Jiangsu Suqian rowing coach was accused of corporal punishment and extortion of athletes, and has been suspended for demerit.

Sports teenagers grow up under the physical violence of coaches. How big is the psychological shadow area?

Since November 4th, many parents of Jiangsu Suqian Rowing Team reported to The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) that Fang Mocai, the coach of the team, "started to hit people when he didn’t agree with a word" during the training, and one of the athletes was beaten with a bloody nose and the other was punched in the eardrum.

An athlete’s parents also told the The Paper reporter. "Not only that, but also extorted money in disguise. My family has remitted more than 70,000 yuan to him from 2015 to now. Later, I inquired with other parents and found that only my children paid so much more."

On November 4th, Fang Mocai, the coach of Suqian rowing team, responded to The Paper, saying that compared with ordinary students, "the requirements for training athletes are stricter, and more hardships must be paid". He "hates iron to produce steel" and "spurs these children" when they slack off, but the way and method are a little radical, but "the starting point is for the good of children" can’t be called corporal punishment of athletes.

Fang Mocai said that Suqian Sports Bureau has given him a series of punishments, such as suspension, no pay, and administrative demerits. "I also apologize to some parents of children and hope to get forgiveness from parents." For economic problems such as extortion of money, "I personally can’t say much. The unit will verify the investigation. Since I have been punished, it is also based on rigorous investigation."

Suqian Sports Bureau told The Paper that Fang’s training method was really "wrong" and he punished the child in disguise. At present, he has been suspended. For the investigation results of corporal punishment of students and extortion from athletes’ parents, "it is necessary to understand with other departments."

Xiao Bin, an athlete, was beaten by the coach with a nosebleed, and his blood remained on his coat. Photo courtesy of parents in Xiao Bin

The rowing team coach was reported to have physically punished the athletes.

Xiao Bin (pseudonym) is 15 years old. In June 2014, she entered Suqian Sports Institute and became an athlete. In July of the same year, she became a member of the newly established Suqian rowing team. Since then, "a nightmare has begun."

"After entering the rowing team, Fang Mocai served as our coach. He had a bad temper and was prone to violence. Everyone was beaten by him. If he didn’t agree, he insulted us, slapped us in the face and kicked us." Xiao Bin said to The Paper.

"On July 12 this year, I updated my mood in qq space dynamics and wrote’ July 12, hehe, a very special day’, which left an indelible shadow in my mind." According to Xiao Bin’s recollection, because he accidentally sprained his ankle while jumping the stairs a few days ago, the coach Fang Mocai instructed him to go back to the dormitory for hot compress treatment, and he still did not recover on July 12, but on the same day, he insisted on issuing a lower limb training plan to him. "I just turned over two somersaults, and my ankle was unbearable" and proposed to stop training. Fang Mocai "didn’t believe" and thought that Xiao Bin had violated the instruction, so he slapped him with a slap.

Xiao Bin said to The Paper, "My opinion of the coach has changed since this day." During the training process, he saw Fang beat and scold other players, and the more he felt that Fang was a cruel coach, the seeds of hatred began to sprout in his heart.

Xiaozhe (a pseudonym), another member of Suqian rowing team, was also slapped by Fang Moucai. Xiaozhe told the The Paper reporter, "I was once punched by coach Fang, and my eardrum was inflamed and purulent for several days.". It was an afternoon in November 2014, when he and his team members were training indoors, Fang asked him to jump off the bench. At that time, he didn’t stand firm and involuntarily "helped a window". He explained the reason to Fang. However, Fang thought he was quibbling, so he began to scold him and slapped him in the face.

Nine athletes jointly reported coach Fang Mocai’s disguised corporal punishment, insulting personality and extorting money. Photo courtesy of parents

"He was cheated by 70,000 for more than a year, but we trusted him so much."

"If it weren’t for the fact that on October 23rd, nine children jointly reported Fang Moucai, I didn’t know that my children had suffered so many crimes in the rowing team, and our parents had been cheated and extorted so much money." Xiaozhe’s mother Qin Ying (a pseudonym) told The Paper.

According to Xiaozhe, on the afternoon of October 23rd, they were training boating on the ancient Yellow River in Suqian. At about 5 o’clock, all the team members were resting. Just as Xiaozhe and his teammates rowed the boat and turned around, "suddenly there was a storm", and another stationary boat crashed into his boat, leaving a crack. After reporting to coach Fang, he was immediately reprimanded and asked the four crew members of the two ships to "compensate 1000 yuan each" or quit the team and "go home".

Xiaozhe said, "In the training process, non-human collision is a normal loss. According to the regulations, there is no need for compensation." Recalling that they were blackmailed by coach Fang many times before, this time, they broke out from silence. Four "collision players" and five other players reported to Suqian Sports Center by phone and submitted a report letter. The tip-off letter pointed out that Fang had a variety of behaviors against "teachers’ morality" such as corporal punishment in disguised form, insulting personality and extorting money.

"In the past, my husband and I trusted Fang Mocai very much, thinking that he occasionally beat and scolded the child, which must be because the child made a mistake, and strict discipline should be done." Qin Ying said that after the children reported the party, they told the whole story. "We just found out that we were cheated and extorted a lot of money. From 2015 to now, a total of more than 70,000 yuan has been charged to us for reasons such as food expenses, medical expenses for fighting, and loss of sports equipment. Only 20,000 yuan has been kept in the WeChat transfer record.

On July 12th, Xiao Bin was beaten by the coach with a nosebleed, and he updated the dynamics in qq space. Photo courtesy of Xiao Bin

WeChat transfer record after Xiaozhe’s parents were blackmailed by coach Fang Mocai. Photo courtesy of Xiaozhe Mama

After the coach Fang Mocai was reported, he refunded 10,000 yuan to Xiaozhe’s parents. Photo courtesy of Xiaozhe Mama

Coach: He has been suspended, unpaid and given an administrative demerit.

According to Fang Mocai’s introduction to The Paper, Suqian rowing team was established in July 2014, and he has been the head coach. Now it has nearly 40 players and 10 training boats. Since its establishment more than two years ago, under his leadership, he has won 17 provincial championships in Jiangsu Championship and championship, and won one champion and two runners-up in the national junior rowing championship.

"If I am an irresponsible coach, I can’t achieve such good results." Fang Mocai told The Paper that he started his rowing career in 1997, and it has been 20 years since then, and he "loves this career very much".

Fang Mocai said, but he also knows that an athlete must pay a lot of hardships to achieve good results. "For me, these children are also the treasure of my heart." Many people are naughty. When they are lax, he severely disciplined them. "Pushing them to surpass themselves is responsible for their children and parents." "In general, it is not corporal punishment, but my methods are a little extreme."

Regarding Xiao Bin’s nosebleed, Fang Mocai responded to The Paper. That morning, Xiao Bin had no symptoms, but he was very negative during training. If he is really injured, as a coach, the minimum professional ethics is, "protect the athlete in case of injury and don’t advise him to train," because it will aggravate the injury. According to his judgment, "even if the ankle is injured, it is no problem to stand there and do some coordinated training, such as forward tumbling, backward tumbling and crawling on the mat." "I did fight at that time, but it wasn’t that serious." It was impossible to beat him for a few minutes. "The training time in the morning is very precious, and we won’t delay everyone’s time because of one person."

Fang Mocai told The Paper that 10 days ago, Suqian Sports Bureau had dealt with him, and made a series of punishments such as "suspension, unpaid leave and administrative demerit". He also personally went to Xiao Bin’s home to apologize to his parents, "I hope the children and parents can forgive me".

In the face of the parents’ report that Fang Cai was extorting money in disguise, Fang said to The Paper, "I personally say a lot about economic problems, and the unit will verify the investigation. The punishment decision made by the unit must be based on careful investigation."

On November 4th, Li Jing, director of Suqian Sports Bureau Office, told The Paper that Fang Mocai did "punish the child in disguised form, which has been dealt with and suspended."

Does Fang Mocai extort money in disguise? What is the result of the investigation on him? Li Jing said that the specific situation "I don’t know much about it, and I need to know with other departments." However, as of press time, Suqian Sports Bureau has not yet responded.