China's Field Hockey: Beyond Tree-branches to World No. 5 |
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Having led China's dark horse women's Olympic field hockey team to the fifth place at the Sydney Games though, its head coach Liu Shouzhong now has more things than one to worry.
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Having led China's dark horse women's Olympic field hockey team to the fifth place at the Sydney Games though, its head coach Liu Shouzhong now has more things than one to worry.
Liu, now head coach of the Guangdong provincial women's field team, was happy when he was interviewed by Xinhua at his team's training ground. Built in 1996 with an investment of several million yuan RMB, it is one of the best in the country.
Eyeing the women's title at the ninth National Games that opens on Sunday, Liu's team boasts several Olympic heroines, including the captain of the Sydney team. But the player-turn-coach did not try to hide his worries.
"Guangdong is the first southern province to own a field hockey team," Liu continued. "Our team enjoys a good training facility, thanks to the efforts from local government officials. But teams of some other provinces may not be so lucky.
"Field hockey is as popular in the Netherlands as table tennis among us Chinese. But very few Chinese know field hockey, a comparatively expensive ball game. Many Chinese provincial sports authorities set up their hockey teams just for participating in the national games and the teams were dismissed right after the games conclude."
Zhang Naiwu, coach of Guangdong provincial women's team, added that a set of a goalkeeper's equipment alone costs over 10,000 yuan RMB and a ball, over 100.
Zhang himself had been one of China's first group of hockey players. In his time, many teams even could not afford buying standard equipment including hockey clubs. They just cut down a wooden branch with a bent head, for training and competition.
Liu, from North China's Jilin Province, came to the southern
Chinese province to take over as Guangdong's coach. He estimated that five or six of his players in the prime time may be able to play in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
But when could China, at least its women's team, to lead the world? "I hope more attention could be paid to our sport. It's hard for field hockey to make profit and be self-sufficient, as the Chinese football does, at least in ten years to come. If we wish to be stronger, provincial authorities need to set up more teams. And if China has 10 to 12 field hockey teams instead of just eight squads now, the situation would be much better," Liu added.
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