China news agency, Kunshan, March 5, by wire: Taiwan's "old boys" are obsessed with baseball and softball. Families on both sides of the strait Kunshan brings out the "Dashan family"
China News Service reporter Zhu Xiaoying
At 6:00 on the morning of the 5th, on the green field of Huacheng Meidi Primary School in Zhoushi Town, Kunshan City, Jiangsu Province, Zhang Wenshan, a Taiwan compatriot of the "70s", put on his blue baseball and softball uniform and prepared for the children's entrance training with his wife. At 6:30, the children started training on time.
"The ball filling of first and second bases should be more accurate" "The height of play should be adjusted" "When the offense and defense are exchanged, the team should quickly circle"... Zhang Wenshan sometimes watches the battle on the sidelines, applauds, and sometimes calls off training and enters the field for guidance.
For eight years, this cross-strait family has volunteered to be the baseball and softball coach of Huacheng Midi Primary School, training children to play in the morning rain or shine. At the same time, he also volunteered to serve as the baseball and softball coach of Zhoushi Middle School and Zhoushi High School. The primary and secondary school teams he taught won the championship in the national competitions year after year, and sent many talents to the professional teams in the mainland.
Kunshan, known as "Little Taipei", is home to more than 100000 Taiwanese. Zhoushi Town is located in the suburb of Kunshan. A Taiwanese coach took root here and brought out many national primary and secondary school champion teams without salary, which was widely reported in the industry.
Zhang Wenshan was born in Taipei in 1973. Baseball and softball are very popular in Taiwan. When Zhang Wenshan was young, he was attracted by baseball and softball and kept practicing for many years. After graduation, Zhang Wenshan worked in a weighing enterprise in Taiwan. As he was optimistic about the mainland market, the company's boss decided to set up a factory in Kunshan and sent him to the mainland as the sales manager.
When he arrived in Kunshan, Zhang Wenshan was 27 years old. "At that time, there were only factories and fields nearby. I had no friends in the local area. In my spare time, I took the lead in organizing the Kunshan Taiwanese Softball League and played games with merchants around Kunshan."
In 2013, Zhoushi Town Huacheng Meidi Primary School invited Zhang Wenshan to be a part-time baseball and softball coach. "Being a coach was my childhood dream. At the moment I received the invitation, I agreed without thinking."
After arriving at school, Zhang Wenshan was surprised by the diverse personalities of the children. He made rules while passing on skills, and introduced the "seniority system" and "apprenticeship system". The children's training slowly got on the right track.
Later, invitations increased. "This may be a career of his own." With this idea in mind, Zhang Wenshan decided to make a complete transformation and "practice" his wife into a peer: the husband and wife became professional baseball and softball coaches through textual research.
After years of hard work, you will finally get a return. The baseball and softball team of Huacheng Meidi Primary School led by the two won the championship of the glove group of grades 5-6 in the National Softball and Softball U Series Championship in 2018 and 2019, and the baseball and softball team of Zhoushi Middle School also won the championship of the junior high school group in 2019.
Looking back at the moment when he won the championship for the first time in 2018, Zhang Wenshan shed tears. "In order to make progress, the children practiced very hard. In the final in 2018, our children suffered a little in age and height. At that time, we developed a small ball strategy. We didn't try our best to fight for the placement, and the ball path was also tricky, and we won the final victory."
Over the years, the couple has led more than 1000 students. "The alumni association has a group called 'Dashan Family'. One is that my name includes' Mountain ', and the other is that everyone gathers like a mountain, like a family."
With this dedication and love, "old boy" Zhang Wenshan decided to plough into the mainland sports industry. In his view, baseball and softball in mainland China are "rising stars", and the international professional league and youth training are blooming in many ways. He suggested setting up baseball and softball training bases in many places on the mainland, and jointly promoting the cause of baseball and softball to play "home run" through cross-strait cooperation and the establishment of alliances. (End)
