The concept deeply rooted in people's hearts and the practice is a long way to go - From the perspective of the Chengdu Universiade, we can see the integration of sports and education in universities | projects | Universiade
Chengdu, August 13th (Xinhua) - The Chengdu Universiade concluded on August 8th. As the "Opinions on Deepening the Integration of Sports and Education to Promote the Healthy Development of Youth" have been released for nearly three years, Chinese university athletes who have fought at home have demonstrated the phased achievements of sports and education integration with their excellent results. The public's understanding of sports and education integration is gradually deepening, while the construction of high-level sports teams in universities and the practice of sports and education integration to promote the construction of a sports powerhouse still have a long way to go.
On July 28th, the Chinese university sports delegation entered the opening ceremony of the Chengdu Universiade. Photo by Zhao Zishuo, journalist from Xinhua News Agency
Student athletes and athlete students complement each other
In the field of sports in universities, people often refer to high-level athletes who grew up in regular schools and mainly participate in training in their spare time as student athletes, while those active or retired athletes who have achieved excellent athletic results and studied in universities are referred to as athlete students. At the Chengdu Universiade, these two types of athletes, which coexist in the context of sports and education integration, complement each other and contribute to the excellent results of the Chinese delegation.
Hu Zhenzhuo, a male volleyball player who served as the flag bearer for the Chinese delegation at the opening ceremony of the Chengdu Universiade, is a typical representative of student athletes. He studied at Jingshan School in Beijing and Tsinghua University, and persisted in learning and playing basketball on two legs. While balancing his undergraduate studies, he also participated in training and competitions for the Beijing men's volleyball team in his spare time.
In the women's basketball, athletics and other events of the Chengdu Universiade, high-level athletes independently trained by universities have performed excellently. The Chinese team, which won the gold medal in women's basketball, was formed with the Beijing Normal University women's basketball team as the team. Liu Yutong, Tang Ziting, Li Shuangfei, Su Yuanyuan, and others were student athletes independently trained by universities such as Beijing Normal University and Tsinghua University.
This is Hu Zhenzhuo captured on July 26th in Dayun Village, Chengdu. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Shen Bohan
Xia Yuyu, who won the gold medal in the women's 10000 meter event at the Universiade, and Huang Huafeng, who won the bronze medal in the men's triple jump, are independently trained student athletes from Tsinghua University and Huazhong University of Science and Technology. The former was selected by Professor Cao Zhenshui from the track and field team of Tsinghua University in Guizhou during his middle school years, and later studied at Tsinghua Affiliated Middle School and Tsinghua University in Beijing. The growth of the latter is attributed to Yu Changqing, the head coach of the track and field team at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, who also trained Su Xiongfeng, the men's long jump champion at the Shenzhen Universiade.
On the other hand, the athletes and students who primarily focus their time and energy on the sports team are the main force competing for gold and silver for the Chinese delegation at the Universiade. Taking Shanghai Jiao Tong University as an example, Li Bingjie, Liu Yaxin, and Zhou Kai from the university have made important contributions to the Chinese team's swimming and table tennis gold medals. In swimming, diving, shooting and other events, many Chinese athletes who strive for gold and silver are the main players of the current national team.
Wang Kun, Director of the Sports Department of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, stated that the school has always attached great importance to the coordinated development of cultural learning and professional training for athlete students. We have designed personalized training programs for them, and arranged courses for them through door-to-door teaching and a combination of online and offline methods without lowering the standards of cultural courses. For example, for Han Xu, a female basketball player who plays in the United States, online teaching is adopted. It is worth mentioning that athlete students Yao Ming, Liu Guoliang, and Zhang Jun who were studying at Shanghai Jiao Tong University later became the presidents of the China Basketball Association, China Table Tennis Association, and China Badminton Association, respectively.
On August 3rd, Chinese athletes Huang Huafeng and Su Wen celebrated after the men's triple jump final in the athletics event at the 31st Summer Universiade in Chengdu. Huang Huafeng won third place with a time of 16.76 meters. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Deng Hua
According to Liu Bo, Director of the Sports Department of Tsinghua University, after years of hard work, universities such as Tsinghua University, Peking University, and Huazhong University of Science and Technology can independently cultivate some high-level athletes in athletics. The best results are winning gold medals at the Universiade, Asian Games, and National Games. However, due to limitations such as student sources, coaches, funding support, and competition opportunities, the number of high-level student athletes independently trained by universities is still relatively small, and significant breakthroughs have not been made in world competitions such as the Olympics.
Under the new enrollment policy, universities are adjusting the training methods for high-level athletes
In September 2021, the Guiding Opinions on Further Improving and Standardizing the Enrollment Work of High level Sports Teams in Universities were released. The new policy put forward higher requirements for the sports technical level and cultural performance of candidates, and also limited and guided candidates with sports expertise to study sports majors. The relevant requirements will be implemented starting from 2024. The head of the sports department of a certain university in Beijing told reporters that if we refer to the new requirements for cultural courses, only a few high-level athletes recruited by the school in the past decade can meet the standards. This also means that after the implementation of the new policy, many high-level sports teams in universities may not be able to recruit people.
The reporter learned from interviews and research that many universities have adjusted the development mode of high-level sports teams and actively adapted to the changes brought about by the new policy.
On August 1st, Xia Yuyu celebrated after the competition. On that day, Chinese athlete Xia Yuyu won the women's 10000 meter final in the athletics event at the 31st Summer Universiade in Chengdu with a time of 33 minutes and 48.35 seconds. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jia Haocheng
Tsinghua University is one of the most representative domestic universities in the construction of high-level sports teams, and has achieved significant results in athletics, shooting, and basketball. In order to meet the new requirements proposed in the Guiding Opinions, Tsinghua University has applied to establish a physical education major and has received approval from the Ministry of Education.
According to Liu Bo, the high-level athletes of Tsinghua University used to mainly study in the Business Administration major of the School of Economics and Management, and will be placed in the Physical Education major in the future. This is an adjustment made to adapt to the new enrollment policy, and the sports programs and scale of enrollment will basically remain the same as before.
According to the "Announcement of Application Materials for Undergraduate Majors in Ordinary Higher Education Institutions in 2022" released on the website of the Ministry of Education in August 2022, more than 30 new colleges and universities applied to enroll in sports training and martial arts and traditional ethnic sports, including well-known colleges and universities such as Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Sichuan University, and Harbin Institute of Technology. The enrollment of sports training, martial arts, and traditional ethnic sports majors is commonly known as "sports single recruitment", and the requirements for the cultural performance of candidates are much lower than those for high-level sports teams.
Wang Kun stated that Shanghai Jiao Tong University is one of the earliest institutions in China to carry out the integration of sports and education to cultivate high-level athletes. After the introduction of the new policy, school leaders attach great importance to it and support the establishment of sports training majors. The plan is to start enrollment from 2024. In terms of sports programs for enrollment, we will continue to retain the traditional strengths of SJTU such as basketball, table tennis, and swimming. In addition, we plan to make some attempts in shooting and some ice sports. The original high-level athletes of Shanghai Jiao Tong University mainly studied at Antai School of Economics and Management, School of Media and Communication, etc. After changing to sports training majors, they will absorb some high-quality courses through elective courses, and add courses related to sports education and sports artificial intelligence, putting people first and promoting the diversified and comprehensive development of students.
On August 4th, Li Bingjie attended the award ceremony. On that day, in the women's 1500m freestyle final of the 31st Summer Universiade held in Chengdu, Chinese athlete Li Bingjie won the championship with a time of 16 minutes and 18.48 seconds. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Huang Wei
The Dean of the School of Physical Education at Sichuan University, Xiang Yong, told reporters that in the past, high-level sports team members of the school mostly studied non sports majors such as management, economics, and humanities, but the contradiction between learning and training was quite prominent. Some high-level athletes find it very difficult to complete their cultural studies, and after fully dedicating themselves to learning, their sports skills may become useless. Some high-level athletes have relatively poor cultural foundations, some subjects cannot pass, and they are forced to drop out after being delayed for four or five years. After changing to enrolling students in the sports training major, it can better integrate specialized training with professional learning. Sichuan University has also signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Sichuan Provincial Sports Bureau, reaching a consensus on talent exchange and resource sharing. After the transition from recruiting high-level sports teams to recruiting sports training majors, Sichuan University will also make moderate adjustments to the sports programs it recruits. While retaining traditional advantages such as women's volleyball, it plans to develop basketball programs that are highly valued and loved by students in universities. For individual events such as athletics and tennis, the development strategy will be shifted from "large and comprehensive" to "small and refined" to control the overall enrollment scale.
At the same time, some universities that were originally qualified to host high-level sports teams have chosen to suspend enrollment and temporarily do not plan to open sports training majors. The subsequent impact is still to be observed.
The concept deeply rooted in people's hearts, and the practice is a long and arduous task
Li Hui, Director of the Youth Department of the General Administration of Sport of China, believes that the biggest achievement of the "Opinions" in the past three years is that the concept of integrating sports and education has become increasingly deeply rooted in people's hearts, and the whole society has a deeper understanding of the educational function of sports. More and more parents are willing to let their children learn and master one or two sports skills. At the beginning of this year, the General Administration of Sport of China, the Office of the Central Organization Committee, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security jointly issued the Implementation Opinions on Setting up Coach Positions in Schools. In addition, there are not many policies issued at the national level that are in line with the Opinion. However, various provinces, cities, and localities have formulated implementation plans based on the Opinion, and have made many meaningful and valuable attempts in the enrollment and one-stop enrollment of sports talents. In terms of competition integration, the launch of the Chinese Youth Football League has broken a new path. The future direction should be for the education department to focus on popularization, and the sports department to focus on training and improvement, forming a good system for integrating sports and education to cultivate high-level athletes.
On August 5th, Chinese team player Liu Yutong took a shot during the game. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Hu Chao
Professor Zhong Bingshu from Capital Institute of Sports stated that in recent years, due to the pandemic, the training and competition of domestic university athletes have been affected. However, at the Chengdu Universiade, it can still be seen that more and more student athletes are being independently trained by universities through the integration of sports and education, and they have achieved good results in some events. However, overall, the high-level athletes and sports teams trained independently by universities are not yet in scale or system. Teams like the men's basketball team, although mainly composed of college students, still have a significant gap in strength compared to international advanced levels. The Guiding Opinions point out that it is necessary to select and cultivate students who have comprehensive development in morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics, and labor, and have a high level of sports competition, in order to provide talent support for major sports competitions such as the Olympics and the World University Games, as well as the national reserve talent training system for competitive sports. If viewed by such standards, the construction of high-level sports teams in universities still has a long way to go.
Zhong Bingshu believes that in the new development situation, it is necessary to consider building an honor system and reward mechanism for college athletes. For example, some countries can reward college athletes who have achieved excellent results in the form of sports scholarships, further motivating them to bring glory to the country. Zhong Bingshu stated that the new policy for recruiting high-level sports teams in universities advocates for improving the sports skills and cultural performance of college athletes, which points to the correct direction. However, in the process of policy implementation, objective reality should be considered, and universities should be given a certain degree of autonomy in sports skills exams.
Xiang Yong believes that whether recruiting through high-level sports teams in the past or through sports training majors now, both are explorations in the practice of integrating sports and education. In this process, Sichuan University is also learning from and drawing on the experience of other universities at home and abroad, seeking a path that is suitable for its own reality. It should not only improve the competitive level of student athletes, but also meet the standards of talent cultivation in universities.
