Why is squash getting more and more popular? This niche project has become the champion of new bonus points for studying abroad applications | squash | niche
Recently, Qin Jin, the president of the Hangzhou Squash Association, revealed good news to reporters: "At this year's Squash Asian Championships, Hangzhou will have four squash players participating in the competition, which is the largest number of people in history and full of participants."
If in your impression, squash is still a sport that only a few people participate in, then you are out. Nowadays, in Hangzhou, squash is not only a new favorite among elementary and middle school students, but also plays a special role in the learning path of some children.
Half of the American squash school team are Asian faces
Playing squash has unexpected benefits
Qin Jin told reporters that currently, Hangzhou Kindergarten has not launched a squash project, but in the primary school stage, two schools have established squash school teams. "The earliest one was Anji Road Experimental School in Hangzhou, which cooperated with Hangzhou Sports Center and trained students in the sports center. The other was Hangzhou Olive Tree School, which has a venue on campus. In junior high school, there are two glass squash rooms in Binhe Middle School."
Although there are not many schools in Hangzhou, because these two schools are nine-year and twelve year consistent schools, the training time of the school's squash team has been greatly extended, and a group of squash players have been sent to Hangzhou's youth squash: some have entered the national team, and some have stood on the field of the Asian squash championship: "Two of the four students selected this time are from Anji Road Experimental School." Although as a non Olympic sport, squash has not been able to have professional athlete level segmentation like other sports, and there is currently no Zhejiang Province high school entrance exam bonus policy. However, in Jiangsu and Shanghai, there have been a series of inclinations, and squash has been opened in Nanjing Sports Institute and Shanghai Sports Institute. Professional football.
Why are there more and more teenagers playing squash in the past two years? In fact, a large part of it is aimed at studying abroad in the future, especially in American universities that attach great importance to squash.
"There are many events in the American high school league, but what many people don't know is that squash is one of the important ones. For Asian students, sports activities such as basketball and rugby that require teamwork and physical advantages are relatively competitive. It is difficult to enter the school team, and squash, a small ball sport, has become the first choice." Qin Jin said that with the support of competitions, the United States has a complete pathway for the rise of squash teams from elementary, middle, and high schools to universities. Students who come out of the squash school team are more likely to be favored when they enter school, including top American high schools and Ivy League universities.
But with the competition and the upward path, the training for American squash has not kept up. "Many American college coaches are top-notch squash players, and playing is not equal to teaching well. Therefore, there was a case before where a student trained in China for a summer vacation and returned to the United States to study and directly became a regular member of the school team."
"This approach is now very clear in the squash circle, especially in cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, as well as Hangzhou, which have higher levels of squash. After the epidemic, the level of squash training in China has also become more and more" inferior ". Qin Jin said that nowadays, more than half of the squash teams in many American universities are Asian faces, and the age of squash training in China is also getting younger. In addition to daily training, many squash training is also included. Teenagers aged 11 or 12 can already play at the level of teenagers aged 13 or 14 in the past two years." While ensuring that English and cultural courses pass, squash is indeed a weight for some students to apply for studying abroad. As the Asian Games approaches, we can also participate in physical training. "I also hope to take advantage of the Asian Games and open up domestic channels for further education, so as to encourage more children to fall in love with squash
Received sports bonus points for squash and entered the Southern Sports Center
National team members personally offer tips
In April of this year, Zhou Penglin, who was a sophomore at Nanjing Sport University, returned to school after completing the selection and training for the national squash team at the Asian Games. Although he did not make it to the main team, he was still deeply impressed by this experience.
Zhou Penglin played in a squash game
Zhou Penglin is a native of Hangzhou, and when calculated, he has been associated with squash for ten years. In 2013, Zhou Penglin, who was in fifth grade at Anji Road Experimental Primary School, started playing squash on the recommendation of his friends. "Before that, I had played swimming, basketball, and badminton, so squash was just a hobby to cultivate." In Zhou Penglin's memory, at that time, squash was not as popular on social media as it is now. In provincial competitions, there were often only a dozen or so people in the same age group competing. "The pressure is not high, practicing for one or two years can at least get a decent ranking."
Afterwards, Zhou Penglin successively won the championship of the Asian Squash Youth Super Series and the Jiangsu Province Squash Open Men's First Division, and was selected for the Squash National Youth Team and the National Team, officially embarking on the path of a squash player. Due to his early exposure to squash, Zhou Penglin was fortunate to receive the benefits of squash. As a participant in the Jiangsu Provincial College Entrance Examination, he received extra points in sports for squash and eventually enrolled in the Leisure Sports major at Nanjing Sport University.
Nowadays, Zhou Penglin is a member of the school squash team and the only national team member on the team. Many universities in China have specialized squash teams, such as Shanghai Sport University and Peking University. When there were no classes, Zhou Penglin needed to train for 6 days a week, 3-4 hours a day. However, unlike foreign universities, many players on foreign university teams played from childhood to adulthood and were recruited to enter schools. However, most university team members in China started playing squash from college. Many people are unaware that there are actually college squash championships in China, and now 21 universities are participating, and more and more schools are joining the sport of squash.
During this period, many small ball players who are interested in studying abroad or considering pursuing a professional path in squash will learn from Zhou Penglin. He said that if you still consider squash as a niche sport and want to take shortcuts to earn extra points in China, it is not an easy task now. "If you still want to practice for a few months and achieve results, it is almost impossible now. Therefore, I still hope that when choosing squash, you should start from your hobbies and persevere."
