Since the age of 22, Wu Haiyan has been the captain of the Chinese women's national soccer team, how does she face the heavy responsibilities on the field? How does she turn pressure into motivation and where does her optimism come from? What are her hopes for the Tokyo Olympics and the future?
As a soccer player, Wu Haiyan's life has been filled with unique experiences that are difficult for ordinary people to touch, such as the ecstasy of victory, the total concentration on the field, and the self-reflection when the team loses ...... (
The night of April 13th may have been an unusual night for most people, but for fans in China, it was the first match between South Korea and China in the Asian play-offs for the Olympic qualifiers.
The night was both exhilarating and full of anticipation as China's women's soccer team moved one step closer to the Tokyo Olympics after winning 2-1 away from home. Captain Wu Haiyan, however, was worried about the two yellow cards she was carrying, and will be suspended for the second round of the play-offs, and had to witness her teammates' struggle from the sidelines.
She tossed and turned with mixed emotions. She knew before the first round that she had a yellow card on her, so she reminded herself of it during the match. When the referee showed Wu Haiyan the yellow card again, the TV broadcast camera caught her and she sighed in despair as if she wanted to explain something, but the referee had already left and Haiyan quickly returned to her defensive position.
"When I got this yellow card, I immediately thought, oh my God, I can't play the next game. So the first thing I thought was that I must win this game, I must take it away from home and give it a go." Wu Haiyan said in an exclusive interview with Tokyo 2020's official website.
"When we won the game, I first felt happy that we won the game. And then a little disappointed because I also reminded myself before the game to watch my movements, but I still got a card. I don't want to disadvantage the team at such a crucial moment, so there is still a lot of disappointment." Wu Haiyan said. She has been crying in private. And this is in stark contrast to the toughness she showed on the court and her composure in front of the media.
Zhihu on the Wu Haiyan has a question, one of the answers is like this: "She is hot blooded on the field, there is an unyielding temperament, first-class defensive ability, running active, experienced, long pass is also good, can quickly enter the role of the game, is a diligent and hard-working player. Off the field in the face of reporters' interviews organized, quick thinking, generous, IQ, IQ, ball quotient are not low."
This well summarizes the qualities that Wu Haiyan has shown as a women's soccer captain: a hard-working and unconvincing player with high ball-playing skills, a rational and calm captain with high IQ and EQ.
And being a perfect player and captain isn't about not letting yourself get emotional or not making mistakes, it's about being better able to channel and regulate emotions or mistakes when they arise.
"People are always going to be that little bit emotional, but I don't think that's pressure. I feel like we're all working so hard and you don't have to feel how you feel over maybe you're not doing well or maybe it's a little problem of some kind, so I still don't think I think it's stressful, but it's kind of the kind of stress that you should have."
Haiyan explains, "Because honestly, at the national level, a lot of people are expecting you, are putting their expectations on you, so I'm trying to turn that pressure into motivation more than anything else." (
At the time of the 2015 International Cup, at the age of 22, Wu Haiyan took on the captain's armband and became the youngest national team captain of the Chinese women's soccer team. There is no doubt that this is a heavy burden. When this often unimaginable burden fell on Haiyan's shoulders, she said bluntly that she was a bit confused.
"I was kind of confused too." She said, "I was afraid that I wouldn't do well because I think the responsibility is the trust that we put in you, including the trust that the coaches put in you, but my mindset was OK, no one is perfect, but you try your best to do it right. I am grateful for the trust given to me by the coaches, including my teammates."
The perfect girl in the eyes of the world, Wu Haiyan, she does not take perfection as a goal to pursue, and therefore does not have pressure because of the pursuit of perfection, her secret is to do their best, and at the same time to put the interests of the team in the first place.
"In fact, sometimes I may not do a particularly good job, but they are very understanding, and did not complain to me". As the captain of the team, you need to balance a lot of things inside and outside the team, to which Haiyan said: "The main thing is to take our interests as the main, the group is the first, the two words are always in the 'I' above".
This may also explain why Wu Haiyan is such a good defense player, she continued: "In fact, when we are defenders, I think the most is to think a little more for others, because we are in the end, in front of the goalkeeper, we have to do a good job as a barrier for the goalkeeper. As the last line of defense is the need for others to make mistakes, we go to make up for it".
If not asked specifically, Wu Haiyan would rarely talk about herself, she would habitually talk about the efforts of each teammate on the field, and about coach Jia Xiuquan's one horse first.
Letting go of the self-centeredness and dissolving oneself into the team, but the Zen of not having "I" in one's heart, has made an excellent female soccer player and captain.
Wu Haiyan says she is an optimistic person, but in her narrative, it can be recognized that there are different levels of this "optimism".
There is a clear understanding of my own limitations, she said: "Whenever I encounter a difficulty, my first reaction is how to accomplish it, how to solve the difficulty. However, human beings have limited abilities, and when you can't do it alone, you ask for help. That's how girls need each other, it's very important."
It is important to rise to the occasion, but also to know when to give up: "If you say you really can't finish it, I don't think it matters if you just give up. As long as it's not a matter of survival, I don't think it matters".
In Haiyan's eyes, the so-called "winding road" also has its own significance: "In fact, when you come to a fork in the road, I think you can turn around and go, turning a corner is not much of a road, right? Then I think a different mindset and idea, just see it as you are growing or maybe that you need to understand more work".
There is more full commitment to the moment: "I expect the work of the moment must do it well, and then when you really have to go to face the time of choice, go to choose the work you love to do, and do not do a good job in fact are non-mandatory, but you choose to do the work you insist on doing".
The next goal for Haiyan and the team is the Tokyo Olympics. In her eyes, Japan is also a blessing for the Chinese women's soccer team, which qualified for the Olympics in Japan in 2016.
As for the host Japanese women's soccer team, Haiyan thought it was worthwhile for Chinese soccer to reflect on: "The Japanese women's soccer team's ranking has always been above ours. In fact, many people say why we do not learn from Japan's youth training? But I think we should actually reflect on it first", said Haiyan, "I think Japan's soccer is not a person's business, and not just a soccer person's business, but the whole country, and we are all involved in it."
She expects that China's women's soccer team can make a breakthrough at the Tokyo Olympics, and can pass down the energy of the "old roses" that she failed to witness, so that more people can pay attention to China's women's soccer team. Wu Haiyan's selfie.
Anyone who knows Wu Haiyan knows that she loves to laugh, and she looks like a girl next door when she takes off her team uniform. In between training she loves to take her teammates dancing together, taking selfies together, and sending out tremolo sounds and Ins.
Currently, in Haiyan's life, soccer is the absolute center of gravity, and over the years due to the competition around she has been to many countries and cities, but always unable to truly experience these cities, so she expects that one day she can go with friends or family to see the outside world, and then perhaps "with the future boyfriend".
