CRI听力:Ice Hockey Hots Up in China

Ge Liang is an ice hockey coach

Clipboard in hand and surrounded by players he talks tactics before the big game

But the members of his team.... are barely out of kindergarten

7 year old Peng Naiqi shows off his equipment

"This protects the chest, these are my gloves, these are my elbow pads, these are my knee pads - I have two of them. And these are my ice skates."

And padding's important...

"...because if I collide with someone they could accidentally fall down and hit their head on the ground so we wear helmets."

This is the start of the junior ice hockey league in Beijing.

The sport's catching on fast in China with around 2,000 amateur ice hockey players in the city.

Coach Ge Liang again:

"As the kids are so young, we teach them individually step by step. But we have to repeat things. At this age, kids don't understand things so well so they have to learn from copying."

Playing ice hockey can build strength mentally and help generate a team spirit.

Ice hockey in China used to just be popular in the chilly northeast of the country.

But now the sport's gaining fans elsewhere.

Jin Junfeng is Vice General Secretary of China's Ice Hockey Association.

He remembers when this league in Beijing started four years ago,

"4 years ago the first league only had 20 teams, but now 60 teams are playing kids' ice hockey, so it's developing very fast."

And ice hockey's not an easy sport to organise.

This rink alone needs 40 people to operate.

Hei Xiaoguang is the manager.

"There's one referee and two linesmen. On that side there's a live broadcaster, a technician; and there's more than 4 or five scoring officials."

But there's still a long way to go.

While China's women's ice hockey players have had some success....

The men's team ranks ranks 38 out of 48 countries.

But the growing popularity among kids - and parents - means Chinese ice hockey could have a very bright future.

For CRI, I'm Dominic Swire.