From October 11th to 14th, 2021, SHSID celebrated its annual Sports Week. This year, the theme of the high-school section was "Approaching 2022: Fun Sports! Fun Carnival!" With the approach of the Beijing Winter Olympics, this year's Sports Week also incorporated Winter Olympics elements. In the early stage, we had introduced our short-track speed-skating and figure-skating players. They actively participated in the demonstration of ice sports during the Sports Week and had a joyful interaction with the students in the primary section. Our ice-hockey players participated in the interactive activities as well, and their* stories are equally wonderful:

Amongst the hockey players around the same age as me, I am the one who is late to start the sport. When I first saw the speed and instant power of this sport, I was deeply fascinated and amazed. That's when I started to fall in love with this sport. I began playing at age 12, without a solid basis of figure skating or short-track skating. Even though this has brought me adversities that have often led me to a state of depression, through my continual effort and dedication, these were temporary. Along my learning journey, I have met many great coaches and great teammates. These people have helped a lot during my process of learning. Without them, I could not be myself right now.

I was selected as one of the members of the Shanghai Municipal Youth Hockey Team during the 2018-2019 season. However, due to my skill level, I could not enter the national-level competitions. Now I am still an active player in SHC Shanghai Adult Hockey League and have been playing for three consecutive seasons since the winter season of 2020. I believe that ice hockey is not only a sport of violence, not only a sport that builds your body, or a mere sport that teaches you team collaboration, but, more importantly, it helps build your spirit, your soul, and your instantaneous decision-making ability. When a player is on the rink, oftentimes, there are only milliseconds left for them to make decisions and read the plays simultaneously. Thus, it is not enough to just have concentration. Muscle memories from hundreds of thousands of practices and an instantaneous decision-making ability inside your brain is more than essential.

Ice hockey to me is both a close friend and knowledgeable teacher. I look forward to exploring this sport further in my high-school years, and I look forward to seeing the school building up a community for ice hockey.

—— Lin

I first started playing hockey at the age of six in Toronto. After I came to Shanghai, I decided to continue being involved in the sport and joined the Shanghai Thunderbirds, a youth club. Hockey in Shanghai was tough and different since hockey was a rare sport and the city lacked ice rinks. That meant lots of early-morning practices and long commutes, something I had to slowly get used to. With the team, I slowly progressed from a house league player to being on the top-tier team, and I found my role as a defenseman. I competed in many Asian international tournaments in places such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea, playing against other teams from across Asia. In 2018, I joined the Shanghai City team and the International North Stars, with whom I played for two consecutive years in the Philippines. I’ve also been a part of the SHSID hockey community and was an assistant captain the last time we played as a team. Outside of competing, I’ve also taken part in officiating seminars and officiated my very first youth game last year. Currently, I continue playing in the Shanghai Hockey Club’s adult league and am entering my third season. It has been great watching the sport grow in the city and our school, and I hope that more people can get to know this unique and exciting sport.

—— Wang

I began figure skating when I was six and started playing ice hockey in seventh grade. I joined the Shanghai girls’ ice-hockey team as well as the school team. Different from the graceful sport of figure skating, the speed, puck-control techniques, and teamwork of ice hockey are more fascinating to me. Because of COVID-19 and, later on, college applications, I had to stop playing for a bit. I wish I can join a women’s hockey team in college and continue my favorite sport.

—— Wang

I am 16 years old now. “Positive”, “energetic”, and “friendly” are all words you can use to describe me. Playing ice hockey for around five years, I'm one of those players that started playing late. Most, goaltenders were once forward or defense that switched positions after they’ve started playing for a while. That’s not me, I started as a goalkeeper and continued to explore the fields of ice hockey ever since. Through the past five years, I've seen countless companions join and leave the teams I played for. Now being in the Shanghai team for teenagers, I met many friends and known many coaches. Although having a lot of schoolwork and being a part of several clubs both leave me barely any time to play ice hockey, I still enjoy participating in it.

—— Zhang

*Names in this article have been altered for privacy.

Sports Week has passed, but the joy and surprise brought on by winter sports on campus have just begun. May more students get to know more about winter sports and enjoy sporting on ice.

（Written by Qian Zuo Video by Huan Lv Reviewed by Qin Liu）