Peninsula all-media reporter Zhong Wenting
Rugby is known as the first sport in the United States, but on a football field in Qingdao Guoxin Stadium, young men and women often play rugby games, and the joyful scene attracts many people to stop and watch. Recently, the reporter of "I am you today" on the peninsula felt the heat that 50 football training places were robbed in one minute.
The reporter first experienced the flag football.
At present, Qingdao American Football Adult Equipment Group has 80 full-time players, more than 1,000 fans who often participate in training, and more than 3,000 waist flag football fans who are relatively easy to get started. Why is this minority sport so popular in Qingdao, from young people to children, from college students to returnees? Come and experience it with the reporters from Peninsula and feel the charming life of this fashionable city!
Grab the quota in one minute
It took the reporter a few days to grab it.
Recently, the reporter came to Guoxin Stadium. Although it was 8 pm on Wednesday, the stadium was in full swing. The football team organized here is the American football team of Qingdao Conquerors. Captain Tong Yi told reporters that today’s football activities are becoming more and more popular. Professional team training and the participation of fans make this stadium lively, even on weekdays, there are different levels and intensities of training going on almost every night.
Nowadays, no matter whether it is a zero-based "Little White" or an enthusiast who has been training for many years, he can find a suitable training team and teammates in Qingdao. "Regardless of flag football or American football, everyone’s acceptance is getting higher and higher. Now all football fans’ WeChat groups divided by category and grade have filled my top list, adding up to more than 3,000 people." Tong Yi pulled the reporter into the primary group of fans a week ago, but it took a week for the reporter to sign up.
Because the registration is too hot, because the number of people needs to be controlled in each training, the upper limit of each registration is 50. At first, the reporter set up the information-free mode, and when he remembered to grab the quota, dozens of people had lined up behind him. Wait until the next training suitable for beginners, as soon as the registration information is sent out, 50 people will be reported in one minute, and there will be people waiting in line. Looking at the registration information carefully, there is only one second difference between the 50th person and the 51st person, and the 51st person in line is equivalent to the backup team for this training-if there are formal players who temporarily quit, the backup team members waiting in line at the back can make up the position according to the queuing order. The reporter was amazed at everyone’s enthusiasm. Captain Tong told the reporter that if you want to participate, you must register in advance. Fans know the basic registration instructions, and the organizers will also buy insurance for the players. Therefore, the registration process is very strict, and you will never accept temporary registration on the spot.
After several days’ dedicated competition, the reporter finally grabbed a place to participate in zero-based training. On the left and right sides of the court, there is American football on one side and flag football on the other. The reporter signed up for flag football training.
Many girls are happy in flag football.
For the classification of these two events, in many people’s impression, rugby requires intense physical collision and confrontation, which requires high physical quality. However, as a non-contact and non-collision rugby form, flag rugby has lower threshold, faster start-up and is more suitable for beginners to try to participate.
The reporter first entered the football team with the waist flag on the right side of the venue. After entering the door, his teammates tied a belt for the reporter, and two pieces of cloth about half a meter long were hung on both sides of the belt. This is the waist flag. "Pulling this flag is equivalent to knocking down your opponent in American football. This is the biggest difference between the two categories. The flag football avoids direct collision and plays in a more gentle way, "Tong Yi told reporters." You see that the American football on the left needs to wear protective equipment and a helmet, but the flag football on the right doesn’t need it. Everyone can go into battle lightly, as long as they wear sports shoes. " The reporter found that the proportion of men and women in his training team is basically half and half, and most of them are young people in their twenties and thirties, while the American group with equipment accounts for the majority. Most of them are strong and their bodies reveal the traces of fitness all the year round.
Catching a ball is like hitting a sandbag.
Running is much happier.
The reporter entered the training team of flag football. At first, fifty people were divided into five groups according to the number of times they participated in the training. The primary group where the reporter was located was the first-fourth training group. After grouping, the coach first organizes the practice of running and catching the ball without the opponent’s letting go of defense.
The coach asked the group of ten people to form a line and take turns to train for running. After each person stood on the line, he waited for the coach’s command with his left foot in front and his right foot behind. When he heard the word "run", he ran forward quickly, stopped at the specified position quickly, and then turned around and went back. Familiar with the basic pace requirements, and then more complex running route training.
Get familiar with the route first, and then catch the ball. In the training of catching the ball in situ, you are required to bend your knees, lean forward slightly, and keep your eyes on the ball. When the ball comes, you should stretch out your arms to meet the ball and fully relax your fingers to touch the ball. After touching the ball, both hands instantly exert force and recover it to firmly connect the ball. As it was the first time to participate in training, the reporter did not wear protective gloves, and when he reached out his hands to catch the ball, he was worried that his manicure would not be guaranteed. It’s best to wear protective gloves if there are girls participating in the training.
When the ball comes, open your hands side by side with palms facing outwards, and there is a nearly triangular gap between the two index fingers and little fingers to catch the ball. When the coach saw that the reporter was attending for the first time, the girl would show some mercy. However, when the reporter saw a ball flying over for the first time, he was still a little instinctively afraid. At that moment, he just wanted to avoid being afraid of hitting his head. His companion described the reporter as bringing his own "ah" elongated sound effect, and then watched the ball land beside him.
This process of catching the ball is a bit like playing sandbags when I was a child, that is, "playing cat’s tail" in Qingdao dialect. Some people are scared when they see the ball, while others are excited when they see it.
After catching the ball, you run with the ball. There are two kinds of holding the ball: two-handed holding and one-handed holding. Holding the ball with both hands is easy to combine with passing, and holding the ball with one hand is easy to accelerate. When holding the ball with both hands, the five fingers are naturally opened and the thumb is pressed on the most convex part of the ball; The palm is empty, and the finger grips the ball hard; The wrist is turned up, the elbow is set up to hold the ball in front of the body, and it swings left and right with the running action. There are two ways to hold the ball with one hand: vertical and horizontal. Hold the ball with one hand and hold it firmly with your hands, arms and chest.
If you can catch the ball, you can either pass it to your teammates or break through the opponent’s defense and bring the ball to your camp, which means a touchdown. What the opponent’s defender has to do is to pull out the flag on the receiver’s waist. After pulling it out, the defense is successful. Therefore, when the players with the ball run, they have to avoid the other team to pull the flag.
When the defender intercepts from the front or oblique side, he can use the arc running to get rid of his opponent. At this time, he should pay attention to the distance from his opponent, and he will be intercepted if he is too close to his opponent. Take a detour to the right as an example: lower your center of gravity and lean forward to run forward. When your opponent approaches from the front, look to the left to attract your opponent’s attention; Turn to the right with the inside of the left foot, cross the left foot to the front of the right foot, and run away in an arc. This process of running while protecting the flag is a bit like tearing a famous brand in the reporter’s view, while running to the designated position, we must not forget to protect the famous brand from being torn off.
After understanding the basic rules, the coach organized two groups to have a friendly match. On the field, everyone encourages his teammates while learning skills. Even if there are mistakes, no one will complain. Everyone pats their shoulders and cheers on each other. At this time, losing and winning are not so important, and everyone has gained happiness in running.
From the eight-member student club
To the top four teams in the country
Tong Yi told reporters that his Qingdao conqueror American football team was only a football club of Ocean University in 2013, with only seven or eight people at first. By 2018, there will be more than 30 American football players. They are bank employees, teachers, doctors and fitness instructors during the day ….. When they arrive at the training ground at night, they are football players when they put on their equipment. At that time, although the sport was relatively small in Qingdao, the enthusiasm of these players was very high.
In order to improve the competitive level and get good results in the national league as soon as possible, people often go to Shanghai to participate in football training camps at their own expense. "Shanghai has always been a city with a relatively good development of domestic rugby, where there are more international coaches and a more professional training atmosphere. Therefore, in a 3-4-day training camp, everyone spends seven or eight thousand yuan to learn skills." In addition to spending money, it is not easy to bring a group of adults together for fixed training. "The fixed members are those people, and everyone has his fixed position. Without anyone, the overall training will be affected." Tong Yi recalled that in the early days when the team wanted to improve their performance, every member of the team overcame all kinds of difficulties, pooled their money and made time. "Everyone is an adult with family and career concerns. It seems that everyone has returned to his childhood and should also thank each member’s family for their support."
Jerry took a photo with Super Bowl champion Russell Wilson.
In addition to regular training at least three times a week and going to Shanghai to participate in the improvement training camp every six months, the players at that time also contacted the old coaches in China online to ask tactical questions. "At that time, there were few people playing football in China, so no matter where people were far apart, as long as they were sincerely loved, there were some appreciate each other between them, and even strangers were willing to give you all they had to tell you about tactics by phone or online." Tong Yi missed the players’ thirst for knowledge about football at that time, "that ignorant and eager stage was as urgent and expected as a newborn trying to learn to walk."
For Qingdao people, rugby needs a process from scratch. How to take every step on the field may be difficult for them to figure out for a long time, but it will be of great benefit to try it again after being instructed by the old coach on the Internet. Long-term hard work and exchange study, Qingdao team joined the National Rugby League in 2018, and in 2019, Qingdao team reached the third place in the northern part of the country, ranking among the top 12 in the country. In 2020, Qingdao team was shortlisted for the first time in the top four in China.
2020 is an important year for Qingdao rugby. In that year, a senior player who represented China in the World Championships was invited from Shanghai, and a foreign coach was also invited.
Jerry, a veteran player from the Shanghai champion team, was originally from Qingdao. After returning to Qingdao, he spent a year leading the Qingdao rugby team to practice better, free of charge. Everyone in the team tried their best, rain or shine, and the football level in Qingdao improved rapidly.
Today, there are 80 regular football players in Qingdao, more than 1,000 fans who often take part in training, and more than 3,000 football fans with waist flags. Their influence has spread to the surrounding cities of Qingdao, and brother cities such as Yantai and Weihai often come to Qingdao to learn from them, just as the Qingdao team once went to Shanghai to study.
Both father and son are crazy about football.
Failure experiences quench the spirit.
"peng bo, run! Faster! Good shot! " In Qingdao in June, a youth American football game officially began. Peng bo, a photographer on the sidelines, got busy. As a well-known media reporter, he had to shoot with a dozen catties of long guns and short guns, and at the same time he had to worry about the performance of his son on the field. In every competition, peng bo, a teenager, is like this, "playing as a partner" with his photographer father.
Peng bo attacked in the game.
Today, 9-year-old peng bo has five years’ experience in rugby, and his relationship with rugby originated from an interview with his father many years ago. "I once interviewed an adult rugby team in Qingdao and fell in love with the sport at once. When peng bo was 4 years old, I sent him to learn rugby." Peng bo, the father of a loyal NFL fan, wore a jersey of NFL star Peyton Manning in the first football class. Foreign coaches were not used to addressing Chinese names and called peng bo "Manning", which naturally became the English name of peng bo.
Four-year-old peng bo fell in love with the game when he first came to the football field, and he fell in love with the feeling of breaking through many obstacles and chasing after the wind. While he was training and playing, Dad would take out his photographic equipment to shoot the wonderful moments of the children, and use the Tik Tok "Lightning Manning" to record the growth of the children in football. Peng bo has excellent speed and flexibility. He was assigned as an attacker by the coach just after he went to training. At the age of 6, he showed excellent sense of the ball among his peers. He was assigned by the coach to take over the team and take on the most important scoring task. Now he has been able to make touchdowns again and again in the game to help the team score.
When peng bo was 6 years old, his narwhal team played a friendly match with Jinan Cobra team, which was the first fully armed match he played with his friends. Facing Jinan team, which was older than himself and had certain competition experience, peng bo’s father described his son as "completely stupid, even the opposing players passed by him, and he wouldn’t move". He was replaced less than 3 minutes after playing, and the game ended in defeat. Failure inspired peng bo’s fighting spirit. He said to his father, "Dad, I want to practice more during the summer vacation." The original training once a week became three times a week, and soon, hard training paid off. Five months later, in the Qilu Bowl, peng bo and his teammates once again faced the Jinan team. He played well and played the whole game. In the last crucial minute of the game, he made three important Tackle, which prevented the opponent who was four years older than himself from attacking and won an exciting victory. Finally, the team won the Qilu Bowl.
His son peng bo is Peng Yan’s most satisfactory photography.
As NFL fans, father and son often watch NFL games together and learn skills and tactics by watching them. Pumbaa has more than a dozen NFL star jerseys and many NFL peripheral products. He loves these "treasures" fondly, which also promotes peng bo’s interest in football. In order to encourage children, my father went into battle in person, participated in the adult flag football game, and won the championship against teams such as Shanghai, Dongying and Weihai, which also added a lot of confidence to peng bo.
American players come to help.
Help Qingdao win the championship
Jerry, who came to Qingdao from Shanghai, now focuses on youth training. Jerry told reporters that there are more than 100 children studying rugby in Qingdao today. Although there are no special points for rugby majors in China at present, children’s rugby training from an early age can be brutal and tempered, which is very beneficial to physical fitness and willpower training. "Of course, intellectual development is also a very important aspect. Groups under the age of eight must master more than 20 sets of tactics. As soon as they read the tactical code, they must know where they and their companions are going to do, and their ability to adapt to the situation and psychological quality are all-round considerations in a tense environment."
Jason, who played football in the United States since childhood, is very touched by the various benefits of football in children’s growth. Jason, a native of Tangshan, grew up in the United States. Now, after returning to China, he works as a fitness coach in a fitness studio in Yanji Road, Qingdao, and just joined the American football team of Qingdao Conquerors in June this year.
Jason looks like a football player from the outside. Rugby is the first sport in the United States. Jason grew up playing in the United States. At the age of 19, he was selected for the Los Angeles high school team. Later, he performed well in the American college football league and entered the University of Los Angeles team with the eighth place. "Originally, Europeans are good at collision, Asians are usually more endurance, and I have been exercising for many years. I think I have both advantages at the same time." Jason is very confident about his football level. Jason has always been the only face of china in the team since he was a child. He admits that every time he comes to a new team, he will really get some strange eyes from his teammates and wonder if I, a China native, can play their ball. "Facts have proved that I can not only play, but also play very well. I used my strength to change the initial prejudice of foreigners against me and make all doubts disappear." Jason laughed and said that he was talented and could not do without long-term hard training. "I can squat 270 kilograms with a load now, and Bobby can jump 100 times continuously."
Jason is now working as a fitness instructor in Qingdao, and he will never forget his rugby feelings.
Jason now works as a private tutor in a fitness studio on Yanji Road in Qingdao. He learned by chance that there are also professional football teams in Qingdao, so he immediately signed up for the training. In just one night, the coach discovered his strength and immediately invited him to enter the professional group for training. Jason has played in the United States for many years. He thinks that the strength of the Qingdao team today can not be underestimated, but the attack can be more fierce. "My goal is to help the Qingdao team win more championships!"
Jason recalled the daily training of American teams in the past, and felt that it was indeed more intense than now. "At that time, players would wear 50 pounds of sandbags for long-distance running or press 20 kilograms of barbells for push-ups. Now, the training intensity of both adults and teenagers in Qingdao is much more’ civilized’ than I have ever seen before." Jason believes that the rugby environment in Qingdao can be gradually strengthened in addition to the training intensity, and the general fitness awareness of ordinary people around him is not enough. "Many people have not regarded sports as an essential part of their daily lives, so I still hope that people will get active soon. Even if they don’t play rugby, it is always beneficial to do more fitness and exercise."
Jason usually works out when he doesn’t practice.
Finally, there is the spirit of entertainment. Jason thinks that although American football looks a bit barbaric and has a collision, in fact, its protective equipment and rules are making every effort to protect the safety of players. "I hope that once we get on the court, we will all let go of playing and abandon all social relations. No matter who is the leader and who is the colleague, we will be friends when we get on the court, and we will have a hearty game. We will neither be humble with our hands tied nor be impatient because of the inevitable collision in the game ….. I hope more and more people can join in and enjoy the happiness of the sport itself."
Reporter’s note:
The more open, the more confident.
The city of fashion is full of vitality
Nowadays, the football team in Qingdao is growing day by day.
As a sports enthusiast, the reporter is glad to see that there are more and more interesting things in his hometown Qingdao in recent years, especially in sports and fitness. Squash, baseball, rugby and other once small sports have quietly emerged among men, women and children in the streets. With the mass base, the achievements of professional teams are among the best in the country.
Qingdao has always been an energetic and enterprising city. People in this land are brave in challenges, high morale and full of self-confidence. American football equipment seems to be a foreign thing full of violent aesthetics. In fact, Qingdao people have played the game of "playing cat’s tail" since childhood. The happy pursuit of playing sandbags seems to have the same effect as flying on the football field today. Who can refuse this kind of happiness that makes adults go back to childhood? For children, rugby is also a good sport to develop intelligence and exercise, so there are many rugby families like peng bo.
Nowadays, Qingdao’s economy is developing rapidly, and spiritual entertainment and mass fitness are also keeping pace with the times. Everyone is willing to spend 180 yuan to play a flag football in the stadium in their leisure time, and they can also accept spending thousands of dollars to buy American football equipment and join a professional American football team. What fun to play, enjoying life and inspiring life is the lovely romantic feelings in Qingdao people’s bones, and it is also open and inclusive to accommodate the winds from all directions.
