From July 14th to 16th, the 3rd National Sailing Teenager Club Tournament Qingdao Tour and Shinan District “Quzhang Cup” sailing invitation tournament were held in the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center. 140 teenager athletes from 16 clubs in 12 cities including Beijing, Shenzhen, Xiamen, Dalian, Nanjing, Fuzhou, Shanghai, Suzhou, Sanya, Weihai, Nantong and Qingdao have participated in the game. The adult and family sailing teams from Shinan District also contended with each other to show the glamour of this Olympic city.

    The National Teenager Tournament came to Qingdao once more

    Sponsored by the Chinese Yachting Association, the National Sailing Teenager Club Tournament has tour games in 5 cities and the finals will be held at the end of this year. The first tour in Shanghai has already been held on April 29. The second tour took place in Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center, where 4 boat types and 6 levels were set up.

    Last year the 2nd National Sailing Teenager Club Tournament set up the Qingdao tour for the first time. This year the game was once again held in the Olympic Center. This time Qingdao also selected outstanding teenager athletes to participate in the game. Jiang Wenshu said: “Joining the game can also regarded as practice. Enjoy the competition with other athletes from all over China and find out what I am weak in.”

    It is the first time that family teams join the game

    Besides teams formally joining the game, the adult and family teams organized by Shinan District is a highlight of the game. The family teams who signed up are all composed of three-member families. Among the kids, the youngest is 9 years old and the oldest is 16 years old.

    Wang Jianyong, a 42-year-old Qingdao citizen signed for the game with his two sons, Wang Ziyan, 13-year-old and Wang Junyan, 6-year-old and finally won the champion of RS level community family group. Wang Jianyong said sailing has changed a lot his family. He said: “About 5 years ago my first son started practicing sailing. Now he is a member of Qingdao Municipal Sailing Team. Sailing has brought a lot of benefits to my children and they have made remarkable progress both in learning and life. Afterward my second son and I also started learning sailing.” To Wang Jianyong, sailing is really tough. However his son Wang Ziyan said that sailing was a very exciting and unconstrained sport, which let him become more and more independent and have a lot of fun in the sea.

    It is a tendency for teenagers from other places to receive training in Qingdao

    Among the teenagers participating in the game, many of them came to Qingdao for more than one time. Zhang Xiaohe, a 9-year-old boy from Beijing told us that he has encountered sailing for over two years and he used to attend sailing summer camp in Qingdao. Huang Ming, the manager of Sinan Club said: “Zhang Xiaohe came on July 1 and brought 14 little friends. From early July, our club has already received over 30 kids from other places to receive sailing training.”

    According to Huang Ming, it has become a tendency for teenagers from Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Chongqing and Wuhan to come to Qingdao to participate in sailing training and the club can receive over 200 kids from other places.

    Popularizing sailing games

    By utilizing the unparalleled geographical conditions, the after effects of Olympic Sailing Games and regional coastal advantages, Shinan District of Qingdao is always devoting itself to developing sailing sports. Besides vigorously promoting Olympic events into schools, Shinan District also utilizes summer camps to hold collective training, hire professional coaches to popularize sailing skills among elementary and middle school students. This year Shinan District also held the trial activity of bringing sailing into classrooms, conducting the classroom sailing theory training in 8 pilot schools and students are also taken to the sea shore to practice. So far, in the district over 6,000 elementary and middle school students have received sailing knowledge and skills training, 3% of whom have joined Qingdao municipal and Shandong Provincial training teams and 95% of whom have obtained Grade 3 Sailing Certificate. In the district there are 22 schools becoming municipal featured schools in sailing.

    Every community will has a sailing team

    From 2017 to 2020, Shinan District will introduce professional sailing clubs, hire professional coaches to give sailing knowledge and skill training to residents at different levels, offer in-depth training to community sailing teams in terms of sailing knowledge, water sports knowledge and sailing knowledge to make team members grasp proficiently the sailing skills and have the competency to join the game.

    It is expected that by 2020 Shinan District will set up at least 100 sailing teams, and on regular basis organize Shinan District sailing games, select and recommend outstanding teams to participate in various sailing games. Ma Xiaoting

    (Photo 1. White sails everywhere in the Olympic Sailing Center. 2. Women contestants. 3. Wang Jianyong and his two sons in the game. 4. Souvenir photos of athletes in the game.)