The cover of the newly launched football textbook for schools in Wuxi, Jiangsu province.(Photo/ wxrb.com)
Wuxi has become the first city in Jiangsu province to create a standardized soccer curriculum for every public high, middle and primary school in the city.
The city has also released a set of standard textbooks featuring 3-D cartoons demonstrating key dribbling and passing skills and tactical drills.
Soccer coaches from 105 different schools in Wuxi took part in a training session on Aug 27, where they were introduced to the new textbook and given advice on how to put it to best use by local officials.
The textbooks are set to make their debuts in classrooms across Wuxi when the new school semester begins in September.
Wuxi high school teachers take part in a football course on Aug 27. (Photo / wxrb.com)
According to Yang Kai, executive deputy director of Wuxi campus football office, the textbooks teach football tactics to different age groups using step-by-step illustrations.
The campus football office is a government body set up to help integrate soccer training into the school curriculum in Wuxi, which has been a key reform pushed by China's central government in recent years to help China develop a cohort of young soccer stars capable of challenging for the World Cup.
The football office created the new textbooks to solve the problem of schools using different soccer coaching methods, which has led to wide variations in the quality of teaching at different institutions.
The new curriculum is just the latest project Wuxi has launched to develop grassroots soccer.
Wuxi high school teachers practice their dribbling skills during a football course in Wuxi on Aug 27. (Photo/ wxrb.com)
Since 2014, the city has established 108 schools specializing in soccer training.
Earlier this year, the city's education bureau pledged to pump 3 million yuan ($430,000) per year into soccer-related projects.
Wuxi also has a rapidly growing amateur football league system, with city-, district-, and school-level competitions.
These initiatives have helped unearth several rising young stars, with Wuxi No.1 Middle School's soccer team winning a silver medal in the U18B Group of the 2016 Gothia Cup, a prestigious international youth soccer tournament.
