May 31 is the last day before the start of the 2024 Xi'an Youth Boxing Championships, and more than 50 boxers from the boxing team of Xi'an Sports School are gearing up to return to their respective districts and counties to participate in this competition. On the eve of the big war, the children carefully planned a "top secret operation", which was related to their favorite coach, Liu Xin.
A special birthday
In the training the day before the game, Liu Xin did not relax his requirements for the players, from the morning exercise and running, to the afternoon technical and physical training, Liu Xin, who supervised the training on the sidelines, habitually put on a cold face. To Liu Xin's surprise, whether it was a well-behaved and obedient female disciple or a naughty and lively male team member, they were all very serious in this day's training, and the feedback from the cultural class teacher was also: Every child is very sensible today, and the classroom discipline is very good.
At the end of the training, Liu Xin reminded everyone of the matters that need to be paid attention to in the next day's competition, and was about to go home to catch the subway as usual, but he didn't expect the children to surround him all of a sudden, captain Wang Qunsheng brought a birthday cake from outside the door of the training hall, and the vice captain Liu Jiaqi also "changed" a large bouquet of flowers from nowhere and sent it to him: "Coach Liu, I wish you a happy birthday!" ”
It turned out that June 1 was Liu Xin's 39th birthday, and in order not to affect the game, the children decided to celebrate him a day earlier. In order to create enough surprise effect, every member of the boxing team was extremely obedient on this day, "We just don't want to talk too much to the coach, so as not to be aware of the surprise that everyone has given him." Zhang Yuxuan, a 13-year-old female player, said with a smile.
Liu Xin was very moved by the birthday surprise carefully made by the children, but when he learned that the cake and flowers were ordered by the team members with 10 yuan each, he still put on a straight face and complained that everyone should not be like this. He didn't eat the cake in the end, and the flowers were also given to the female coach Yu Li, and the children watched Coach Liu rush to the subway station while sharing the cake. Suddenly, someone said something that made everyone smile: "I just saw our Coach Liu secretly laughing, he laughed, he was very handsome!" ”
An indelible dream
"My family is quite athletic, two older sisters have practiced the triple jump and the other have played basketball, but I became obsessed with boxing when I was 12 years old, and it may be like they say that every boy has a 'hero dream' in his heart." Chatting about his past experience, Liu Xin opened the conversation, "I first followed the famous coach Song Jianlin in Xi'an City to learn boxing, at the age of 15 entered the provincial team, and later won medals in the national competition, and also won the championship in the five northwest provinces and regions, but unfortunately at the age of 26, for various reasons, I had to end my sports career early and transform into a grassroots coach." Liu Xin said that in the past 20 years, his original intention and dream of becoming a hero have never changed, "Even if I failed to become a top boxer, I failed to stand on the top podium of the National Games and the Olympic Games, but the trained team members have stood up, aren't we also 'behind-the-scenes heroes'?" ”
Recruiting players, busy training, managing logistics, leading the team out to compete, as long as he can continue to accompany the sports he loves boxing, Liu Xin always feels full of motivation, in the words of his wife: "Every day except for sleeping, he is almost thinking about boxing at other times!" ”
"I joined the team in 2022, the first time I saw Coach Liu, I thought he looked quite fierce, and later in training, he was really strict with us, but he is really a good coach with a cold face and a warm heart!" Zhang Zeyu, a 14-year-old team member, recalled that when he first joined the team, he often secretly cried because of homesickness, and after learning about the situation, Liu Xin came to the dormitory every day to comfort him, and allowed his parents to visit the school often. In daily training, in view of Zhang Zeyu's technical defects of often dropping his hands after switching from wushu sanda to boxing, and liking to close his eyes when the opponent is attacked, Liu Xin relied on targeted training methods to allow him to complete the technical transformation in the shortest possible time. At this year's Xi'an Youth Boxing Championships, Zhang Zeyu, who represented Beilin District for the first time in the municipal competition, won the runner-up in the men's group B 46-50 kg.
There are regrets and there is more hope
After coaching for many years, Liu Xin admitted that there are regrets and gains. "The most regrettable thing is that the players who had good talent and conditions did not become better players in the end." Ding Qianquan is one of the most talented players led by Liu Xin, with a height of more than 1.9 meters, he has the flexibility and reaction speed that are rare for domestic heavyweight boxers, however, prematurely subjecting him to heavy exercise training and a serious injury in a competition finally changed the trajectory of Ding Qianquan's life, "This kid is going to college now, which is not bad, but if I could have been more patient with his training at the beginning, his achievements in the ring will definitely be greater." Whenever this matter is mentioned, Liu Xin's tone cannot hide his regret and loss.
Compared with Ding Qianquan, Guan Yufei, who just won the bronze medal on behalf of the Shaanxi team at the 2024 National Men's Boxing Championships not long ago, is undoubtedly lucky: "Yufei is also very talented and aura, before sending him to the provincial team, I spent six full years polishing his skills and improving his psychological quality, on the eve of the semifinals of this national championship, he called me from Shenzhen, saying that he used to take boxing more as a hobby, and now, he wants to fight and work hard as a career, I know, The kid is really mature. Liu Xin's deeply gratified tone is really like a father and a brother, "Yufei is only 19 years old this year, he has grown up relatively smoothly all the way, if he develops well, I believe that he will become the champion of the National Games in the future, and even represent China in continental competitions, which is very promising!" ”
Rooted in the grassroots and cold-hearted, 39-year-old Liu Xin said that his greatest wish is to cultivate more outstanding talents for Xi'an boxing, "Since the team moved to the newly built training center, the conditions in all aspects have been improved, and the leaders of the city sports school are also very supportive of the construction of the team." After the city youth boxing championship, we ordered training mirrors, small size boxing rings and other new equipment will soon be in place, at that time, you can develop a more personalized training plan for the physical conditions of the players, the basic skills of the players and the ability to fight inside will also be improved, the next provincial games, I am confident to lead this group of children to achieve good results! Written by Jin Peng