I recently become interested in China's sports training methodology after seeing a series of disgusting photographs in a Wuhan magazine. I wasn't able to find those images to post here, but I found a small sample to show you what I saw.
Now I don't speak or read Chinese, so I didn't understand what the article was about. I guess, since the images were so disgusting, it was going to be condemning the sports schools for their lack of compassion with their young talent.
I was wrong. The magazine article was actually praising the schools for their harsh treatment of children in order to produce the sports stars of tomorrow. What shocked me most was how parents wanted their kids to be treated so harshly in the programs. Now I'm a future parent and if I ever saw my child being treated harshly by their coach, not only would I kick the shit out of the coach, but I would fight to get the school shut down.
Chinese parents must be stupid or insane to believe that just because their kids attend a sports school that suddenly they have a future superstar. Think about how many kids are enrolled in these programs through out the country and then the limited amount of spots avaliable. Earth to fools--guess what--IT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! Just like if you send your kid to a Havard, it doesn't mean he's going to become a genuis. Sometimes a jack ass is always a jack ass.
Case in point can be clearly seen in the following picture:
Nothing could save George W. Bush from being a stupid asshole, not even an Ivy League school.Anyway...back to the main point and that's the treatment of kids in these harsh schools. When Children in America are trained for the Olympics and what not, they are not subjected to these kind of nightmarish conditions as these poor children are and they still walk away champions. One has to ask the simple question: does this really work?
I think most Chinese coahes will say yes. I mean there is no denying how amazing these kids are, I mean just look at all the young talent at this years Olympic games and how many gold medals they walked away with.
To an American, however, we would scream no it doesn't. We have a lot of Gold Medal winners in the United States who go to good schools, have lives, and avoid these training conditions like this. If they can walk away with Gold Medals and steal a few from China in the process, then we will say no.
I understand every country has their own conditions and standards set and will stand by them no matter what other people say. I will aruge until blue in the face that training is one thing and tortue is another thing entirely.
