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Students at Beijing Yanqing Taipingzhuang Central Primary School practice skating on the ice rink. (Photo/Xinhua)
A primary school in Beijing is working hard to promote winter sports
Wang Aoyun, 11, is a fifth-grade student at Taipingzhuang Central Primary School in Yanqing district, Beijing. She was born in the summer of 2008 and her name means Olympics in Chinese. Wang is a member of the Yanqing Youth Speed Skating Team. And she once won the women's junior group 400 meters in the Yanqing's "Mini Winter Olympics" youth speed skating competition.
Her skating training began in 2016 at a large ice rink built by the school.
Students at Beijing Yanqing Taipingzhuang Central Primary School practice skating on the ice rink. (Photo/Xinhua)
The Beijing Yanqing Taipingzhuang Central Primary School is a full-time rural primary school. And Wang's training rink is located in the east campus of the primary school.
It was originally a farmland where teachers and students planted corn and vegetables. But in November 2016, with the support of the Yanqing district education committee, the Taipingzhuang Central Primary School spent more than 800,000 yuan ($118,092) to build this 1,800 square meter seasonal ice rink, and equipped students with skates and protective gear.
The school then hired a retired physical education teacher, Li Chunyu from Manzhouli, Inner Mongolia, as the children's skating coach.
Students at Beijing Yanqing Taipingzhuang Central Primary School practice skating on the ice rink. (Photo/Xinhua)
Now, more than 140 students from the school practice ice sports for one hour every day in winter.
The ice rink was completed in less than two years, and has become an ice paradise for the students.
In addition to a fixed hour of free ice-time every day, students can also join the skating interest group after school for on-court training.
Also, many parents learn to skate while waiting to pick up their children.
Students at Beijing Yanqing Taipingzhuang Central Primary School practice skating on the ice rink. (Photo/Xinhua)
"An ice rink is easy to build but maintenance is a problem," says Ding Jianpei, the headmaster of the school, adding that in order to maintain the ice rink a lot of work is needed.
In order to ensure that the rink is in good condition, Ding ices the rink the first thing in the morning. And later in the day, the teachers, students and parents clean the ice to prepare it for use at night.
"When the temperature is too high, it is not good. But generally, when the temperature drops to -8 C, we pour ice," he says.
tudents at Beijing Yanqing Taipingzhuang Central Primary School practice skating on the ice rink. (Photo/Xinhua)
According to Ding, pouring of ice is usually carried out in the middle of the night. If the weather is bad (high temperature), they will spend the whole night doing it.
The hard work done by Ding and the teachers is rewarding.
Almost all the students in Taipingzhuang Central Primary School have learned to skate. And many students have already participated in competitions in Yanqing district, with many achieving good rankings.
Students at Beijing Yanqing Taipingzhuang Central Primary School practice skating on the ice rink. (Photo/Xinhua)
This ice rink has also led to the development of the students on the ice project of the adjacent Kangzhuang Primary School, the Xiayu Primary School and the Xiaofengying Primary School. "We want to plant the seed of winter sports in the hearts of students.
"This seed may not grow into a towering tree as most of them will not engage in snow and ice sports, but as long as they realize the joy of winter sports while growing up I feel that what we are doing is worth it," says Ding.
(Photo/Xinhua)
Ding Jianpei, the headmaster of the school (left in the above picture), hopes the students can really enjoy winter sports while growing up. (Photo/Xinhua)
