Wang Shuang Helps Rural School Women’s Football Champions Realize Their Asian Games Dreams

The first time to fly, the first time to Hangzhou, the first time to participate in a national competition, the first time to see the international Wang Shuang… On April 16, for the rural women’s football girls who will participate in the first 2023 chasing league finals Said that this trip to Hangzhou can be called a “dream trip”. Not only did they stand at the Huanglong Sports Center Stadium, the football stadium of the Hangzhou Asian Games, but the women’s football team of Jingwai Mingde Elementary School in Xuanwei City, Yunnan, the champion team also won tickets for the women’s football match of the Asian Games, and their dreams came true.

Find the 2022 Asian Games dream event

Helping women’s football girls in rural campuses realize their dreams

Under the guidance of the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee, the China Youth Development Foundation, the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Communist Youth League and the Zhejiang Ant Public Welfare Foundation co-hosted the “Finding 2022 Asian Games Dreams｜Rural Campus Women’s Football Dream Action–2023 First Chasing League Championship finals”.

As the first national rural campus women’s football league, the “Chasing Wind League” attracted 35 rural campus women’s football teams from across the country to participate in the early stage. Six teams from China, Anhui, and Yunnan stood out and set foot on the stadium of this year’s Asian Games football match in Hangzhou – the Huanglong Sports Center Stadium.

After two days of fierce competition in the group stage and the semi-finals, Yunnan Jingwai Mingde Primary School and Guizhou Dafang County Yuanbao Primary School advanced to the final on the evening of the 16th. Nearly 500 spectators came to the scene to cheer for the two chasing teams. In the end, the Yunnan team won 3-1 and won the Chasing Championship Trophy. They also won tickets for the women’s football match in the Asian Games. They will come to the Huanglong Sports Center again in September this year to cheer for the Chinese women’s football team on the spot.

Du Mengfei, deputy director of the Market Development Department of the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee, said that during the “dream-seeking” process of the large-scale public welfare action “Searching for the 2022 Asian Games Dream”, I was fortunate to realize that many of these “chasing girls” have dreams and work hard. Dream Chaser, “I am very glad that this large-scale public welfare action with the Asian Games as the platform, the dream as the center, the United Dream Supporters as the support, and the charity dream ambassadors as the lead, can set up a stage for them to realize their dreams.”

Wang Shuang and her child “run in both directions”

Looking forward to the Chinese women’s football team winning the Asian Games

As the Chinese women’s football team and the Ant Group’s “Chasing Ambassador”, Wang Shuang also came back from Europe to the game site of the day after finishing overseas training to help the children’s dreams come true. Although she didn’t play football in person, it also made her “busy”.

Before the game, Wang Shuang was the guest who kicked off the game; during the game, she was the cheerleader, applauding and cheering for every wonderful performance of the little girl; ; After the game, she turned into a commentator again, sent professional comments, and presented awards to the champion team.

“I was very happy watching them play football. I also remembered how I was when I was a child. I worked hard for my dreams every day. But I didn’t have this kind of treatment at that time. I could play on such a good and big field! “Wang Shuang said that she started to practice football in the second grade of elementary school. Now many children are exposed to football at a younger age. She hopes that more teenagers can participate in this sport.

After the award ceremony, the children gathered around Wang Shuang to take photos and sign autographs. After she patiently satisfied them one by one, she changed her style of painting and became a fan of “Girls Chasing the Wind” again. She asked the children of the champion team for autographs. This is a kind of What a wonderful “two-way trip”. Wang Shuang said: “Tonight, these chasing girls who work hard are my idols!”

When talking about the Hangzhou Asian Games, Wang Shuang hopes to work hard with his teammates to help the Chinese women’s football team win the championship at home. She also called on more fans to enter the stadium to cheer for the Chinese women’s football team.

Football gives wings to girls in the mountains

Chasing League has funded 70 rural women’s football teams

It is understood that under the promotion of the Ant Public Welfare Foundation and the China Youth Development Foundation, the “Chasing the Wind Project” rural school women’s football support project has directly funded 70 rural school women’s football teams in 23 provinces (municipalities, autonomous regions) across the country. Children who used to only play football in the fields and on the sand now have the same artificial turf pitches as the children in the city.

The champion team is from Mingde School in Jingwai, Yunnan. According to Lei Yingfei, the principal, most of the children in the team are left-behind children, who rarely have the opportunity to go out of the mountains and lack high-level competitions. The stage allows them to experience the most professional stadium and competition organization, and communicate with high-level teams across the country. This is also the best reward for their hard training. “Football didn’t delay the children’s learning, but instead had a promotional effect, motivating them to strive to improve themselves in all aspects.”

Peng Yijie, executive director of the Ant Charity Foundation, said that since July 2019, the “Chasing the Wind Project” has been launched, hoping that more rural girls can build self-confidence through football and gain more education and development opportunities. “We hope to use more professional event organization and event experience to give ‘Chasing Girls’ a bigger stage, so that their efforts and dreams can be seen by more and more people.”

In addition, as the idol and role model of “chasing girls”, the Chinese women’s football team also supports the dreams of these rural football girls with practical actions. The official Weibo and video account of the Chinese women’s football team broadcast the final live, calling on more people to pay attention to these girls who have bravely persisted in their football dreams despite living in remote areas.