China men’s basketball team finishes a disappointing fourth at the Asian Cup in Wuhan, Hubei province. XIAO YIJIU / XINHUA

Hamstrung coaches

The Chinese Basketball Association, arguably the country's most popular sports league, is also paying the price for the failure of the national squad, attributed by many to the dominance of imported players.

The presidential seal of approval July 2011: Xi Jinping, China's vice-president at the time, stated his three sporting wishes: first, that China will be chosen to host the soccer World Cup; second, that the national team qualifies for the event again; and, third, that one day the China team will win the prestigious tournament. His comments came after he met with Sohn Hak-kyu, chairman of South Korea's Democratic Party, who gave him a gift of a soccer ball autographed by the Korean star Park Si-jung. February 2012: Xi wrapped up a visit to the United States by watching a live NBA game at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. He watched part of the fourth quarter of a game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns before being presented with a jersey bearing his name. Sept 2013: In an interview ahead of a trip to Southeast Asia, Xi shared his opinion of China and Indonesia's prospects in the qualifying campaign for the 2015 Asian Cup: "I hope both our national teams will make it to the World Cup finals in the near future. Soccer's charm comes from its unpredictability and it's all about cooperation. ... That's one of the reasons I like it so much." March 22: Xi discussed youth soccer with Edwin van der Sar, the former goalkeeper for the Dutch national team, at a state banquet during a visit to the Netherlands: "Youth is the key to the development of Chinese soccer, as the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping said, but it will take time to gain results." March 27: Xi lauded the Frenchman Alain Perrin in a speech to hail Sino-French relations during a visit to France: "Chinese fans have high expectations of Mr. Perrin, who has just taken over the Chinese national squad, and I wish him a good luck." March 29: Xi told a group of junior Chinese players from Zhidan county, Shaanxi province, who were on an exchange program in Germany, that he hoped China's youth squad will produce outstanding international stars: "(The youth exchange program) will play a guiding role in the development of China's youth soccer and make more youngsters devoted to soccer". July 19: Xi was given a gift of an Argentina national team jersey bearing his name and the number 10, as worn by superstar Lionel Messi, during a visit to the country. Xi's love of the game has seen him receive a large number of jerseys as gifts from governments around the world. On Aug 15: During a meeting with Chinese athletes and coaches in Nanjing, Jiansu province, Xi expressed the hope that China's three big-ball teams would attain a higher level and become symbols of China's prowess as a global sporting power: "Our basketball and volleyball (teams), especially in the women's competitions, used to achieve high standards and glorious results. We must set higher goals for basketball and try to work for better results."

In the 2013-14 season, the CBA's 18 clubs signed 39 foreign players, and gave them huge amounts of time on court, leaving homegrown players watching from the bench.

Gong Luming, head coach of the men's national team, admitted that he is hamstrung when it comes to drafting a competent lineup from unseasoned youngsters. "Most of our players don't play enough games in the domestic league, so how can we expect them to stand tall for the national team at high-level international events?" he said in the wake of the Asiad elimination.

With the State Council calling for more sports administration rights to be handed over to nongovernmental organizers and private investors, the league could see a larger number of clubs adopting a more professional approach, such as the one employed by Evergrande, which is centered around independence of operation and a youth training system, according to sports sociologist Yi .

"The sports' governing bodies should take the opportunity to implement professional reform of the domestic leagues and invite more investors like the Evergrande Group to join the party," he said.

Seeking answers in schools

Citing the recent rapid development of soccer in Japan and South Korea, pundits said the promotion of public participation, especially via campus programs, should be the key for the grassroots revitalization of big-ball games.

"If kids don't play soccer in schools, the game will have no future in our country," said Jin Zhiyang, a renowned youth-soccer coach who guided the Beijing Institute of Technology's squad to numerous championships in the Chinese collegiate league.

To help soccer build a firmer foundation in schools, the CFA has joined hands with the Ministry of Education by appointing Wang Dengfeng, director of the ministry's department of physical education, health and art, as vice-president and executive board member of the CFA, in the hope that his involvement will help boost the sport on campus.

These moves have seen the Chinese School Football program expand to 113 cities and 5,049 schools, and 190,000 student players have registered with local sports and education authorities since 2009, according to Lin Xiaohua, the CFA's vice-president.

"We've made some advances, but we're still a long way from building a solid grassroots foundation," he said.

The gap between the school system and China's State-run sports system has resulted in the youth training structure for big-ball games becoming heavily reliant on the shallow pool of reserve talent, and talented youngsters are rarely drafted from campuses.

The same thing has happened in basketball, with most of the student players fostered by the Chinese University Basketball Association shifting to nonathletic careers after-graduation because they lack channels to play in the CBA.

Meanwhile, as China's education authorities transition from the pursuit of academic excellence to a more-balanced model of student development, a wider range of team sports will be introduced as part of the mandatory physical education curriculum on campus.

According to a draft plan released by the Beijing Commission of Education earlier this year, from 2016 soccer dribbling and volleyball passing will be added to the physical education tests - which currently include basketball dribbling, long - distance running and solid-ball throwing - that form a part of the senior high school entrance examination.

In addition to long-distance running and solid-ball throwing, which evaluate stamina and strength, students will have to select one sport out of basketball, soccer and volleyball for a skill assessment in the PE test, which currently counts for about 40 points in the 580-point entrance exam, but will rise to 50 points in 2016 with the addition of the two new disciplines.

Lin supported the move, saying, "It will inspire more schools to promote the three popular big-ball games on campus, a development in line with President Xi's expectations".

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