[文/观察者网 严珊珊]A few days ago, the Chinese Gymnastics Association made it clear that there is no world champion in rhythmic gymnastics in China, revealing the chaos of some commercial organizations pretending to be athletes. After the incident attracted attention, many brokerage companies involved were “low-key”, and some advertisements were quietly withdrawn.
However, because the “champions” in the event did indeed get places in international competitions, this also aroused the attention of the outside world on the reemployment of retired athletes. What are the players who have not won the “world championship” doing?
On the official website of the General Administration of Sports of the People’s Republic of China, a topic called “Successful Transformation Cases of Athletes” has maintained a steady update rate. The list covers retired athletes from various provinces and cities such as weightlifting, water polo, wrestling, and trampoline, among which there are many national champions.
In addition, some Olympic champions also paid attention to this “comrade-in-arms group” after reaching the top of their careers. For example, Wang Meng, the Olympic champion of short track speed skating, who once again came out of the circle with “commentary” at the Beijing Winter Olympics this year, announced the establishment of a sports MCN organization. , do something for the reemployment of athletes.
On August 6, Wandao Sports Culture Communication Co., Ltd. founded by Wang Meng told Observer.com that the company has been helping retired athletes to expand new livelihood channels. Suitable for behind-the-scenes athletes to provide training for other positions. Currently, this mode is still in the exploratory stage.
Wang Meng:They turned out to be too small.
According to 2021 data from the State Sports General Administration, there are about 50,000 registered professional athletes in my country, and about 3,000 to 4,000 athletes retire each year. Among these people, there are Olympic champions and world champions who have already gained popularity, and there are also many “unknown people” who have been training hard in their professional fields for 10 years, and most of them are in their early 20s or 30s. The problem of restarting.
“Retired athletes are not only Olympic champions and world champions, but also some people who are facing retirement before being promoted to the national team at the age of 20.” In February this year, the short track speed skating Olympic champion, former speed skating and short track speed skating national team coach Wang Meng, the team leader, revealed in an interview with Tencent News “Financial About You” that the sports MCN company he opened is to provide re-employment opportunities for retired athletes.
“In my team, I don’t have social recruiting. I only recruit athletes and retired athletes. After they retire, they all need to be accepted by society again, because their circles were too small.” Wang Meng said at the time that he may have commercial Valuable athletes, such as Olympic champions and world champions, will provide opportunities for continuous exposure; some unfamiliar athletes will serve as cameras and central control in the team.
In response to the controversy faced by athletes with live broadcasts, Wang Meng said bluntly: “He also has to live, he just has a halo and a title, and he also needs to generate value.”
On August 6, Wandao Sports Culture Communication (Beijing) Co., Ltd., with Wang Meng as the legal person, confirmed to Observer.com that the team is currently using founder Wang Meng as a carrier to help other retired athletes expand their livelihood channels.
According to the person in charge of the company’s public relations department, the current employment model of Wandao Sports mainly has two directions: for retired athletes who are good at being in front of the camera, the company will arrange for them to participate in self-made sports variety shows and e-commerce activities; For retired athletes, the company will arrange for them to learn new media operations, video editing and other aspects. The specific training program will be determined according to the athlete’s own foundation and preferences.
Screenshots of Olympic champions Wang Meng and Zhou Yang liveThe person in charge revealed that the projects in the operation of Wandao Sports include the sports-related self-made variety show “Sportsmen Lianmeng”, which is produced every year. At the same time, they are still carrying out the work of incubating sports talents, and a TV series with athletes as the theme is also in preparation.
Cross-border star element combined with sports reality show“AthleteLianmeng“, Wang Meng and Zhou Yang served as coaches and assistants respectivelyIn addition, the person in charge emphasized that Wandao Sports‘ model of helping retired athletes to re-employ is still in the exploratory stage, and a mature and replicable method has not been fully formed. It is not convenient to disclose too much information at this stage, and I just want to focus on doing things well , wait until there is a good experience to share with you.
According to the website of Qichacha, there are currently three surviving enterprises with Wang Meng as the legal person, namely Wandao Sports Culture Communication (Beijing) Co., Ltd., Beijing Lancheng Culture Communication Co., Ltd. and Brothers and Sisters Culture Communication (Beijing) Partnership (Beijing) Co., Ltd. Limited Partnership).
The business scope of these enterprises includes organizing cultural and artistic exchange activities, cultural and entertainment brokerage services, sports brokerage services, other cultural and artistic brokerage agents and brand management.
Career paths focus on sports school coaches, physical education teachers
On the official website of the General Administration of Sports of the People’s Republic of China, a topic called “Successful Transformation Cases of Athletes” has maintained a steady update rate. The list covers retired athletes from various provinces and cities such as weightlifting, water polo, wrestling, and trampoline, among which there are many national champions.
Born in January 1992, Wei Zhengyou, a former member of the Guangxi Weightlifting Team, won the championship in the 56kg category of the National Youth Men’s Weightlifting Championships in 2014. He stopped training in January 2015 and entered a transition period for career change. In January 2016 ( 24) retired.
Because of institutional reforms and other reasons, Wei Zhengyou missed the opportunity to become a sports school coach and had to choose his own career. After that, he worked in a fast food restaurant, and went from an apprentice to an intermediate pastry chef in a bakery in Liuzhou. However, due to his inability to lift weights, in April 2017, Wei Zhengyou once again embarked on the career path of a sports school coach, and in the second half of 2020, he became the full-time coach of Liuzhou Sports School through open recruitment. In 2020, he was named “Top Ten Coaches in Liuzhou”.
Regarding this employment path, Wei Zhengyou’s idea is that “it is best to choose your own major and expertise, and avoid detours and go straight to work” when you choose a career after retirement.
Such examples are already “successful cases” of outstanding athletes who have exerted their professional skills. Similar employment paths are also available for teachers in primary and secondary schools and ordinary colleges and universities.
Wei Jiling, who was born in 1989, was a Guangxi water polo player. She and her teammates won the second place in the water polo competition of the 11th National Games in 2009, and the first place in the 2007, 2010 and 2011 National Water Polo Championships. In January 2012, Wei Jiling stopped training to enter the transition period of career change, and officially retired in May 2012 (23 years old).
In the organizational resettlement and independent career selection, Wei Jiling chose independent career selection. After obtaining the senior high school teacher qualification certificate, he was admitted to the position of counselor of Guangxi Electric Power Vocational and Technical College in 2012 and became a contract worker, and was successfully admitted in 2016. Instructor preparation positions.
Today, Wei Jiling works as a full-time counselor in the School of Energy Power and Environmental Engineering of Guangxi Electric Power Vocational and Technical College, and also serves as the deputy secretary of the general branch of the Communist Youth League.
In the transformation case of the State Sports General Administration, we can also see examples of wrestlers becoming fitness coaches, trampoline athletes becoming financial back-offices of wholly-owned subsidiaries of state-owned enterprises, and retired track and field athletes setting up fitness studios.
There are also many successful cases of entrepreneurship, most of which are concentrated in the sports and cultural industry, and the business scope is mostly the planning and undertaking of sports events, the planning and operation of sports venues, the design and sale of sporting goods, and investment in sports projects.
For example, Zhejiang track and field athlete Jin Fangfang, the company she founded after her retirement provides sports services such as running, high school entrance examination sports, competition planning and hosting, and trains 1,000 trainees annually.
There is also Anhui wrestler Guo Rong, who not only started her own business, but also brought other retired athletes to start her own business. According to the “China Sports News” report, in 2015, Guo Rong established a sports culture industry company, and in 2017, he became the promotion and implementation unit of the cage football project of the Anhui Provincial Sports Bureau.
According to Guo Rong’s own statement, his company solved the employment problem of 14 retired athletes in Anhui Province, and also set up employment and entrepreneurship transformation training courses for retired athletes.
reemployment training
Faced with the special situation of athletes with short careers and high skills and professionalism, which is both an advantage in career selection and a “shortcoming” in career selection, various places have been exploring transformational training programs.
Since 2015, Heilongjiang has held training courses for land robot referees and drone flight controllers for retired athletes. Those who pass the training and exams will be awarded the drone flight controllers and trainers issued by the China Robot Sports Working Committee. and other qualification certificates, holders can engage in sports competitions, film and television aerial photography, forest fire prevention, environmental protection monitoring and water rescue.
The Shenzhen Urban Sports Development Foundation launched the “Kunpeng Plan”, a public welfare project for the reemployment of retired athletes, to lead retired athletes to visit well-known sports enterprises and public welfare institutions to help them understand sports manufacturing, sports training, sailing, golf, ice and snow sports and other industries The development status quo, open up job search and entrepreneurial ideas.
In July this year, the “2022 General Vocational Skills Training Course for Retired Athletes in Hebei Province for the Transition Period of Occupational Transformation” was held in Shijiazhuang. A total of 88 retired athletes from 9 training units in Hebei Province and 18 projects participated in the training.
Under the background that the “double reduction” policy continues to exert force, the process of sports being included in the senior high school entrance examination is accelerating, and the concept of “one hour of campus sports activities per day” is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, the supply of physical education teachers still faces a huge gap. In this regard, Jiang Qingguo, deputy director of the Youth Department of the State Sports General Administration, said in 2021 that the State Sports General Administration will explore the practice of outstanding retired athletes to work as part-time physical education teachers in schools.
For example, Sichuan Province has organized outstanding athletes, including Olympic champions, world champions, and Asian Games champions, to part-time physical education teachers in schools, adopting a model of first job and training later.
Many athletes welcome this policy. Wang Han, the gold medalist in women’s 3-meter springboard diving at the Tokyo Olympics, said: “Whether it is an Olympic champion or another athlete, they will inevitably face the problem of career transition after retiring. The channel has definitely done a good and practical thing for the athletes and provided us with more choices.”
At the same time, various localities are also exploring ways to ensure the employment treatment of retired athletes.
In June this year, Guangxi promulgated the “Implementation Measures for the Establishment of Professional and Technical Posts for Sports Coaches in Large, Middle and Primary Schools in the Region”, established the employment of outstanding retired athletes as sports coaches, and stipulated that primary and secondary schools, secondary vocational schools, and the demonstration parks of the autonomous region’s children’s sports bases will be School sports coaches are included in the unified management of the school personnel system. All kinds of sports schools (including primary and secondary schools with the sports school brand) are editing sports coaches. Those who have obtained teacher qualifications and are employed in the post of physical education teachers can enjoy the same treatment as primary and secondary school teachers. .
As for the difficulty of transitioning to employment after retirement, Kong Huimin, a former member of the Guangdong swimming team and a national first-level swimmer, once said frankly: “The biggest difficulty in transition is to start from scratch, even if it is a champion.”
Fading the halo on the field, the re-employment problems faced by these retired athletes deserve attention, help them start a new journey in the golden age of life, and also allow more outstanding athletes who sweat on the field to reduce their worries about the future.