Incentive of entering top colleges won't nurture top soccer players

PEKING UNIVERSITY and Tsinghua University, the two top institutes of higher learning in Beijing, staged competitions over the weekend to recruit high-level teenage sports talents, including soccer players. Promoting soccer education is indeed praiseworthy, but it would be better done by nurturing more talented kids at a young age than simply using easier college entrance as an incentive, says China National Radio.

Of course, it makes sense to include soccer in the country's high school and college education, and students might feel more motivated to play soccer if they know it offers a route to enter the leading universities. A sufficient supply of talent may serve as a boost to Chinese soccer. However, is it necessary to make a seemingly far-fetched connection between talent recruitment and the national college entrance exam?

Not really. Such an exam-oriented marriage is likely to compel youngsters to participate in a university-favored sport such as soccer, even if they are not interested in it, which goes against the sporting spirit.