An elementary school in Rizhao has been offering soccer courses for 18 years, breaking hundreds of soccer balls every year.

A elementary school in Rizhao opened a soccer course for 18 years, kicking hundreds of bad footballs every year

Popular network Rizhao March 18 (Reporter Cui Weicheng intern Xu Bingqi) Recently, the "overall program of China's soccer reform and development" came out, the requirements of the primary and secondary schools will be included in the physical education curriculum of soccer. And as early as 1997, Rizhao Port First Primary School in the city took the lead in the introduction of soccer into the physical education curriculum, and get the students love, the school was named Shandong Province soccer traditional project school.

In 1997, Kou Zhongwei came to Rizhao Port No. 1 Primary School as a physical education teacher, and he was very good at teaching soccer, which was loved by the students. Lu Guochun, then vice principal (now principal), also liked soccer and gave great support to the development of the soccer program.

"At that time, many children did not know much about the sport of soccer." Lu Guochun said that they opened the soccer course because they wanted to cultivate the students' sense of teamwork, so that they could learn to cooperate and collaborate with each other. Slowly, more and more children at the school are getting into soccer, and they take the initiative to learn the game from their teachers while practicing diligently. The news that all the students in Hong Kong are playing soccer soon spread. 1998, Hong Kong a small school was also named the first municipal soccer traditional project school in Rizhao City.

Students playing soccer at Harbor Primary School

In 2001, Harbor Primary School's soccer team represented Rizhao City and participated in the Shandong Province Youth Soccer Championships, the first time the city had ever sent a team to participate in the tournament. Facing professional teams from other cities, they were not discouraged and eventually finished eighth in their group and won the only award for sportsmanship. In those days, some youth teams that came to Rizhao City for summer training would look for the team from Hong Kong No. 1 to play a friendly match.

In 2010, Hong Kong No. 1 was named the Shandong Province Football Traditional Project School. In the three Rizhao Youth Soccer Leagues held since 2012, the boys' and girls' teams from Gangxiao Primary School have all ranked in the top three.

Lu Guochun recalled that in the beginning, the students played soccer on the dirt playground, then the playground was paved with cement bricks, and only last year a layer of grass was laid. But no matter what the venue, the children's passion for soccer is still so high.

Since he was introduced to soccer in first grade five years ago, Yin Hang has loved the sport. He also joined the school's varsity team when he was in fifth grade. When asked by a reporter why he likes to play soccer, his answer was very simple: "Like, just like." Now, Yin Hang in the afternoon after school will play a little bit of football in the school before going home, the weekend and summer vacation, but also about the small friends to play football together.

Soccer as a school-based curriculum, has long been into the classroom of the port a small. All the students have joined the ranks of playing soccer, every year to kick the bad hundreds of soccer balls, the school will not regularly replace a batch of soccer balls. For the school's development plans for the soccer program, the school office director, physical education teacher Chen Chao simply said: "The school will definitely teach the soccer program better