"If they had not chosen to play soccer, they would probably never have an opportunity to get a higher education," Sun said in an interview.

"Soccer opens a new window for those girls in remote mountains and it changes their lives."

Last year, eight former Sanhe players entered universities as sports talent. This year, 11 more successfully followed the same path. Many of them are now students at local normal universities. One attends Beijing Sport University. Two attend Shanghai University of Sport. And one even got into prestigious Tongji University.

In 2013, Sun, a physical education teacher for 20 years, became headmaster of Sanhe Primary School. Located in the deep mountains of southwestern China, the school had limited teaching resources and most of its students were left-behind children whose parents left to work in urban areas. In many cases, the children were taken care of by their extended families, usually grandparents.