Change the “Track” to Shine – the New Year’s Wishes of Three Retired Athletes
Xinhua News Agency, Hefei, February 13 (Reporter Zhou Chang) The game will always end, but the love will not fade. During the Spring Festival, the reporter listened to the New Year’s wishes of three retired athletes. They either devoted themselves to education, chose to start a business, or studied hard. Although they made different choices, they all injected strength into the development of sports, and their fighting spirit never left the game.
May the New Year be fruitful
During the Spring Festival holiday, Zhou Wanbing, a retired athlete turned primary school physical education teacher, besides visiting relatives and friends, was also thinking about how to train the school shooting team next semester.
Zhou Wanbing, born in 1996, was an athlete on the Anhui Provincial Shooting Team and won the Anhui Provincial Games championship. On the eve of retiring in 2021, Zhou Wanbing, who likes the teaching industry, decided to try to prepare for the teacher qualification certificate first, listen to video classes online, sign up for training classes offline, and start learning with the same energy as usual training.
Shortly after she obtained her teaching qualification certificate, in early 2022, multiple departments in Anhui Province jointly issued relevant documents to promote retired athletes to “change channels” to enter campus. Zhou Wanbing caught up with the good policy and successfully joined Hefei Olympic Sports Primary School.
Being a primary school teacher is not easy either. “We can’t just apply professional knowledge mechanically, but we should choose different communication methods according to the children’s personalities and teach students in accordance with their aptitude.” Zhou Wanbing said.
In addition to studying at work, Zhou Wanbing also needs to learn to break away from the collective life of the sports team and face the tests of life independently. “Now I have to experience all kinds of troubles that I have never encountered before, and I have to learn to worry about myself.” Zhou Wanbing said with a smile.
Facing the future, Zhou Wanbing hopes that both herself and her students can gain something. She also looks forward to allowing more students to join the shooting club after the school’s new shooting venue is built.
She also hopes that retired athletes like her can obtain policy information in a timely manner and seize opportunities to successfully transform. There will be more employment policies and positions for retired athletes in society.
May a spark start a prairie fire
“When I was an athlete, I wanted to win glory for the country; after I retired and entered society, I wanted to let more people know about Taekwondo.” Wang Ying, the gold medalist at the 2005 World Taekwondo Championships, is now an entrepreneur.
He started practicing Taekwondo at the age of 15 and retired at the age of 25. Wang Ying first served as a coach for the Anhui Provincial Team, and then went to Beijing Sports University for further studies. After graduation, she decided to return to her hometown of Xuancheng, Anhui to start a business. “After all, the world is so big and I want to try it.”
She founded the Wang Ying Taekwondo Club named after herself, hoping to popularize and promote the sport of Taekwondo.
But starting a business is not easy. Lacking management experience, not understanding finances, not understanding operations… Faced with a series of difficulties, Wang Ying could only overcome and learn with the hard work she had as an athlete “not admitting defeat”.
Fortunately, Wang Ying met a group of like-minded partners, launched the “Spark Project”, established Anhui Spark Sports Culture Co., Ltd., and began to train Taekwondo teachers and professional training, hoping to let more people through “Spark” People fall in love with Taekwondo.
“From an athlete to an entrepreneur, I have always maintained my love for sports and my original intention for Taekwondo.” Wang Ying said, she especially hopes that the positive attitude, strong heart, and fighting spirit that competitive sports brought to her can be passed on to more young people. .”
“Without a good body, there is no good performance.” Wang Ying hopes that more teenagers can stick to their sports hobbies for a long time, and parents can pay more attention to the role of physical fitness in the growth of teenagers. “A good body can lead to better performance.” Facing the future.”
Wang Ying also hopes that there will be more policies and assistance funds in various places to support the entrepreneurship of retired athletes, so that retired athletes can take the first step on this “track” and better use their light and heat.
May sports be more prosperous
“It has been 11 years since I retired. I was confused for the first eight years.” Olympic gymnastics champion Deng Linlin said frankly that when she didn’t know where to go, she would study and improve her abilities first.
Deng Linlin, born in 1992, won the women’s gymnastics team championship at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the balance beam championship at the 2012 London Olympics. She officially retired in 2013.
After retiring, Deng Linlin spent most of her time on campus. She first went to Peking University to study as an undergraduate, and after graduation she continued to study as a graduate student at Beijing Sports University, and was sent to study abroad by the government. In 2023, Deng Linlin joined Anhui Normal University and became a teacher at the School of Physical Education.
“The biggest confusion when I went to college was that I didn’t know how to study or plan my day.” Deng Linlin said that when she was an athlete, she would strictly implement the coach’s arrangements. After retiring and becoming a student, she must learn to do it on her own. Planning time.
Deng Linlin hopes that colleges and universities can provide centralized guidance to retired athletes entering the school, especially guidance on learning methods. It is also hoped that athletes can receive some policy guidance, college major selection guidance, career planning, etc. before retiring to help retired athletes make a better transition into society.
As a sportsperson, Deng Linlin is delighted to see that “in China, mass sports, competitive sports and the sports industry are all booming.” Deng Linlin believes that in the past, people may have paid more attention to competitive sports, but now they pay more attention to physical and mental health and are widely involved in various sports. People’s sports concepts are changing.
Deng Linlin’s New Year’s wish is: “I hope China’s sports will develop better and better and become a sports power as soon as possible. As the sports environment becomes better, every sports practitioner will also become better.”
The New Year’s wishes of retired athletes have shown that they are still deeply committed to sports and are working towards making a significant impact in the sporting world, even after they have retired from their professional athletic careers. With their passion and dedication, they continue to inspire others and contribute to the flourishing of sports in various ways.