Nov. 19, 2011 – Fuzhou, China – More than 30 children under the age of 12 begin their daily eight-hour training regime at Fuzhou Sports School. China is prepared to go to great lengths to ensure it can create future generations of champions that will compete at global sporting events.Liu Tao/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom. License it from Newscom.com: zumaamericasfive379887
Fuzhou Sports School is a school in the Fujian province of China where children are hand selected to train in hopes of bringing home gold in future Olympics. Some of the children are as young as four. China implemented this program in the 1950′s, and since then China has shown considerably more talent at the Olympic games, and their future doesn’t look like it will change.
Fuzhou is an amateur school, which means children attend class in the day then practice in their individual sports afterwards, sometimes up to eight hours of practice! Once a child has proven themselves valuable, they can be transferred to a professional school to be on a municipal or national team. Sometimes these children become the breadwinners in the family, as they win international contests and bring honor to their families.
The pictures from the school are striking. Look through these pictures, then follow us back to Newscom to find even more.
Jan. 4, 2013 – Fuzhou, China – FUZHOU, CHINA – JULY 07: A kid takes part in a gymnastics training session at Fuzhou Sports School on July 7, 2011 in Fuzhou, Fujian Province of China. Amateur sports schools were launched in China during the 1950s to develop the country\’s sporting prowess, with almost all such schools relying on government funding. Talented young children are rooted out and put in Amateur sports schools from as young as four years old. ChinaFotoPress/ZUMA Press/Newscom. License it from Newscom.com: zumaamericas772853
A boy on the sanda team practises in a training session in Fuzhou Sports School in Fuzhou in southeast China’s Fujian province Thursday Aug. 11, 2011. Sanda, or sanshou, is a kind ofChinese free combat sport. Twenty-four boys and girls aged between 11 and 14 have been selected by the city’s sports authority three months ago to start training for medals. LIU TAO/FEATURECHINA/Newscom. License it from Newscom.com: featurechinapix038852
Jan. 4, 2013 – Fuzhou, China – FUZHOU, CHINA – OCTOBER 31: A kid takes part in a diving training session at Fuzhou Sports School on October 31, 2012 in Fuzhou, Fujian Province of China. Amateur sports schools were launched in China during the 1950s to develop the country\’s sporting prowess, with almost all such schools relying on government funding. Talented young children are rooted out and put in Amateur sports schools from as young as four years old. ChinaFotoPress/ZUMA Press/Newscom. License it from Newscom.com: zumaamericas772820
A boy on the sanda team practises with a scroll in his bleeding nostril in a training session in Fuzhou Sports School in Fuzhou in southeast China’s Fujian province Thursday Aug. 11, 2011. Sanda, or sanshou, is a kind of Chinese free combat sport. Twenty-four boys and girls aged between 11 and 14 have been selected by the city’s sports authority three months ago to start training for medals. LIU TAO/FEATURECHINA/Newscom. License it from Newscom.com: featurechinapix038853
Dec. 22, 2011 – Fuzhou, China – FUZHOU, CHINA – DECEMBER 17: A teacher treats a child’s injured foot at Fuzhou Sports School on December 17, 2011 in Fuzhou, Fujian Province of China. Fuzhou Sports School is a training base of the National Trampoline Team.ChinaFotoPress/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom. License it from Newscom.com: zumaamericasfive329810
Jan. 4, 2013 – Fuzhou, China – PUTIAN, CHINA – NOVEMBER 14: A kid takes part in a gymnastics training session at Putian Sports School on November 14, 2012 in Putian, Fujian Province of China. Amateur sports schools were launched in China during the 1950s to develop the country\’s sporting prowess, with almost all such schools relying on government funding. Talented young children are rooted out and put in Amateur sports schools from as young as four years old. ChinaFotoPress/ZUMA Press/Newscom. License it from Newscom.com: zumaamericas772832
A boy of the diving team of the Fuzhou Sports School prepares to dive from the springboard at a training base in Fuzhou, southeast China’s Fujian province, 09 July 2012. Eighteen children, aged between seven and 13, spend half the day studying normal courses and the rest of the day in special diving training. LIU TAO/EPA/Newscom. License it from Newscom.com: epaphotos479520
Dec. 17, 2011 – Fuzhou, China – A portrait shows the feet of a child from the children’s gymnastics trampoline team at the Fuzhou Sports School. Fuzhou Sports School is a training base of the National Trampoline Team. Liu Tao/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom. License it from Newscom.com: zumaamericasfive379891
Jan. 4, 2013 – Fuzhou, China – FUZHOU, CHINA – JULY 06: Sweat drips from the face of a kid at Fuzhou Sports School on July 6, 2011 in Fuzhou, Fujian Province of China. Amateur sports schools were launched in China during the 1950s to develop the country\’s sporting prowess, with almost all such schools relying on government funding. Talented young children are rooted out and put in Amateur sports schools from as young as four years old. ChinaFotoPress/ZUMA Press/Newscom. License it from Newscom.com: zumaamericas772821
A child on the weightlifting team works out in a training session at a sports school in Fuzhou in southeast China’s Fujian province Monday July 18, 2011. For the sake of Olympic Golds, China has built up an army of talented children in its huge pyramid of sports schools and academies. LIU TAO/FEATURECHINA/Newscom. License it from Newscom.com: featurechinapix038312
July 5, 2011 – Fuzhou, China – A coach watches the children train on trampolines at Fuzhou Sports School. Children between 7 and 12 are trained eight hours a day, six days a week for whole years. Liu Tao/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom. License it from Newscom.com: zumaamericasfive379701
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