Exclusive Interview with Gao Hong: Cultivating Youth Training Through Philosophy and Passion

Reported by Wang Wei and Intern Li Xin At the recently concluded 14th Guangdong Province Middle School Games girls’ football competition, the Shenzhen women's team, led by former Chinese women’s national team goalkeeper Gao Hong, claimed the championship and defended their title. Gao has been deeply involved in youth football training in recent years, and this triumph demonstrates her coaching skills. Recently, during a football training camp held in Panyu, Guangzhou, Gao Hong granted an exclusive interview to our newspaper, discussing topics such as youth football training, campus football, and her coaching philosophy with the reporters.

Gao Hong's assumption of the Shenzhen women’s team coaching role was somewhat serendipitous. After leaving Evergrande Football School, she joined Huazhong Normal University Longgang Affiliated Middle School (referred to as Huafu) as a coach. This school was responsible for assembling the Shenzhen city middle school girls' football team for the 14th Provincial Games. Gao was immediately tasked with this responsibility, with only a month and a half left before the competition. Due to participation rules, Huafu did not have enough qualified players to form a team alone. With coordination from the Shenzhen Education Bureau, Gao selected additional players from Shenzhen Experimental School High School Campus and Shenzhen Pinggang Middle School, ultimately forming a 25-player team from three schools.

Facing three main challenges—limited time, insufficient player skills, and lack of a coaching team—Gao first focused on building her coaching staff. She learned that a former youth national team player she had coached, now retired and attending university, was working as a temporary campus football coach at Shenzhen Experimental School High School Campus. With help from the Shenzhen Education Bureau, she recruited him as an assistant coach. Meanwhile, Gao sought external support to fill team gaps and received wide backing: Shenzhen’s social youth training organization “Warriors Alliance” provided a UEFA A licensed goalkeeper coach free of charge and assigned a young coach with semi-professional experience to assist; professional rehabilitation agency “Top Sports” offered rehabilitation services at minimal cost...

For training, Gao adopted a match-based practice approach. “Once the team was formed, I immediately contacted Yao Bo, head coach of the national campus football champion Licheng No. 2 Middle School girls’ team, and brought our team there to train and compete alongside the champions to learn from them.” Additionally, by participating in the “Qingwai Cup” National Girls’ Football Invitational hosted by Qingzhou Foreign Language School, she further assessed her team’s actual level. “I wanted to see our team’s original condition through matches and understand how far we are from strong teams.”

After the match-based training in Shandong, Gao led the team to Evergrande Football School for a three-week intensive training session. “Evergrande Football School offered us comprehensive support with utmost sincerity and enthusiasm.” With professional venues and facilities guaranteed, Gao began refining the team’s tactical details. “How to maintain control of the game by stretching width during attack, and how to form cohesive defensive actions—through repeated training, we strive to embed these concepts deeply into the players’ minds.”

After the training camp, the team returned to Shenzhen, where Longgang District Sports School and Shenzhen Youth Football Club provided natural grass field support. Gao deeply appreciates this: “From the Education Bureau allocating players, schools securing budgets, to social organizations offering free support, our championship was made possible by all these contributions. This also shows how strong Shenzhen’s campus football environment is.”

To Gao, the rich foundation of Shenzhen’s campus football is the invisible cornerstone of the team’s championship. “There are ‘Class Super,’ ‘School Super,’ and ‘Street Super’ competitions here; the girls’ football teams in Longgang and Bao’an district sports schools are very well developed; graduates from sports schools in junior high can enter high schools like Huafu to ‘study and play’ simultaneously, forming a stable talent pipeline...” Gao listed these with pride.

Gao Hong’s football philosophy has left a profound imprint on every team she has coached. Whether coaching men’s or women’s teams, amateur or elite squads, she consistently upholds “possession-based football.”

“Controlling the game, controlling possession, controlling the opponent—this has always been my coaching style from the very beginning. Especially at the youth level, emphasizing ball control is essential to enable more teamwork and to fully display players’ technical skills, awareness, and intelligence.”

“Many in China think possession football can’t be played in campus football because players’ skill levels are low. This is a misunderstanding. Philosophy is the core that guides technical improvement.” Gao believes possession football suits Chinese players’ characteristics and aligns with modern football trends. The youth stage is critical for ability formation and requires systematic methods to build a style foundation, with flexibility learned later in adulthood. “Without youth-stage accumulation, it’s hard to adapt to different systems as adults.”

As a player, Gao was a national goalkeeper, played abroad, pursued advanced studies in European football powerhouses after retirement, coached national teams, and served as training director at a nationally renowned football school. She describes her football career as a continuous learning journey. Recently, she attended the Econoball Business Training Camp held at Mushengyuan Football Field in Panyu, Guangzhou, where she observed ordinary campus football enthusiasts transform from chaotic play to skillful performance in just three to four days after receiving philosophy and tactical breakdowns.

“Clearly explaining concepts and telling players what to do and how to do it leads to noticeable changes.” Gao believes when players share a common understanding of football aligned with international standards, technical improvement naturally follows.

“Whether leading national teams or campus squads, my philosophy has never changed—to play beautifully and thoughtfully.” Gao insists that “beautiful football” and “winning football” are not separate. Whether coaching top national players or grassroots sports school and campus teams, she maintains this standard.

“Football is not only a physical contest but also a mental battle,” is Gao’s core coaching philosophy. In the recent 14th Guangdong Province Middle School Games girls’ football competition, she focused on changing players’ habit of “playing simple football.” “They used to have a simplistic understanding of football, mostly playing direct football. Changing their mindset was a huge challenge.”

In daily training, Gao carefully designs challenging sessions, continuously motivating and guiding players to push beyond their limits and step out of their comfort zones. “Some players lack focus during training; I hold team meetings and one-on-one talks to tell them ‘comfort means no progress.’” She admits the habit-changing process is tough. “Some players resist and feel it’s too exhausting, but as core players lead by example, others gradually follow.”

“At first, no one on this Shenzhen team dared to dream of winning; many thought just finishing the matches would be good enough.” Gao knew the temporary team lacked cohesion and clear goals, so she emphasized “team identity.” “Shenzhen is a city of immigrants and an international metropolis; our football must reflect ambition and confidence, matching the city’s spirit.” She encouraged players to take ownership in training and games, even having them interview their parents, asking, “Why did your parents come to Shenzhen? If they gave up when facing difficulties, how would they have the life they have now?”

This DNA-embedding education helped the players gradually realize “this team is not just about playing football but showing the resilience of life.”

Since 2012, Gao Hong has been engaged in youth training for nearly 14 years, enduring many difficult moments. What has kept her going? In her own words, it is passion. “Whether for this sport or this profession, I love it. I feel I have found the meaning of my life here.”

Youth training always faces the contradiction between “performance pressure and long-term development.” Gao points out this is precisely the difference between Chinese and foreign youth training, largely due to “whether one has a long-term vision.”

“European and American football has a century-long history with clear youth training goals—to develop elite players who can withstand market tests, so they endure the solitude.” Gao says China’s professionalization is recent, and youth success is often judged by match results, neglecting clear talent development standards. “We should formulate training plans based on the talent standards needed by professional and national teams, not just short-term results.”

Gao has a profound understanding of campus football’s role. “First, to improve youth physical fitness and make football a lifestyle; second, to expand the football population, addressing our weaknesses; most importantly, to leverage football’s educational function to cultivate young people’s excellent qualities and abilities, thus enhancing our country’s international competitiveness.” She believes campus football is meaningful if it advances toward these three goals.

Now, with the recent national football work conference and strong governmental and social support, Gao is confident that by adhering to philosophy-driven leadership and deeply cultivating youth training, Chinese football will surely “play an attractive and winning style of football.”