When one thinks of the sports in which China excels, swimming, gymnastics or track and field usually come to mind. But ice hockey? While the sport may not have as big a following as soccer or basketball, there are an increasing number of youngsters who are learning about slap shots, hat tricks and teamwork.
每当人们想到中国的运动强项时，大家通常会指出游泳，体操或田径。至于冰球，或称之为曲棍球的这种运动可能就没什么印象了。不过，尽管冰球没有像足球或篮球那样风靡，但是有越来越多的青少年正在学习如何大力击球射门，同一球员如何在一场比赛中连进三球的所谓帽子戏法，以及团队合作。
Flying Tigers
Nestled in a newly built neighborhood on the northwest side of Beijing, high up on the fourth floor of a massive shopping complex, is one of this city's newest ice rinks. It is also the site of an ice hockey camp for young, talented players.
北京西北边一个新住宅区内有一栋大型购物商场，商场四楼就是北京最新的冰场。这里也是一个冰球训练班的所在地，参加训练的都是有天分的少年球员。
For several weeks last month, the Flying Tigers hosted a summer camp for these young players. Most were from Beijing, but some came from as far away as Hong Kong and the northeastern province of Heilongjiang.
上个月有好几个星期，飞虎队为这些少年球员举办了一个夏令营。大部分球员来自北京，但是有些人远从香港和东北的黑龙江到北京参加集训。
“Initially coming to China where hockey isn't their main focus, I was very impressed with the skill level of the kids right from the 04-05s, right up to the big kids," said Kevin Masters, one of several coaches flown in from Canada. "The specifics of the skating and the individual type skills are absolutely comparable to what we see back home in Canada.”
凯文马斯特是从加拿大飞到这里的几位教练之一。他说：“冰球并不是中国主要的运动。我刚到中国就对这些小球员的技巧程度印象非常深刻。这些在2004年和2005年出生的孩子他们的能力和大孩子不相上下，他们滑冰的细节以及个别技巧绝对可以和我们加拿大球员相提并论。”
Supportive parents
And where there is ice hockey - a sport that requires a lot of time and money - there are always ice hockey parents cheering their kids on and giving pointers.
冰球是一种很费钱又花时间的运动。而且只要有人玩冰球，球员的父母总是在一旁陪伴。这些冰球爸妈给孩子加油，给孩子指点方向。
“When my son started playing ice hockey, we had just seen the movie Transformers and he thought goalies look like Transformers with all of their pads on and because of that it was his favorite position,” said Zhou Jianwei, whose eight-year-old son is a goalie.
周建伟8岁大的儿子是守门员。周建伟说：“最开始他看美国电影[变形金刚]，他觉得穿上守门员的护具后非常像变形金刚，所以他非常喜欢守门员这个位置。”
Zhou says that in China, where many families have only one child, his son is learning more than just a sport.
周建伟说，中国很多家庭只有一个孩子，现在他的儿子学了不只一种运动。
“Many kids [in China] lack a sense of teamwork and what it means to work hard for what they want to get because their parents have taken care of everything for them. But since he's started playing ice hockey, he's slowly begun to understand how to work together with his teammates to accomplish a goal and gained a sense of how [in society] people need to help one another to get things done,” Zhou said.
周建伟说：“很多孩子没有团队的融合力和奋进的精神。因为父母们把他们未来的一切都考虑得很周全。进入冰球队后他慢慢懂得如何与他的队友去配合， 去共同完成一个比赛，同时他也知道如何帮助队友去作些事情。他能感觉到人之间相互是需要帮助的。”
China's colder northeast provinces are largely considered the home of ice hockey in the country. And, a large majority of the players on China's national ice hockey team grew up there.
New ice rinks
Now, with new rinks in Beijing, that is starting to change. Local hockey organizers note that the number of U16 or 16 year-old ice hockey players in Beijing is likely to surpass the number of players in the northeast in the next season or two.
The reasons, they say, are because more families in Beijing can afford ice hockey, which is an expensive sport, and because the northeast is opening up to other sports, which is taking players away from the ice.
Cao Zhennan says her father played hockey while growing up in the northeast and helped to get her son interested. She says the lessons her son learns from ice hockey far outweigh any future prospect of making the national team or playing more competitively.
“Ice hockey is a fast and physical sport, it's a really a fun sport," Cao said. "On top of that, he's a boy and we got into the sport hoping it would help him become more courageous. It (ice hockey) also gets more interesting as the kids learn how to work together and make a lot of new friends.”
Charlie, an 11-year-old, who plays right wing, says his friend Abiyasi got him interested in the sport a year-and-a-half ago. Charlie says the sport has other benefits besides keeping him away from computer games.
11岁的查理在场上担任右前锋。他说，一年半前，他的朋友阿比亚斯让他对冰球产生兴趣。查理说，这个运动对他还有另外一个好处，那就是让他远离电脑游戏。
“I think it's fun. It's good for my health and it's not boring!” Charlie said.
查理说：“我觉得冰球很好玩，对我的健康有好处，玩冰球不会无聊。”
More teams
Mark Simon, vice president and head coach of the Beijing Imperial Guard Hockey Club, one of several teams in the Beijing Junior Hockey League, says team rosters have been growing in recent years.
北京皇家卫队冰球队是北京少年冰球联赛的几个球队之一。这个冰球队的副总裁和首席教练马克西蒙认为，近几年来参加球队的人数一直上升。
“A group of us, our club and a few others started a league in 2008 and 2009 with four teams, which included about 50-60 players," Simon said. "Now, last season in 10-11, we had about 25 teams, so about 300 players, 300-350.”
西蒙说：“我们一组人，我们的俱乐部和其他少数几个人在2008年开始联赛，2009年和四个球队联赛，这包括大约50到60名球员。2010到2011年的上一季联赛时，有大约25个球队参加，球员人数大约300人，300到350人。”
Simon, an ex-banker from Montreal who started playing ice hockey at the age of five, says he left his gear in Canada when he first came to China. Several years later, he works for a company that builds rinks in Asia.
以前是银行家的西蒙五岁就开始玩冰球了。他说，他第一次到中国时，把他的打球配备留在加拿大，几年后，他为一家在亚洲建造溜冰场的公司工作。
He says that as far as Asian cities go, Beijing is quite spoiled.
“To have four full ice sheets is quite rare," noted Simon. "And that is one of the reasons ice hockey is growing here a lot more quickly than in places like Hong Kong. Hong Kong has got a huge hockey following, a lot of kids playing, but they are very limited by the number of ice surfaces they have.”
西蒙说：“一个城市有四个冰场很少见的。这就是北京要比香港等城市的冰球运动成长更快速的原因之一。香港有很多人玩冰球，但是他们的冰场很少。”
Just getting started
Lane Moore, another coach who is helping out at the Flying Tigers camp, says ice hockey is just getting started in Beijing.
另外一名帮助飞虎队训练营的教练莱恩穆尔表示，冰球刚刚开始在北京发展起来。
“With their development of new rinks, new ice surfaces, the numbers in Beijing are going through the roof and I am hearing in Shanghai it is the same way and I just think the potential for ice hockey in China is going to keep going,” Moore said.
莱恩穆尔说：“北京新的冰场快速增加，我听说上海也是如此，我认为中国冰球的潜力会一直发展下去。”
Both he and Kevin Masters say they never expected to be running an ice hockey camp in China, and certainly not on the fourth floor of a shopping mall. But they say the publicity from curious shoppers helps build interest in a sport that they say is quickly on its way from a novelty to the mainstream.
凯文马斯特和莱恩穆尔都说，他们从来没有料到会在中国带领一个冰球训练营，更没有料到冰球场地座落在购物中心的四楼。但是他们说，好奇的购物者给冰球作了宣传，这帮助人们对冰球产生兴趣，人们认为，冰球正快速的从一个新奇的运动变成主流运动。 |