Jinan, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Every morning, there is always a special track and field team at the stadium of the National Fitness Center in Yangxin County, Binzhou City, Shandong Province.
The coach's name is Ma Mingtao, 35 years old, who was a Chinese male Paralympic cross-country skier and participated in two Winter Paralympic Games. Ma Mingtao said that the more than a dozen members of the team are all disabled teenagers, "I hope that they will become confident and optimistic through sports, and have a life of not admitting defeat."
Ma Mingtao (first from right) led the team members to train. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang LiyuanWhen he was 11 years old, Ma Mingtao was disabled due to an accident. In order to live a normal life, he learned to brush his teeth, do laundry, and write with two broken arms, and running is his biggest hobby.
Running along the village, running around the hills, running and running, running out of the "road". In 2009, Ma Mingtao won three gold medals at the National Paralympic Youth Athletics Championships; In 2015, he was selected by the National Para Cross-Country Skiing Team.
Able-bodied people can ski with poles, and I can only rely on my thighs and waist strength to support it, like running on snow on skis. Ma Mingtao said.
I practice sports, I benefit from sports, and there is no reason not to give it back. In the summer of 2022, Ma Mingtao returned to his hometown of Yangxin County to establish a sports training center in Hezhen, Yangxin County, after retiring from the army, recruiting track and field students, recruiting disabled youth sports enthusiasts for free, and providing free board and lodging.
Some parents came with their children after seeing the news on the Internet. Chen Jin, who is from Hunan Province and has a one-arm amputation, is the team leader, saying: "I train for five hours a day, and no one asks for special care because of their disability. We are all in a similar situation, and our suffering, the coach understands everything. ”
At the head of the bed of a team member's dormitory, there are words to motivate him: "The mountain is high and the road is long, the road is long and the road is long, and there is still glory on the other side." Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Liyuan
Jiang Bowei, a 12-year-old deaf boy from Sichuan, recently joined the team, and his arrival gave the team members a passion for learning sign language. Gratifying changes have quietly taken place, and the physical fitness, willpower, and interpersonal skills of the team members have improved. "Whether they can become professional athletes in the future or not, they can grow with confidence here. Ma Mingtao said. "Life is not perfect, but hard work is beautiful." This is a sentence posted on the wall of the training center training center founded by Ma Mingtao. After the active declaration of the Yangxin County Disabled Persons' Federation, the center was rated as the "Binzhou Disabled Sports Talent Training and Selection Base", and the County Disabled Persons' Federation also donated more than 30,000 yuan of sports training equipment. Ma Mingtao's two bungalows are the team's boys and girls' dormitories. The reporter saw that air conditioners, refrigerators, TVs, washing machines, shoe washing machines, etc. were fully equipped. There are large and small ** dolls on the sofa in the girls' dormitory, and there are notebooks and sports science books on the desk. The three-point land in front of the bungalow has become the vegetable planting labor base for the whole team. With the Spring Festival approaching, four members of the team from other places wanted to stay for the New Year, and Ma Mingtao's family drew up a recipe for the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner early. **Xinhua News Agency Editor: Xuan Jia Review: Zhang Xuefei, Zhang Zhudan.