An Analysis of the Construction and Development of ‘Starry Star’ Training Camp in Zhengzhou City

Abstract

Since 2017, the Ministry of Education has taken the lead in establishing the 'Starry Star' pilot training camp. As a leading city of school football campaign/activity, Zhengzhou City takes up heavy responsibility of continuously promoting the rapid development of school football in Henan Province. This paper adopts such methodologies such as literature, fieldwork, mathematical statistics and logical analysis to identify the weaknesses in the current phase of construction and to make reasonable recommendations according to policies and the actual situation for pointing out the direction for the future development. In terms of organizational leadership, all relevant policies and documents are well-developed reflecting the high degree of importance attached to each training camp, but very few of them have omissions in the development of the system of admissions and training management regulations. In terms of condition guarantee, three aspects are prominent, including the treatment of coaches (calculation of hours), the size of the training grounds at each training site not meeting the requirements of the camps' participation groups (due to limited size of the campus), and the lack of implementation of supporting funds (in the surrounding counties). In terms of competition and training, all schools lost points to varying degrees in the various detailed assessment indicators of the survey and assessment such as inappropriate teaching attitude of the teaching staff, unsystematic training syllabus, unfinished work arrangements for two tournaments and one practice and insufficient attention to the campers' performance in cultural subjects. In terms of reserve training and training participation rate, nearly 30% of the camps failed to send outstanding athletes to higher level schools; half of the camps failed to ensure over 90% attendance of campers. It is suggested that relevant authorities should in future give standardized and clear policies regarding admissions and other related systems. Further, the authorities should clarify the way of coaches' salary and title appraisal, focus on the implementation of matching funds for training camps, and gradually adjust the correspondence between matching camper groups and camp site conditions. As the main task of the Starry Star training camps, more attention should be placed in future work, improving policies, seriously correcting and dealing with various situations that affect the quality of race training in each camp. The authorities should optimize the way of supplying outstanding athletes, and at the same time strengthen regular inspections and random checks for the attendance, putting equal emphasis on training quality and participation.