'Left-behind kids' take center stage

XI'AN－How far is it from a county's school playground to the country's National Games venue?

For some the journey could take a lifetime. But for 12 kids from Yanji Elementary School in Northwest China's Qianyang County, it took just a single day.

Days before Children's Day, a charity organization in Baoji, Shaanxi province invited the students to receive training from professional coaches in the city, helping the "left-behind children" combat loneliness and make friends through sports.

Liu Haoning, a fourth-grade pupil from Yanji school, named after one of the 72 saints nurtured by Confucius, is a keen soccer player. So, the youngster was naturally thrilled to step onto the grass pitch at Baoji Stadium, the youngster booting a ball high into the sky in delight.

"This is the first time I've played soccer in such a big venue and I can't quite believe it," he said, before joking that he would like to take a nap on the perfectly carpeted pitch.

According to Bai Ruibo, a soccer coach and English teacher, nearly a third of the school's students are "left-behind children" whose parents work away from their hometowns in order to earn enough money to support their families.

"We have attached great importance to the development of soccer since the school was founded in 2017," Bai said. "Each team from the third grade to the sixth grade has to play at least 10 regular matches in a semester."

Zhang Lei, one of the directors at the Baoji Hand-In-Hand Soccer Commonweal Promotion Center, told Xinhua that the organization has staged two charity events, in 2017 and 2019, with Yanji school.

"A total of 80 students attended the event we organized two years ago," said Zhang, who explained that the kids played soccer, and visited a space museum and cultural center in Baoji during the camp.

"And this time we focus on the training at the stadium because of the National Games that will be held in Shaanxi province," he added.

As one of the oldest venues to host the National Games, the 28,000-seat Baoji Stadium, which was built at the end of the 20th century, will host the soccer competition at the quadrennial multi-sports meeting.

Wu Jian, a retired professional soccer player from Baoji, has been training and playing on the pitch for over 20 years. As a coach at Baoji Koori Star Youth Football Club, he taught the Yanji pupils soccer skills and tactics.

Moreover, Wu arranged a friendly between club trainees in Baoji and the Yanji students.

"The kids from Yanji lost the game but they impressed me a lot," Wu said. "The students are hardworking and have great potential to develop." He added that he hoped more professionals will take part in grassroots soccer training for youths in rural areas.

According to Bai, all the kids from Qianyang cherished the exchange because they don't usually have many chances to interact beyond their own community.

"For me as a coach, I cherished the chance too, and I know the coaching gap between urban and rural areas is even bigger than the gap in the students' soccer skill sets," he said.

After a whole day of training, Liu and his teammates received gifts from the charity organization－a pair of soccer socks and gloves.

"But the experience of playing in the venue and the lessons we learned today are bigger Children's Day gifts for us," Liu said.

Xinhua