The combination of sports and education helps "niche" handball regain vitality, deepening the campus and building a solid foundation
This past weekend, the 2024 Shanghai Youth Handball Championship ended at the Yangpu Gymnasium. More than 600 athletes from 15 districts across the city, including 6 teams in the high school group and 11 teams in the junior high school group, participated in the competition.
After fierce competition, Yangpu District finally defeated Changning District with a score of 22:11 and won the championship of Group B. At the same time, the championship of Women's Handball Group A was also won by Yangpu District.
Although it is not as well-known as the football volleyball team, handball has embarked on a unique development path in Shanghai - 10 years ago, only more than 10 primary and secondary schools in Shanghai offered handball classes, but now, handball has entered the mainstream More than 30,000 ordinary students from more than 90 primary and secondary schools in the city participate. Every year, there are more than 300 handball competitions between primary and secondary schools. The combination of sports and education has kept handball active on campus for many years.
Jiang Ronggen, director of the competition referee committee of the Shanghai Handball Association and director of arbitration for this competition, said that there are currently more than 1,000 registered handball players in Shanghai. Although the scale is not larger than that of the three major players, the training path that combines physical education and education has been explored over the years, and the energy source is Continuously provide outstanding talents to the first team. "The women's events in Yangpu, Baoshan, and Xuhui, and the men's events in Changning and Baoshan have maintained their leading positions over the years," said Wu Guozhong, deputy director of the Competition Referee Committee of the Shanghai Handball Association. "In recent years, districts such as Hongkou have also been slowing down. Progress is slow and shows good development momentum.”
Liu Junjun is the captain of the Yangpu Junior High School team. He comes from Fudan Experimental Middle School and is in his first year of junior high school this year. In fourth grade, she was chosen by the coach to start practicing handball because she was good at running and jumping. This is her fourth year on the team. Although studying is very stressful, she insists on every training and every game. "I do have less time to play, but I study and do homework every day and leave time for training and competition. It is also very fulfilling." Liu Junjun's Her academic performance is also very good. She ranks first in every exam and is also a member of the school team. "Practice handball has taught me how to arrange my time reasonably and also cultivated my ability to resist frustration." She said that it feels very good to be able to fight side by side with her teammates. good.
Winning the championships in the two categories of girls' junior high school and high school, Yangpu District's dominance of women's handball is unshakable. Handball has a history of more than 30 years in Yangpu District. In November 2007, the Yangpu District Youth Sports School was named the "National Handball Olympic Reserve Talent Training Base" by the State Sports General Administration, and a large number of outstanding handball players emerged. Among them are handball player He Jianping, who finished third at the 23rd Olympic Games, handball player Li Chuanfen, who finished fifth at the 24th Olympic Games, and female handball player Xu Mo, who won the championship at the 16th Asian Games.
Lieutenant Chen, senior coach of the handball team of the Yangpu District Youth Sports School, said that it has maintained its leading advantage in the city for so many years, with a complete echelon and obvious advantages, which is inseparable from the layout of the schools in the district. "The handball project can be said to be a model of combining sports and education for young people in our district. Currently, the handball project is available in primary schools, junior high schools, and high schools in the district such as Pingliang Road No. 3 Primary School, Yangpu Primary School, Huimin Primary School, Shuifeng Branch, and Fudan Experimental Middle School. With the layout and the 'one-stop' transportation channel, our echelon is complete, the handball reserve talents are constantly flowing, and the grassroots team is getting stronger and stronger."
The growth of the players is also inseparable from the careful guidance of the coaches. The handball team of the Yangpu District Youth Sports School has a complete coaching team. Four old, middle-aged and young coaches have their own division of labor, training athletes of different age groups and different positions, and protecting the team members. Through a reasonable division of labor, they trained athletes of different ages and positions, giving full play to their respective advantages and specialties, and vividly demonstrated the "passing on and guiding" of three generations of coaches.
