Getting a jump-start on life

A school churning out skipping rope world champions is inspiring disabled students

Zhong Weifeng is like many of the other students at Qixing Primary School in Guangzhou, Guangdong province－he is a world champion.

The 10-year-old is jump rope world champion in the speed section of his age division.

At last year's Jump Rope World Cup in Norway, 17 students from the school competed against participants from 26 countries and regions and won a sixth of the gold medals up for grabs.

Over the past decade, the small primary school has produced 33 jump rope world champions and broken 11 world records.

Almost all the schools success can be attributed to the school's thickset physical education teacher, Lai Xuanzhi, who openly admits he has failed the jump rope test.

When he arrived at the school, Lai, who was affectionately called "Fatty" by the students, was horrified by the lack of sports facilities. Undeterred, he introduced rope jumping and learned the techniques of the sport by watching online videos of professional jumpers.

He also fashioned jumping ropes from motorbike cables which helped all his charges, many of whom are children of migrant workers, increase their speed.

In November, a movie based on the story of the school's jump rope team, Starlight, was released. Lai and Zhong and some of his teammates played themselves.

Their story has inspired not only filmmakers, but also blind and visually impaired children from a special education school in Guangzhou.

They took in the movie with the help of audio descriptions and even practiced rope jumping with Qixing's star jumpers.

Lai told the blind children: "Life is full of difficulties and setbacks. But never give up on your dreams."