Jon Howse may just be the best hockey player currently based in China, although his minor league career in North America was cut short by concussions. He’s been coaching here since 2015 and had a ton of stories for us on the podcast – including, most shockingly, how he witnessed a coach “dropkick” an eight-year-old kid in the stomach. Fortunately, abuse like that is on the way out, Howse says, but it does still happen.
We wrapped up all the week’s stories before diving into a lengthy chat with Jon. All the info is below.
This week on the China Sports Insider Podcast, a near-fatal accident at Beijing’s Olympic luge track at a test event leaves a Polish athlete recovering in a Chinese hospital (1:52), former UFC strawweight champion Zhang Weili loses her bid to reclaim her title in a gritty split decision against Rose Namajunas in front of a heavily partisan crowd at Madison Square Garden (8:15), Formula 1 extends the Chinese Grand Prix through 2025 despite a third straight COVID cancellation (14:43), and China attempts to keep its slim FIFA World Cup hopes alive with a couple of qualifiers this week (17:03).
Mark and Haig also talk to Jon Howse about hockey development in China (18:41). Howse arrived from Canada in 2015 to coach hockey and describes the highs of working with legendary Chinese figure skater Chen Lu and her skating academies, as well as the lows of witnessing physical abuse by coaches against youth team players (23:40). Howse also discusses how quickly hockey infrastructure is growing in China (27:42), predicts when a China-born athlete might make it to the NHL (28:30), defines what would constitute “success” for China’s national team at the Olympics (30:27), explains why the female side of hockey in China is a bright spot for development (30:27), and tells stories of performance bonuses being offered to kids as young as six (36:45).
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I don’t know what to really say, but I use to play hockey with jon howse and sleep over at his house and vice versa. I would really love if you could put me in contact with him, i would be very greatful if I was able to get in contact with my old friend somehow. cheers.. this was really great btw
Howse!
get in touch will ya, really would like a pow wow with ya! happy new year ol guy!
Hi Chris, thanks for listening! I’ve passed on your info to Jon – hope you guys are able to reconnect.