Baiwei Yu has been China's captain since 2016.
photo: Andre Ringuette/IIHF
At 35 years of age, Baiwei Yu is the third oldest player at the IIHF Women’s World Championship, but in conversation her enthusiasm and love for the game makes her sound like a teenager playing on the big stage for the first time.
Yu played at the Women's Worlds for the first time in 2007, at age 18, and has been with the team ever since. The good times lasted only until 2009, when China was demoted for the first time after having played in the top pool since 1990. Little did they know at the time, but it would be until 2024 that they would return to the top.
All the while, however, Yu played with the national team in Division I, working hard to improve the team and program, working to get back to the top. Yu wore the “C” for the first time in 2012 and again in 2014, and she has been the full-time captain since 2016, including this year.
Yu played at the Women's Worlds for the first time in 2007, at age 18, and has been with the team ever since. The good times lasted only until 2009, when China was demoted for the first time after having played in the top pool since 1990. Little did they know at the time, but it would be until 2024 that they would return to the top.
All the while, however, Yu played with the national team in Division I, working hard to improve the team and program, working to get back to the top. Yu wore the “C” for the first time in 2012 and again in 2014, and she has been the full-time captain since 2016, including this year.
“In 2007, I wasn’t the key player on the team,” she explained. “I tried to help out as best I could, tried to play good defence, but coming here this year, back to the top pool, I’m the oldest player, the captain, a leader on the team. I try to lead by example and be a good role model. So there is more responsibility on my shoulders.”
“Linuo Wang, our captain, was a player I looked up to,” Yu continued, referring to the team’s leader in the period 2005-09. “Going from young player to captain has made me a better person and a better hockey player. With that extra responsibility come more sacrifices. I have to take on a lot of pressure myself. I can’t be indifferent; I have to be emotional.”
China’s return to the top was punctuated by a 3-2 shootout win over Japan on the first day in Utica, a good omen for making the playoffs and avoiding relegation. China’s development has been slow in the hockey world, though, but it sped up thanks to the 2022 Olympics in Beijing. China’s Olympic participation mirrors the WW program in that they last played in 2010 and not again until hosting in 2022, and Yu played on both iterations, captaining the 2022 team at home.
“The number and quality of young players we have now is way better than when I first started,” Yu continued. “They’re bigger, faster, stronger, and more skilled, and they know the fundamentals much better. Promotion came slowly because of a lack of players and experience, and before the period I was talking about before the Olympics, there wasn’t much professionalism in China. I think starting about two years before the Olympics people started to pay attention more to Chinese hockey, women’s hockey, so it became more popular and helped to grow the sport and get more people involved. And then with the Olympics, of course, even more people got interested.”
Yu shows no signs of slowing down, and, in fact, seems to love the game more with the passing of time. Her energy and enthusiasm are part of her character, and these qualities rub off and make the players around her better.
“I’m happy playing and contributing to the sport in any way I can, even in practise,"she continues. "If I can do anything to help or make the game better for everyone, I’m happy to try. Sometimes, it’s even the little things, like taking a hard slap shot. That just makes me happy! It feels like I can do whatever I want, and I follow my heart!”
Heart and enthusiasm are great, but China can still do more to take hockey to the next level, the next step. “Not just for women’s hockey, but in China especially we need more structure and we need to be consistent. Don’t do well just in one tournament but every tournament. Going forward this is what we need to do.”
“Linuo Wang, our captain, was a player I looked up to,” Yu continued, referring to the team’s leader in the period 2005-09. “Going from young player to captain has made me a better person and a better hockey player. With that extra responsibility come more sacrifices. I have to take on a lot of pressure myself. I can’t be indifferent; I have to be emotional.”
China’s return to the top was punctuated by a 3-2 shootout win over Japan on the first day in Utica, a good omen for making the playoffs and avoiding relegation. China’s development has been slow in the hockey world, though, but it sped up thanks to the 2022 Olympics in Beijing. China’s Olympic participation mirrors the WW program in that they last played in 2010 and not again until hosting in 2022, and Yu played on both iterations, captaining the 2022 team at home.
“The number and quality of young players we have now is way better than when I first started,” Yu continued. “They’re bigger, faster, stronger, and more skilled, and they know the fundamentals much better. Promotion came slowly because of a lack of players and experience, and before the period I was talking about before the Olympics, there wasn’t much professionalism in China. I think starting about two years before the Olympics people started to pay attention more to Chinese hockey, women’s hockey, so it became more popular and helped to grow the sport and get more people involved. And then with the Olympics, of course, even more people got interested.”
Yu shows no signs of slowing down, and, in fact, seems to love the game more with the passing of time. Her energy and enthusiasm are part of her character, and these qualities rub off and make the players around her better.
“I’m happy playing and contributing to the sport in any way I can, even in practise,"she continues. "If I can do anything to help or make the game better for everyone, I’m happy to try. Sometimes, it’s even the little things, like taking a hard slap shot. That just makes me happy! It feels like I can do whatever I want, and I follow my heart!”
Heart and enthusiasm are great, but China can still do more to take hockey to the next level, the next step. “Not just for women’s hockey, but in China especially we need more structure and we need to be consistent. Don’t do well just in one tournament but every tournament. Going forward this is what we need to do.”