Innovation award helps Chinese PE teachers train in US later this year

Thirty Chinese physical educators are expected to visit the US later this year as part of an exchange and training program sanctioned by China’s Ministry of Education and Nike, after being awarded for their innovation for PE classes.

Sunday’s Active Schools Innovation Award ceremony saw 30 teachers awarded for their innovation in PE classes, 43 teachers for innovation in extracurricular PE activities and 27 teachers for innovation in school sports culture after a panel evaluated over 1,500 teachers.

The teachers awarded for school sports culture innovation include Lin Meizhen, who comes from Xianling Elementary School in a rural area of Fujian Province. She managed to help the kids who have no PE equipment have PE activities with different type of discarded tires.

Yao Ming, chairman of the Chinese Basketball Association, who attended the ceremony along with China’s tennis great Li Na and Olympic 110-meter hurdles champion Liu Xiang, said he believes teachers like Lin would give the children a remarkable impression at an early age.

Zhou Xiangsong, a PE teacher from Suxiang Center Primary School in Anhui Province, was among those awarded for extracurricular PE activities. Students learned how to play handball, a rare sport for rural kids, in extracurricular PE activities led by Zhou. Now, Zhou has students who have made it to the national under-16 handball team.

Wang Dengfeng, director of the Education Ministry’s Physical Education, Health and Art Department, said the integrity of a kid stems from his experience from sports.

“Physical education is an integral part of education. Sports are not only beneficial to one’s health, but are also a means to cultivate one’s personality, build character and foster team spirit. All of this stems from allowing students to truly experience the joy of sports,” Wang said.

Beijing Sanfan School’s Wang Yali won for her innovation in jumping education through animal simulation.

Soccer megastar Cristiano Ronaldo sent a congratulatory video to Lü Shaowu, an award-winning teacher from Gansu Province last year. The Portugal captain had his boots auctioned in 2017 to help build a brand-new artificial grass pitch to replace the original sand pitch in Lü’s school.

The Active Schools Innovation Award was launched in 2017 to inspire more innovative ways in PE programs.