (Beijing High School Interscholastic Football Championship) would be so deeply rooted in his first encounter that it would be hard for him to let go of it thereafter.
The organizers and participants of the bgbc are ordinary high school students who, with little funding and limited external support, have expressed their fervor for soccer through practical actions. Whenever we talk about the century-old high school soccer league in neighboring Japan, we all marvel at its long history and high level. However, the high school league in China has received little attention. As a team representing the city of Beijing, Beijing
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Soccer Salon has always been committed to promoting soccer culture for the public good, and bgbc is one of the most important organizations in need.
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A grassroots tournament supported by the Soccer Salon. As a result, the 2021 Beijing
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The Football Salon promoted bgbc with a group of young people as a guest supporter.
On June 13th, the 5th bgbc came to a successful conclusion at the Juga Stadium, and in the end, Beijing West World Campus won the trophy of this year's bgbc by defeating One Zero One High School. From the first bgbc in 2016 to the just-concluded fifth, five consecutive tournaments (suspended in 2020 due to the epidemic), Xu Zehui participated in the whole tournament in different capacities and witnessed the growth of this Beijing high school tournament.
From duty to love
In 2016, Liu Yihe from Normal University Affiliated High School founded the first bgbc, "Actually, there is no special initial intention, just want to create more opportunities for students to play soccer." Four years ago, Liu Yihe said in an interview, "If I had started to know that it was so complicated to run a tournament, maybe I wouldn't have made this choice. But since I started, looking at the unwillingness in the eyes of those students who lost, I felt that I had the responsibility to keep running this tournament."
First row: Xu Zehui (first from left), Li You (second from left), Liu Yihu (third from left)
Third row: Xiao Yang (first from right)
The "responsibility" that Liu Yihu referred to became the principle of the ignorant Xu Zehui. Over the past six years, Xu Zehui has been involved in the bgbc in different capacities, first as a photographer, then as a volunteer, then as a member of the organizing committee in the third edition, and then as the general manager of the fourth edition.
With the change in status, Seo Sawai's mood towards the BGBC has also changed. "If the beginning is a responsibility, so many years down to this tournament is too emotional. This tournament is like a child we raised together, have changed from a responsibility to a voluntary contribution, and then now full of pure love, a love that can never be cut off." Such emotional changes have appeared in every young man who has grown up with the tournament.
Xiao Yang in illustration (center white)
"Doing it now is really because of love and sentiment." Xiao Yang, a junior this year, said that in 2017 he participated in the bgbc operations team as an illustration, and in 2019 he began to take charge of the field business, and this year he officially joined the tournament organizing committee. It is the love of this tournament and soccer, so that the increasingly busy academic Xiao Yang instead for bgbc to pay more time and energy.
In this year's tournament special sponsor Beijing
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At the suggestion of the Soccer Salon, the bgbc organizing committee settled on "Love is bigger than everything" as the tournament's tagline. "We also thought of some other slogans, but felt that this one better expresses our original intention of organizing this tournament." Liu Yihe, founder of bgbc, said.
Murray (second from right)
It's not just the organizing committee members who are passionate about the BGBC, but those players, parents, and coaches who participate in the tournament are likewise participating in this high school self-created tournament with no official affiliation because of their love. "As a World Campus, this is the first time we have participated in such a public campus-based tournament. We feel very satisfied with all aspects of the tournament, we love soccer and enjoyed the tournament, and we hope we can come back next year." Murray, head coach of the winning team, King West Campus, said.
Liu Junrong (center)
Zhu Dan, mother of Liu Junrong, captain of One and One Secondary School, said that participation in the tournament has become a tradition at One and One Secondary School. "The children heard about this competition through alumni of One and One High School, who once participated in it and achieved good results. The competition is still somewhat well-known among high school students, and the alumni love it and want the younger students to continue to participate and stick with it as a tradition. We also hope to keep passing it on like this, soccer culture needs to be accumulated and spread like this." Zhu Dan said.
Soccer changes lives.
Many parents are reluctant to allow their children to play soccer because they always consider soccer as a job option for their children's future life. The success rate of working soccer is low and the elimination rate is high, so it is not difficult for "sensible" parents to choose between high school entrance exams and soccer. However, becoming a working player is not the only intention and meaning of the sport of soccer, and the children who participate in bgbc will never become working players, but most of them have changed their lives because of soccer.
"I think every child needs to have a favorite and good sport that will benefit him for life. Our kid is more fit and I think it's because he grew up playing soccer. His coordination, stamina and perseverance have all improved a lot because of playing soccer." Judan says that despite these beneficial changes that playing soccer can bring, there are other charms of soccer that she has only experienced this time around through her participation in the bgbc. "There was no such municipal competition before, and the kids lacked the opportunity to play against famous and powerful teams; at most, they had a friendly date, and that atmosphere was completely different from this kind of tournament. My feeling is that they represent the school to participate in this kind of competition, for each child's sense of group honor is a particularly big promotion. In addition, it is a good training for the children's psychology to fight to the final round, and we were all very excited as spectators on the sidelines. As parents, we are very pleased that our children can play such a competition."
Tears in the eyes of One and One High School players after the game
The final of this year's bgbc was not a perfect one, with One and One High School believing that the first goal scored by their opponents was controversial (the opponents continued to play with an unofficial match ball after the dead ball and the referee did not make a call). Some of the players from One and One Middle School were agitated during the game, but their goalkeeper immediately went up to his teammates and said, "Remember we can lose the game but we can't lose the people."
After the match, as the head coach of the opponent, Murray spoke highly of One and One High School. "I think this match was the most difficult one we've played in this cup, One and One High School is so strong, they are very strong from their tactics to their lineup to their technique, they are a very strong opponent. I think this match was particularly exciting and deserved the title of final." As for the controversies that arose during the competition, Murray believes that it is this imperfection that reflects the perfection of the game of soccer. "Of course there has to be controversy, otherwise it wouldn't be soccer. I feel that the referee is doing his job, the referee is also a human being, is a human being are not perfect. If the other side has some doubts, we also have some doubts, which makes soccer so attractive. I understand the players of One and One High School, but this is also a kind of growth for them, and this final will surely make them look back for many years."
Murray said he was surprised to learn that the regatta was started and arranged entirely on the students' own initiative. "I think it represents the level of leadership and the level of high school students in our country right now. The fact that all the high school students are holding a cup of this magnitude on their own, and it's in its fifth year, and that this endeavor has made their parents, and it's made us all feel that our country is very well educated, and that it's not just exams as the outside world would have us believe, makes me proud of them. I think both the organizers and the players who participate in the tournament have more or less changed the course of their lives because of this tournament."
Xu Zehui
Xu Zehui is precisely because she has been involved in bgbc's tournament operations since junior high school, so she filled out several majors in the college entrance exams, only in the end, she was admitted to the early batch of the Beida University, and passed by the sports-related majors. "but for graduate school i would like to switch from opera, film and literature to journalism and communication, so that i can better assist bgbc. as for future work, i also expect to be engaged in sports-related, and it is best if i can help bgbc all the time. from my own personal point of view, there is no limit to the number of years that i can be involved." And soccer has become Xu Zehui's favorite sport, "I fell in love with soccer from the beginning of my participation in bgbc, and now I am a Bayern fan, and I usually insist on watching and playing football, and I insist on meeting friends with football."
Xiao Yang, now a junior, also took a path to illustration she hadn't originally thought of because of bgbc. "It's safe to say I wouldn't be where I am now without bgbc, so I've always loved it." Although she didn't study broadcasting and hosting in college, bgbc's live illustrations over the years have allowed Xiao Yang to make something of a name for herself in amateur illustration. "I've gained an audience, with lots of feedback from players through various channels that they like my style of illustration. I also met many like-minded friends, and thus gained the opportunity to illustrate many other competitions, including the then Youth Premier League in 2017, the 100 Teams Cup final and the Network New Media Cup final last year. Illustration has become an integral part of my life."
Contributing Sponsor Beijing
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Associate Director of Youth Training, Soccer Salon
Yang Pu
Having watched this year's bgbc final as the guest of honor, he believes that working soccer is only a small part of soccer, not the whole thing. "I think it's important for every kid to get involved in sports, not even necessarily soccer, and it's a good way to decompress and relieve the stress of studying by having them walk out onto the training field and the competition field after their studies through competitions like this. Sweating it out is a great aid to their physical and mental health."
Yang Pu
Says.
The road ahead is long.
The bgbc, which has run five editions in six years, is now hitting a not-so-small bottleneck.
This year's Organizing Committee Xu Zehui (front row, fourth from left) Xiao Yang (back row, second from left)
"In fact, thanks to our efforts, the help of our predecessors, and the support of the community, the tournament does not have many difficulties in plain sight now." Immediately after the fifth bgbc, the tournament organizing committee summarized the season, and we agreed that we need to plan a set of tournament arrangement and talent selection system that can run on a lasting basis.
Most of the founders and organizing committee members of the bgbc come from the BGBC, relying on the arranging power of the scholastic news agency to advance a great deal of the tournament's grassroots work. "It used to be replenished with freshmen, but last year it was suspended for a year because of the epidemic, which deprived the kids of valuable time." Xu Zehui said.
Because of the special nature of the three-year school system for secondary school students, it only takes one year of failure to bridge the gap, and there will be a talent gap. "We are willing to serve the bgbc as long as our time and energy allow, but we alone are not enough, we must add new people. And one of the characteristics of bgbc is that the tournament and the participants are both high school students, we know each other very well and can meet the needs of the participating teams. But a few of us are getting farther and farther away from high school life, and we are less and less able to observe problems from a high school student's perspective." Xiao Yang said. "I think bgbc can't be detached from high school students, and Scholastic Society is an important bridge, bgbc can't be detached from high school students as the public. The reason that the Scholastic Press has moved more and more behind the scenes in these two competitions is because people like
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Social forces like the Football Salon are supporting more and more, and we very much welcome them to come and work with and support the BGBC."
This year's bgbc already has four official partners, as well as Beijing's
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Soccer Salon this special guest support partner. "I think this kind of amateur competition outside of the traditional soccer schools is particularly good, rumor has it that this year is the fifth year, there are more than twenty campuses participating, I expect this tournament can team more and more.
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Soccer Salon also participated in this year, assisted them to do some tournament services, provided some professional equipment as prizes. From the salon, it is more public welfare-oriented. Because soccer, youth training itself has the nature of public welfare, public welfare has also been
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The soccer salon takes it very seriously."
Yang Pu
Says.
Beijing, capital of People's Republic of China
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Soccer Salon takes set photos of all participating players
Although the difficulties on the surface are not considered a problem for the enthusiastic youngsters, the hidden concerns behind the tournament have begun to worry them. "We wanted to expand the tournament this year, but in the end, only 24 teams registered and one dropped out. Many campuses have told us that our own campus can't even come up with a seven-player team anymore. I'm worried about what school soccer will look like in five or ten years, and I wonder if there will still be middle school students attracted to the charms of soccer in the face of more and more temptations." Xu Zehui said without any worries.
Beijing, capital of People's Republic of China
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Soccer Salon shoots warm-up film for this year's bgbc
Xiao Yang also lamented that after really participating in the organizing committee of the tournament this year, he was under more pressure than before, and had beaten the drum of retreat in the face of the unsatisfactory registration situation. But after the finals came to an end, he imitated the opening of One Hundred Years of Solitude and wrote this paragraph - "Years later, whenever Xiao Yang students stand on the instructions table, he will recall that distant general afternoon in 2017 when he first participated in the organizing committee interview."
