Husband and wife coach local girls’ football
Print Edition
You could say the romance of Qian Hui and Zhang Xiang was built around girls’ grade-school football.
The married couple are both coaches at Putuo Football School. For 20 years, they have dedicated much of their lives to making the district’s girls’ teams successful.
In 1993, Qian, now 44, graduated from Shanghai University of Sports and came to Putuo Football School, starting off as a coach for the girls’ team at Jinshajiang Road Primary School. Before coming to Shanghai, she was the captain of the provincial women’s football team in Henan.
The men’s football team in Putuo had achieved success in the past, having trained elite athletes such as Li Zhonghua, Cheng Yaodong and Li Xiao. However, when Qian first came to the district, the girls’ football program had no foundation at all.
Zhang, now 45, Qian’s boyfriend at the time and a teacher at the Shanghai University of Sports, helped her with the team’s training. The couple married in 1994.
When the team members at the primary school graduated and went on to middle schools, Qian didn’t want to give up on their training. She rode a bike back and forth to the education bureau and sports bureau, fighting for opportunities to continue their football development in higher grades in Putuo.
Zhang didn’t want to see Qian give up on them either — eventually he quit his position at the university and came to the football school as a full-time coach.
In 1996, Caoyang No. 2 High School joined the sports program, and in 2000, Meilong Middle School joined. That allowed students to keep playing in the program until they either joined a professional team or went to college.
Qian and Zhang are not the only coaches for the girls, but they also function as parental figures. At the age of seven or eight, the girls live in dormitories instead of at home with their own parents. They have to train every day on the football field and take classes like regular students.
Qian, who is a mother, said she has made sacrifices to support the girls’ football teams. Sometimes her parents had to pitch in since she scarcely had time to take care of all her own child’s needs.
“I regretted it before, but only at the beginning, because my classmates who stayed at the university as teachers made more money than me and they were also more comfortable,” Qian said. “But when I see the girls winning competitions, I don’t regret it anymore. I feel proud and happy.”
Excitement
The excitement of winning competitions by itself, however, couldn’t keep them going for two decades. For Qian, one of the things that keeps her going as a coach is her passion for football.
“If there’s any regret, it is only that I don’t have many successors,” she said. “To bring women’s football in China to the next level, it’s crucial to have enough coaches at the primary levels.”
Two of Qian’s former students, Lu Yun and Gu Lijuan, have become her assistants and are ready to take her place in the future. But Qian’s success will be tough to duplicate because girls’ football in Putuo has been her baby.
Zhang and Qian work as a couple, and the girls on the football team learn from both of them. They are very strict at practice, but off the field they are warm and caring, helping the girls solve any problems they face.
Over the past 20 years, the teams they coached have achieved great results in China and abroad — 15 players were selected to the national team and 16 to the national under-20 team.
The girls’ football teams in Putuo also stand out because of their excellent academic record.
The girls don’t neglect their schoolwork even though they have practice every day in the morning and after class. Some have been admitted to top colleges like Fudan University, qualifying even without the need of the points added for sports.
Ren Xiaotong was a member of the girls’ football team and now is a student at Fudan. When she was in second grade at Caoyang Primary School, she was picked by Qian for the team.
“I liked football, and joining the football team meant boarding school, so I transferred to Jinshajiang Road Primary School,” Ren said.
In 11 years, she went from knowing nothing about the sport to becoming a national-level athlete.
“For people haven’t experienced it themselves, they think football is a sport that’s too intense for girls. They don’t understand it and even dislike it, but they see only one side of the story,” Ren said.
“They didn’t see how our coaches take care of us in everyday life. Without the help of Qian and Zhang, we wouldn’t have achieved such results.”
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