Growing success from the grassroots(2)

Instead, the heavy dependence on foreign imports and a lack of motivation to nurture youth talent have resulted in a decline at the national level, as evidenced by China's failure to qualify for the World Cup since 2002.

"Professional development doesn't just mean spending heavily on hiring a renowned foreign coach and importing big-name foreign players; it requires the whole soccer management system to function professionally within a solid youth structure," Cai Zhenhua, president of the Chinese Football Association, said.

Driven by short-term aims, most Chinese Super League clubs don't bother to develop their own talent. Instead, they spend vast amounts on recruiting overseas stars to guarantee instant success. Only a few major clubs, such as Shandong Luneng Taishan and Guangzhou Evergrande, which won the 2013 AFC Champions League, have established echelon systems for youth development, while the others rely on imports and domestic trades.

With most of the rights to commercial development and talent drafting held by local sports bureaus, many clubs, which are affiliated with the bureaus, lack the motivation to foster reserve talent in a professional way, according to insiders.

"The league actually operates in a semi-professional manner, with decisions in many clubs taken by local governing bodies, not investors. That doesn't encourage the clubs to invest heavily in youth development," said Wang Qi, president of Shenzhen Ruby, a second-tier league club.

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.

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".