13-year-old Li Songzhang will participate in the training of the second national skateboard team to prepare for the Los Angeles Olympics. Photographed by Beijing News reporter Wang Fei
For the 13-year-old Beijing skateboard boy "Little Tiger" Li Songzhang, the past 2023 was a fruitful year. He emerged in the U-Series China Youth Skateboarding Tour with a broken toe. Won sixth place in the men's street style skateboarding event at the First Student (Youth) Games (hereinafter referred to as the "Youth Youth Association"). After January 20, he will go to Beihai, Guangxi for training with the second national skateboard team to prepare for the Los Angeles Olympics.
" Skateboarding is not a competition, but an art. The skatepark is the stage. I hope everyone enjoys my performance. " Compared with competition results, Li Songzhang is more willing to challenge himself and complete difficult moves. After practicing skateboarding for three and a half years, he knocked out his teeth twice and fractured his hands and feet many times, but his love for skateboarding did not diminish at all. Today, Li Songzhang has grown into one of the young skateboarders in China with the most entertaining movements and the most personal style.
Li Songzhang
Date of birth: August 12, 2010
Age: 13 years old
Boarding age: Three and a half years
Stance: goofy (right foot in front)
Team: Beijing Skateboarding Team, National Skateboarding Team 2
Main results
The 2022 Beijing Games Skateboarding (Performance Event) Men’s Street Style Champion
The First Student (Youth) Games Skateboarding Event The Sixth Place in Men’s Street Style
htmlGetting married at the age of 39, won the City Games Championship at the age of 12
In the Beijing Skateboarding Team Under the leadership of head coach Xiao Yao, Li Songzhang traveled to major skateparks across the city, training five to eight hours a day with almost no interruption. Recalling her child's association with skateboarding, Li Songzhang's mother Yang Fan drew her thoughts back to the summer of 2020, which was the starting point of "Xiaohu"'s skateboarding career.
9-year-old Li Songzhang accidentally saw his classmates playing on skateboards downstairs and fell in love at first sight. Unable to resist the child, Yang Fan first went to the store and bought a toy board. After only playing for two or three days, Li Songzhang felt that the skateboard was not fast and could not turn. His mother ordered another entry-level skateboard based on the recommendation of others.
was just a hobby at first. Li Songzhang played with his classmates and learned basic sliding movements from skaters on the street. It wasn't until July 1, 2020, that Yang Fan took his children to a professional skatepark near his home, changed to a professional skateboard, and was given one-on-one lessons by a coach. Li Songzhang's skateboarding career officially began.
Skateboarding is a free sport, but it also depends on talent. Not long after receiving professional training, Li Songzhang learned to ollie (take off with a board in the air), which is the introductory movement of skateboarding. After a while, Li Songzhang's ollie movement reached a certain height and he began to practice toe flips (referred to as "tip flips"). Soon he became the first student in the skatepark to learn toe flips.
From the beginning it was just a hobby, and later he joined the Beijing skateboarding team. His mother Yang Fan has always supported Li Songzhang’s choice. Photo by Beijing News reporter Wang Fei
The sense of accomplishment that mastering new moves brings to Li Songzhang can be imagined, but as a parent, Yang Fan still wants his children to focus on their studies. In the first year of practicing skateboarding, Li Songzhang practiced once a week most of the time. He also took long leave for final exams and English exams. "'Little Tiger' has great potential in learning skateboarding. You must persist and don't waste your talent." After repeated suggestions from the coach, Yang Fan made up his mind to let his child devote himself to skateboarding training. After
was personally guided by Xiao Yao, the head coach of the Beijing Skateboarding Team, Li Songzhang trained more and more frequently and with increasing intensity, and mastered more and more moves. Not only did he frequently achieve good results in commercial competitions, but also in September 2022 In the skateboarding (performance event) competition of the Beijing Games, 12-year-old Li Songzhang won the men's street style championship.
broke his front tooth and broke four skateboards in one month
When he participated in the men's street competition of the Youth Association of Youth Skateboarding in November last year, Li Songzhang finished sixth despite the injury. He injured his foot in the preliminaries of the Youth League skateboarding event in early October, and it was later confirmed that he had a fractured toe. As the finals were approaching, he could only rely on ice packs every day to relieve the pain.Later, he made special foot pads and was able to participate in the finals, but he also missed the National Skateboarding Championships at the end of November.
On the day of the interview, Li Songzhang's feet were still a little swollen. He said that he usually used foot pads and took them off only when training. However, he has become accustomed to such injuries at a young age.
In Yang Fan’s impression, Li Songzhang almost never wore protective gear since he decided to practice street skateboarding. His first injury was to his face. Not only did he wear out his mouth and nose, but he also knocked out a deciduous tooth and knocked it out. Two of his front teeth were cracked and after simple treatment at the hospital, Li Songzhang's first words were: "Can I go skateboarding now?"
Since then, Li Songzhang has worn a dental retainer.
In the summer of 2022, Li Songzhang went to Shanghai to participate in skateboarding activities. In order to practice a difficult move, he hit his face again. His mouth was scratched, his front teeth were broken, and the retainer became loose. Because he did not find the hospital in time, he broke it off. Bindings, head back to the skatepark and continue practicing.
What was broken this time was a permanent tooth, which involved the field of cosmetic dentistry. Li Songzhang was too young and could only wait until he was older to deal with it. As for the other bumps on his legs and the fractures on his left and right fingers, he thought they were just minor injuries.
Li Songzhang has long been accustomed to injuries from falls and fractures. Photo by Beijing News reporter Wang Fei
If injuries are Li Songzhang’s medal for practicing skateboarding, then the broken skateboard, worn skateboard shoes and clothes are also witnesses of his hardships along the way.
During the time when Li Songzhang was challenging new and difficult moves, skateboards (boards) became consumables for a time. “I didn’t expect it to be so expensive!” Yang Fan revealed that he had to change to a new board every week and practiced for a month. Bad four pieces are the norm. Until now, as Li Songzhang has improved his proficiency in some movements, the frequency of changing boards has dropped to once every two weeks.
The same is true for skateboarding shoes and clothes. Practicing skateboarding will repeatedly rub the sides of the shoes. Every 7 to 10 days, Li Songzhang needs to change a pair of skateboarding shoes. Outdoor training venues in the summer are usually on cement floors, and falls occur more frequently. A pair of jeans will be worn out in a month.
"The skatepark is a stage, please come and see my performance"
Although Li Songzhang has achieved good results in competitions such as the Municipal Games and Youth League, at the age of 13, he is still essentially a child. He would be excited to complete new moves, but also frustrated by continuous failures. He traveled to skateparks across the country and even overseas, and became friends with many young and adult skateboarders.
Li Songzhang will participate in various competitions and does not adhere to the rules of the competition. Cash Jam is a street skateboarding event. Every time a skater completes a wonderful move, he or she can receive corresponding cash from the referee on the sidelines. They can challenge as many times as they want within a limited time. During one competition, Li Songzhang completed the difficult move of apex inward turn during the warm-up period. After the official competition began, he changed to the challenge of apex flip and apex. As a result, he failed for an hour. Not only did he not receive the cash, but he also fell. Very miserable.
His mother asked him: "Why don't you do another inside turn or other movements?" Li Songzhang replied: "I have already succeeded in that movement and showed it to everyone. There is no need to do it again." It was also at that scene. During the competition, the persistent Li Songzhang received cheers from the audience. Che Lin, Tian Jun and other older generation skaters all looked up to him with admiration.
Even though he has mastered many difficult moves now, Li Songzhang is still very excited whenever he completes a new move on the skateboard. He will happily run to Yang Fan and hold the video shot on his mobile phone, "Mom, look, this move I did it." Compared with the ranking in the official competition, he seems to enjoy the sense of accomplishment brought by completing the new action more.
Against the background that domestic skateboarders tend to use horizontal bars, diagonal bars and other props to perform movements, Li Songzhang has a special liking for flipping movements. From his coach Xiao Yao to his mother Yang Fan, they all support him and hope that he can always skateboard freely and eclectically. The
skatepark is Li Songzhang's stage, and he cherishes every performance moment. When a skatepark where he has been skating for a long time is demolished, he will ask for a stone to keep as a souvenir to recall the stories that happened there.When was training in Beijing, he often visited two or three skateparks a day just to get familiar with different venue environments. Whenever there is an opportunity to participate in skateboarding competitions in other places, he will seize it in order to experience different skateparks. Last year, he also traveled to Japan accompanied by his mother and exchanged technical moves with local skaters at many well-known skateparks in Tokyo. According to the plan, he will also go to the United States this year to ride on more skateboards.
Li Songzhang treats the skatepark as a stage, "Everyone feels comfortable after watching my performance, that's enough." Photographed by Beijing News reporter Wang Fei
Li Songzhang is now a member of the Beijing Skateboarding Team and will soon train with the National Skateboarding Team 2. In the future, he will also participate in national championships, National Games preliminaries, National Games and other events, and will also participate in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
But Yang Fan still hopes that his children will maintain their purest love for skateboarding. "From the beginning, we didn't think about a professional path, we just got here step by step. As for the future, we don't want to set too clear goals, what kind of results we must achieve, and I will accompany him wherever he likes to skate. Let him go." She said that in the next few years, as long as the current results are stable, she hopes that her children will have a good harvest after they turn 16.
Li Songzhang's idea is simpler, "No matter what kind of stage it is, as long as everyone after watching my performance feels that the movements are elegant and comfortable to watch, then that is enough and it is meaningful."
Beijing News reporter Xu Bangyin
Beijing News Photography Wang Fei
Chief Editor Wu Dongni
Proofreading Liu Jun
