At 6 p.m., as primary school students gradually ended school, the Wuhan Ice Dragon Hockey Club gradually became lively. On the ice rink, children are guided by a coach or shoot with the ball, or practice figure skating footwork. The edge of the ice rink is full of parents, and while they are chatting, their eyes are moving closely with the children.
At the entrance on the other side of the ice rink, a blonde foreigner stood alone, intently observing the coach's teaching. When many students passed by him, they would take the initiative to invite him to touch his fists, and he would respond one by one with his fists and greet him with Chinese. His name is Vlad, he's from Russia, and he's the general manager of the hockey club.
Like many Russians, hockey accompanied Vlad throughout his teenage years. "Hockey is both competitive and requires players to cooperate and take care of each other. Although I didn't become a professional player, through playing ice hockey, I learned how to behave, how to get along with people, and I also met many friends who have been very good since I was a child. These are very important to my life. ”
Therefore, after coming to China to study in 2007, Vlad has also been looking for ice rinks, teaming up to play ice hockey, and meeting a group of golfers from all over the world. One of them was Wang Jun, who was operating an ice rink in Xiamen at the time.
In 2015, the Beijing Winter Olympics bid was successful. At that time, Vlader, who graduated from Xiamen University majoring in international trade, was still engaged in foreign trade procurement in Yiwu, Zhejiang. A year later, when Wang Jun issued him an invitation to jointly open an ice hockey club, Vlad quit his job and went to Wuhan, known as the "stove", to open an ice hockey club.
Pictured is Vlader being interviewed.
"There's a lot of pressure in purchasing, but I'm not afraid of hard work, and I think it's more interesting to open a club and teach my knowledge to the kids." Vlad said.
Talking about the reasons for choosing Wuhan, Wang Jun told reporters: "Compared with other first-tier cities in China, ice hockey education started late in Wuhan, and many commercial projects at that time planned to set up new ice rinks, which made us see opportunities. As the "first to eat crabs," they said they weren't worried at the time: "We've always had confidence in the sport. ”
Compared with Russia, Canada and other ice hockey powers, there is still a gap between Wuhan's ice hockey culture and ice hockey atmosphere. For Vlad, starting a club from scratch is also no small challenge. "In addition to teaching ice hockey techniques, we also want to establish a systematic ice hockey teaching system suitable for Chinese children and cultivate ice hockey culture."
To this end, in his spare time, Vlad and his partners will take students to learn the International Ice Hockey League, invite students' relatives and friends to watch student games, encourage everyone to establish their idol stars, and introduce the atmosphere of ice hockey around the world.
Pictured is McIntosh being interviewed.
Also coming to Wuhan for ice hockey is Mackintosh from Vancouver, Canada. A former professional hockey player, he was invited to Wuhan to participate in the ice hockey summer camp and was obsessed with the ice hockey club here. "The enthusiasm of Wuhan students for ice hockey and their growth in short-term training made me see that ice hockey can work in Wuhan. This exhilarated me. ”
In the summer of 2021, Mackintosh returned to Wuhan as an ice hockey coach. "Working with the Chinese and Western coaching staff to improve the ice hockey teaching system, promote the ice hockey culture, and watch the students become more mature and always enthusiastic, all of which make me feel very rewarded."
What impressed Mackintosh the most was the women's ice hockey cadet in Wuhan. "We have 5 female players of all ages who can't form a team, so they always train and play with the boys, but they work very hard and they play very well. I really hope that these girls can stick with it, and I hope that more girls will participate in ice hockey and form a women's ice hockey team in the future. ”
The past seven years have witnessed the preparation and successful hosting of the Beijing Winter Olympics, and also witnessed the rapid development of ice and snow sports in China. As of October 2021, the number of participants in ice and snow sports nationwide reached 346 million, and the goal of "driving 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports" was completed ahead of schedule. As of 2021, there are 654 standard ice rinks and 803 ski resorts in the country, an increase of 317% and 41% over 2015.
The picture shows a young player practicing hockey.
During their six years in Wuhan, Vlad and his partners have also witnessed changes in the city's ice and snow sports industry: more and more ice rinks, an endless stream of people experiencing ice experience, and foreign coaches have increased from single digits to double digits.
"We started with 7 students, now we have over 1,500 ice hockey and figure skaters. Moreover, after the Beijing Winter Olympics were held, there were obviously more people who took the initiative to consult and register. Vlad said that except for 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays, the ice rink is almost full at all other times.
More than 20 flags of different clubs hang in the corridor outside the ice rink, from Shanghai, Shenzhen, Jinan, Hangzhou, Chengdu and other domestic cities.
"We often play hockey games all over the world, and that's the flag of some of those teams." Vlad said that in recent years, the students have repeatedly lifted the Hubei Provincial Youth Ice Hockey Championship trophy and broken through history in many domestic and foreign competitions. At the end of last year, the players finished second at the Chinese Middle School Ice Hockey Championship.
Vlad and his partners firmly believe that the driving effect of the Beijing Winter Olympics will continue to ferment in the future. "Both Chinese ice hockey and ice hockey students have great potential for development, and I believe their future is bright." McKintosh said.
The graphic is written from Xinhua News Agency