SHSID Wins Championship in the First Season of SHSA Football League

Organized by the students’ group Shanghai High School Soccer Association(SHSA), supported by International Commodity Import Company, Shanghai JiMing Culture Communication Company, and JofferLab, the first season of football league competition had a successful ending on 4th, December.

The football league competition followed the rules of the European Cup with eight people in each group. The total 37 games were going on in both A&B groups, including school teams from 12 high schools like SMIC Zhongxin International School, SHSID, Fudan International school, World Foreign Language School, JiaoTong University High School, and Pinghe Foreign Language School. After two months of furious competitions, SHSID school team carried off as champions, while Xiaohui Yin from KCIS won the Golden Boot.

It is recognized that football teams of Shanghai teenagers are dispersed along different regions making it nearly impossible to participate in competitions out of their own region. As a result, SHSA organized the Shanghai High School Students’ Football League to stimulate the progress and communication of different school teams. Among the 200 football players who participated in the league, most are from grade 11-12 of different international schools. The founder, Fabio Xie, believes that the football league can be a platform where students from different schools, regions and groups of Shanghai can exchange their ideas, perfect their skills and practice their strategies.

The impaction of the football league competitions will let more and more people know about the sport of football, understand the culture of soccer, and therefore foster the young generations’ passion for this sport. The next season will come back during March and May in 2017, with 16-10 high school teams included, allowing more teenagers to enjoy the joy brought by soccer.

In the interview of the main referee, the high level performance of each team member was highly affirmed. The wonderful team uniforms, passions of well-trained players, and the potential students’ showed in the game all impacted the judges and coaches. From the other aspect, the league organized games throughout all international schools, which brought more freedom and more joy. Group work and team spirit are largely enhanced during the competitions.

To ensure the safety of all players during the whole competition season, SHSA bought personal accidental injury insurance for every participant, and also hired a professional medical security team. Doctor Zhang, who took care of everyone for two months and followed the whole season, says, ”This is a game of purity. Everyone enjoys the game, tries their best, and works so hard as a team member. What matters here is not the place they won in the game, but the spirit they promoted and developed.”

It is well recognized by many parents that physical practice is now as important as academic grades. Wang Mingquan’s son is the captain of the football team of KCIS. He brought his family to watch and support his son’s game. He thought that compared with children in Taiwan, children here in Shanghai have more academic work. However, extracurricular interest is as important as curriculums in school for students to develop their physique, along with their personalities as well. Wang Mingquan says the point of soccer game is that nothing is impossible. Even if the team is strong and plays hard, there is still a possibility that they may lose. The competition teaches students to experience both the success and failure, which is quite common in everyone’s daily life. The failure is not a horrible thing that one shouldl be afraid of, instead, it is a lesson that one should learn from and treated as a chance to improve.

This football season was vigorously supported by SHSID. Ms. Min Liu, the director of grade 9-10 of SHSID High School, thinks that the activity organized by SHSA is not just a way for students to fulfill their sports dreams, but moreover, an aid in the further development of their various skills which are especially important for high school students. She says, “as this is the first football season organized by high school students, there are still a lot of places ready to be improved next season. However, during the process of carrying out this activity step by step, students learned more about the practical details and experiences of balancing all aspects of the affair, and will know how to avoid potential problems next time. SHSID is focused on both the parts relating to students’ academic achievements and extracurricular activities, and we see the student’s development of his full potential as an integral part of the education process.

(Written by Sophia Yang Picture by Fabio Xie)