Sparking Ambition: Hunan Youth’s ‘Three Major Balls’ Ignite Passion and Unleash Unstoppable Strength
The first National Youth Three Major Ball Games will be held in Changsha and Yueyang. As a central province with neither a Chinese Super League team nor a CBA team, how did Hunan become the host?
Hunan Youth’s “Three Major Balls”: Hot Dreams and Strong Strengths
Huasheng Online Omnimedia Reporter Cai Jinyi
In recent years, the “three major sports” of Hunan youth, represented by campus basketball, have frequently become popular. From campus playgrounds to domestic and international competitions, Hunan youth have continuously broken through themselves and become the focus of national attention.
This year, a national sports event tailor-made for the revitalization of the “three major balls” will be held in Hunan Province. From the end of November to the beginning of December, the first National Youth Three Major Ball Games (hereinafter referred to as the Three Major Ball Games) will be held in Changsha and Yueyang, Hunan. This is the first youth sports event specially set up for the “three major balls” in my country, and the first event carries the important significance of setting a benchmark.
Hunan is not only the host of this youth event, but also will become the center of the youth craze for the “three major balls” as the event approaches…
Good news
Another summer vacation full of championships
Recently, the Changsha Yali Middle School women’s basketball team won the national championship again! In the women’s final of the 2024 National Sports Traditional School League (High School Group) which ended on September 7, the Yali women’s basketball team defeated Xi’an Sports School 87-70 and won first place.
“Quick! Quick! Act decisively!” “Move your feet. How many times have I told you this?”
One evening in early September, the reporter came to the basketball hall of Changsha Yali Middle School. Coach Peng Lijun was shouting at the players to instruct them on the court, and occasionally rushed into the court to demonstrate the movements. This year is the 34th year that the 63-year-old coach Peng has been assigned to the Yali Middle School basketball team as a coach.
Changsha No. 6 Middle School men’s basketball team members in the game. Photo by correspondent
Because some other players were playing in the national competition in Shaanxi, not many players trained that day. During the break, Peng Lijun remembered that the Yali women’s basketball team’s game was about to start, so she quickly took out her phone to watch the live broadcast and did not forget to send voice messages to the coaching staff in front to communicate with the on-court issues in a timely manner.
In the Yali Women’s Basketball Team, whether it is the players or the young coaches, everyone likes to call Peng Lijun “Mother Peng”. After decades of hard work, “Mother Peng” has become a well-known “champion coach” in the Chinese youth basketball circle.
Just before the Paris Olympics in early July, “Mother Peng” returned with her children and added another golden international award to the school basketball honor wall. In the 2024 World Junior Basketball Championship, the Chinese women’s team, with the Yali women’s basketball team as the base, won the championship. After 13 years, the Chinese team once again stepped onto the highest podium of this event!
In recent years, with the hot development of youth training in the “three major ball sports” in my country, the continuous improvement of the competition system at all levels, and the development and entry of many related commercial organizations, children have significantly more opportunities to compete. In the past July and August, the “three major ball sports” on campus in Hunan ushered in another summer vacation of “winning championships”!
Lushan International Experimental School men’s football team (blue) in the game. Photo by correspondent
On August 24, in the finals of the Anta U League, a basketball tournament for under 14s hosted by the Chinese Basketball Association and the Chinese Secondary School Students Sports Association, the Changsha No. 6 Middle School men’s basketball team won the U14 championship trophy; on August 23, in the 2024 3rd China Youth Football League Men’s U13 National Finals, the Changsha Yali Foreign Languages School football team won the national championship, setting a record for Hunan football in the China Youth Football League; on August 5, in the 2024 “Norway Cup” World Youth Football Championship, the Lushan International Experimental School football team won the third place; on July 18, in the 2023-2024 National Youth Campus Football League University Men’s High-level Group B League, Hunan Normal University won the national championship with a record of 7 wins in 7 games…
Strength
The deep integration of sports and education creates fertile soil for nurturing talents
There is no most “competitive” champion, only more “competitive” Hunan campus basketball.
In early summer of May this year, the Hunan Geological Middle School men’s basketball team won the Nike China High School Basketball League (referred to as the Nike China High School Basketball League) national championship for the first time, which swept all major online platforms. After the Yali women’s basketball team won the championship in 2023, the Hunan men’s basketball high school students also stood up, and they proved themselves with their strength!
Hunan Geological Middle School men’s basketball team won the Naigao League championship. Photo by correspondent
As a province with a strong sports background, Hunan has produced many world champions, but the “three major ball sports” are not Hunan’s traditional strengths in competitive sports. To this day, Hunan still does not have a top league professional team in the three major ball sports. However, as a central province with neither a Chinese Super League team nor a CBA team, Hunan has frequently entered national competitions in the youth “three major ball sports” in recent years and has competed in the finals many times.
Take this year’s China National High School Basketball League for example. Five local male and female basketball teams from Changsha entered the South Division, namely: Hunan Geological Middle School, Mingde Middle School, Changsha No. 6 Middle School, Yali Middle School, and Changjun Middle School. You should know that since the establishment of the China High School Basketball League in 2003, there has never been a city like Changsha, with five teams entering the regional competition at the same time.
“I believe that the achievements of campus basketball in Hunan in recent years are due to the fact that the sports and education departments have actively broken down barriers and constantly explored new ways in the integration of sports and education.” Peng Lijun said that for a campus team, players can only use their after-school time to participate in training and competitions, and their time and energy are limited. This is inseparable from the support of policies, funds, logistics and other aspects.
Since its establishment in 1988, the Yali Women’s Basketball Team has produced countless talents. Every year, outstanding athletes enter famous universities such as Tsinghua University, Peking University, and Huazhong University of Science and Technology. At the same time, the team has also sent a large number of outstanding players to the National Junior Team, the National Youth Team, and the National Team.
If the “dominant” Yali women’s basketball team is the fruit of years of cultivation, then the emerging team – Changsha No. 6 Middle School men’s basketball team – that has emerged in the last two years among the traditional strong schools such as Geology, Mingde, Lushan International, and Changsha No. 1 Middle School is an inspirational story of the “grassroots counterattack” of Hunan campus basketball.
“In the beginning, we could only source students from the leaks. The players’ level might not be able to get into many traditional strong schools, but they truly loved basketball and wanted to play basketball.” Bai Lin, 36 years old this year, made a decision that surprised those around him in the second half of 2020 – he left his coaching position at Changsha No. 6 Middle School, one of the “four famous schools”, and chose to come to Changsha No. 6 Middle School to start from scratch.
From not winning a single game in Changsha in the first year of the team’s establishment, to finishing sixth in the second year, and then to winning the city championship and the provincial championship in the third year… In Bai Lin’s eyes, this group of teenagers he brought up are very much like the Xiangbei players in “Slam Dunk” who are full of passion and eager to prove themselves.
Four years later, the team has grown from 12 players at the beginning to more than 20 high school players and nearly 50 middle school players. As the team has continued to achieve good results in major competitions in recent years, the Changsha No. 6 Middle School men’s basketball team has also attracted the attention of major universities. “This group of high school players is pretty good, and they have received training notices from Zhejiang University, Xiamen University, Shanghai Jiaotong University and other famous universities.”
Hot and Spicy
“Three major balls” help young people realize their dreams
In August last year, the Youth Department of the General Administration of Sport of China issued a notice on the publicizing of the list of “National High-level Sports Reserve Talent Bases (2021-2024)”, and 44 units from Hunan were on the list. It is worth mentioning that these 44 units cover three types: sports schools, ordinary middle schools, and clubs.
The development of the “three major ball sports” is a professional project involving multiple systems such as management, talent, training, competition and support. In recent years, Hunan Province has attached great importance to the development of the “three major ball sports” and issued documents such as the “14th Five-Year Plan for Sports Development in Hunan Province” and the newly revised “Regulations on the Training of Sports Reserve Talents in Hunan Province”.
At present, Hunan Province has established 2,019 national football specialty schools, 300 national basketball specialty schools and 50 national volleyball specialty schools.
Behind these figures is the fact that Hunan Province has long been promoting and attaching importance to youth sports. It is these efforts that have cultivated batches of high-level athletes. These athletes and their high-level sports teams have become a powerful driving force for promoting the wider development of the “three major ball sports” among young people.
Changsha Lushan International Experimental School is one of the first national schools with campus football characteristics. Since its establishment in 2003, the school football team has won more than 80 national, provincial and municipal championships, leading Hunan campus football to the top of the country. In the men’s final of the 2024 International School Sports Federation Football World Cup in late May this year, the Chinese team won the championship with a total score of 7 to 5. Two players in the team were from Lushan International, Mao Peng and Song Junkang.
Mao Peng said, “Be a good person, read good books, play good football” is the nine-word mantra given to them by the coach, and it is also the guiding light on their road to growth. The road to pursuing dreams is destined to be full of thorns. Mao Peng and Song Junkang, who have 10 years of football experience, have never thought of giving up. “We love football. It is not just a sport, but an indispensable part of life. It gives passion, challenges and growth, and adds countless brilliance to our ordinary life.”
Recently, Mao Peng and his teammates have a new identity, as members of the Hunan men’s football team preparing for the first three major ball games.
As the host of the first three major ball games, the Hunan team started early in the survey and preparation training. It will form men’s and women’s football teams with Lushan International and Provincial Sports School, men’s and women’s basketball teams with Geological Middle School and Yali Middle School, and men’s and women’s volleyball teams with Hunan Normal University to compete in this event.
It is understood that the first three major ball games are aimed at young athletes under the age of 18, including professional, occupational, student and other types of athletes. This is a big challenge for the Hunan team, which has “student army” as its main force.
“We have met professional teams before and have beaten them, which proves that we have no problem with our strength.” Mao Peng’s answer was sonorous and powerful, and it also expressed the hot dreams and confidence of the young people in Hunan’s “three major balls”!
(First trial: Xia Bo; Second trial: Liu Le; Third trial: Shi Wei)