Feature: Roller skiing becoming boy’s winter sports dream
LANZHOU, China, July 24– Without wiping the sweat off his face, 15- year-old Wei Wujian, with pair of sticks in his hands and a pair of slender skateboards on his feet, rushed to the finish line in a standard skiing posture under the scorching sun. With the rapid development of winter sports in China, roller skiing has become popular among students, and has gained much…
LANZHOU, China, July 24 (Xinhua) — Without wiping the sweat off his face, 15-year-old Wei Wujian, with pair of sticks in his hands and a pair of slender skateboards on his feet, rushed to the finish line in a standard skiing posture under the scorching sun.
Ninth grader Wei and his classmates were practicing roller skiing, which is very similar to skiing. With the rapid development of winter sports in China, roller skiing has become popular among students, and has gained much more attention in recent years.
“Roller skiing is a sport for skiers outside of winter, and the movements are close to those of skiing,” said Wei, who began practicing roller skiing in his first year of junior high school.
Tian Jiaqi, the PE teacher who introduced Wei to roller skiing at Yucai School of Baiyin City in northwest China’s Gansu Province, said that children who had basic skills of roller skating would be quick learners with roller skiing.
“The helmet, all kinds of protective equipment and slender skateboards attracted me at first,” said Wei, adding that he could slide on the playground within a week under Tian’s instruction in 2019.
Tian said that students who liked to practice roller skiing would come under his instruction every Tuesday afternoon as an after-school activity. More and more students soon began to love this sport.
“Roller skiing is an effective way to practice winter sports in all seasons,” said Tian, adding that children could enjoy skiing in winter after practicing roller skiing in summer.
At the beginning of this year, the school and Tian organized several trips for students to ski at the Gansu Baiyin national snow sports training base.
“I was very happy to see the children skiing on the track,” said Tian.
Wei believed that he not only became stronger after taking up roller skiing, but also improved his academic performance.
Wei competed with 58 young athletes from eight teams in the 15th Gansu Provincial Games last month, finishing ninth in roller skiing.
“In the competition, I gained a lot more confidence and made many friends at the Games,” Wei said.
Hu Lanfang, vice principal of Yucai School, said that roller skiing has been carried out here for nearly three years, and other sporting activities have been available for students to take part in for the last 10 years. Over 4,300 students can participate in sports every week.
“Students gain confidence through sports, then they can focus on their studies,” said Hu, adding that Yucai School was named as a Characteristic School of Winter Sports by China’s Ministry of Education in 2021.
Before the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, China’s commitment to engage 300 million people in winter sports had already become a reality. More and more young students like Wei are also enjoying themselves roller skiing.
“No matter if I can be a professional skier in the future, sports like roller skiing and skiing will be my hobbies,” Wei said.
“As a part of the provincial Games, we hope that more people will understand roller skiing and participate in winter sports,” said Zhou Jinping, director of Gansu’s winter sports management center. Enditem