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The real Shaolin soccer: Football training base set up in China's largest kung fu school

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Girls training at the school in Henan. Photo: Chinanews.com

A coaching base for young footballers has been set up near the Shaolin Temple in northern China with pupils who have learned kung fu taking up soccer training, according to a news website report.

The soccer base is at the Shaolin Tagou Martial Arts School in Dengfeng in Henan province, the China News Service reported.

“This is a bold attempt by the province to bring Shaolin kung fu into soccer to deepen football reform and promote the Chinese martial art,” Zhang Wenshen, the director of the government sports bureau in Henan was quoted as saying. Monks at the Shaolin Tempe are world famous for their martial arts skills.

Three experienced football coaches  had been sent to the training base by the bureau since last week, the report said. 

 

The school has set up two classes of 50 pupils for boys and girls aged 10 to 12.

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