Experts and coaches of football teams taking part in this year's Beijing Cup International School Football Tournament are suggesting a change in the approach to the sport is needed if the level of football is going to improve among Chinese teenagers.

 

　　CRI's Zhou Jingnan explains.

 

　　Nowadays, while Chinese football remains in a low point, the necessity of improving the Chinese teenagers' football level has become a common sense among many Chinese people.

 

　　At the ongoing 3rd Beijing Cup International School Football Tournament, with 16 participating school football teams, including 6 foreign teams, Chinese teams are producing less than impressive results.

 

　　Ryu Hirose, the coach of a Japanese school football team competing in the tournament, points out some of the drawbacks of the Chinese teams.

 

　　"There are a lot of Chinese players that are stronger than Japanese players solely considering their physical abilities, and I found that there were some really good players in Chinese teams, but in terms of the whole team, I think they didn't show enough ability in attacking and defending."

 

　　Hu Jianping, the coach of the China School Hope Football team that won the 1st and 2nd Beijing Cup, points out that the lack of players at school level in China is one of the factors that hinder development of the sport.

 

　　"Now every family has only one child. Let's say the child devotes himself to football but still cannot become a good player, what can he do in the future? It would present a serious problem for this family. It's also a reason why there are so few people playing football in China. If teenagers don't play football, you cannot expect our national team to improve."

 

　　Li Lianjiang, general secretary of Chinese School Football Association, further tries to identify reason in the sports education system of the country.

 

　　"Schools in China should provide regular football trainings, good plans, full-time coaches, or opportunities to participate in competitions, as well as channels for these players to enter a higher school or professional teams, but we don't have such a system."

 

　　In order to change the situation, Hu Jianping believes that the most important thing is to change people's approaches to football.

 

　　"Don't be so utilitarian. Don't push children engaged in the sport to be professional players and make money through it. Let them realize that sports, as a kind of education, can help the development of good moral character."

 

　　Hu believes that if schools or society in general can treat football just as a basic tool of education, which people use to strengthen their will, whilst developing a cooperative and hardworking spirit, to learn to overcome difficulties, there will be more young students taking part in the sport, to improve the outlook for China's football, at teenage and even professional level.

 

　　For CRI, I'm Zhou Jingnan.