Stepping Up the Fun: How Young People are Revolutionizing Square Dance with Sports and Socializing
Young man playing pickleball.
In recent years, niche sports, from Frisbee, hiking to cycling, have taken turns to set off new trends in popularity. They pursue personalized and fragmented sports methods to adapt to the busy pace of work and life. Just as “square dance”, which is suitable for all ages and has social attributes, is popular among the people, these niche sports methods are becoming the “square dance” of this generation of young people.
Young people obsessed with emerging sports have diversified fitness methods
The racket was waving, and the plastic ball drew arcs in the air. Young figures shuttled back and forth in front of the net, serving and catching the ball. Every hit was accompanied by cheers…
Recently, pickleball has been particularly popular at the “Youth Night School ‘Zhejiang Youth·Love Sports’ Special” series of activities organized by the Jiangbei Youth League Committee.
This “out of the circle” niche ball game originated in the 1960s. It is a typical hand-held racket sport. The biggest feature of pickleball is that it is easy to learn and has a low threshold.
Pickleball effectively combines the characteristics of tennis, badminton, table tennis and other sports. The ball can not only land on the ground, but also be hit in the air. It has great changes in rhythm, many technical tricks, and is highly interesting.
“The first time I played pickleball, it felt a bit like playing tennis on a badminton court with a large table tennis racket. I felt that this sport was easier to get started with.” said Xiao Ma, a student at Ningbo University who had just come into contact with pickleball. Sports are particularly friendly to “sports newbies”. “I feel this can not only ensure that participants have a happy sports experience, but also improve their sports abilities.”
Light equipment, emphasis on experience, high social interaction, low threshold.
In recent years, the sports scene for young people has quietly changed, and more and more niche sports with diversified attributes like pickleball have entered the public eye.
Frisbee was the first to “knock” on the door of the market. Frisbee has various ways of playing, and it also incorporates the characteristics of various sports——
You can’t “walk” like basketball, you run and chase like football, and you hit the scoring area to score points like rugby.
In a team Frisbee contest, the players must cooperate closely to complete running and passing movements, which not only exercises individual comprehensive sports quality, but also tests the team’s cooperation ability.
Ms. Wen has been playing Frisbee for more than a year and plays with her friends every week whenever she is free. In her opinion, Frisbee is the “square dance” of young people.
She said: “I am not very fond of sports, and my sports scores were very poor when I was in school, but Frisbee gave me the feeling that there is no high threshold for playing Frisbee. Complete a basic operation, low confrontation but high fun, so we all like it. ”
At the same time, young people’s fitness methods are no longer limited to space.
Wear VR glasses and ride the skis from a first-person perspective, accompanied by fantastic cold wind and sound effects, and experience the joy of flying over the mountains; sit on the rowing machine and watch the sea, lake, and river scenes simulated by virtual simulation technology in front of you, and experience smooth paddling The fun of big rivers… In recent years, virtual sports are in the ascendant in China. The content of traditional sports is presented in the form of virtual human-computer interaction and high-tech means such as artificial intelligence, breaking the restrictions of time, venue and environment.
Sports and social interaction
Young people also have their own “square dance”
Participants enjoy the happiness brought by sports in different communities. In their opinion, just like “square dancing” which is suitable for all ages and has social attributes, participating in these sports brings emotional and social value to everyone. Already above its sporting value.
“I came to Ningbo from Haikou to work. After get off work, I basically just lay at home ordering takeout and checking my phone. Once I saw a skateboard class on a social platform and signed up. Unexpectedly, I made a group of good friends.” Ms. Yao, 26, is a teacher at an English training institution. She has always thought skateboarding was cool, so she mustered up the courage to sign up for a skateboarding class and would practice one or two days a week.
“The sport of skateboarding requires learning from the basic steps of grabbing the board, getting on the board, and turning. You don’t need to practice in a professional skateboarding venue at the beginning, as long as it is an open space. Once you have a certain foundation, you can practice cool moves “In the past two or three years of skateboarding, in addition to experiencing the “burning and cool” relaxing experience brought by this street sport, more importantly, Ms. Yao has also made many “board friends”.
“We have a WeChat group where we agree on places to skateboard in advance, and those who are free can go there on their own. Every time after skateboarding, we will find a place to have supper together,” Ms. Yao said.
Similar to Ms. Yao, Xiao Shi, who graduated from graduate school this year, participated in the sport because of the “strong social” attribute of Frisbee.
“For office workers who work on the front line at two o’clock every day, you can meet many new friends by playing Frisbee, and it is less likely to cause physical collisions, and it is also conducive to the development of good friendships.” Xiao Shi said that Frisbee can also Linked to “trendy play”, “When I play Frisbee, I like to share my Frisbee outfits. The surface of the Frisbee can be printed with various patterns and then shared with everyone on social platforms.”
Source: Ningbo Evening News Author: Reporter Zhu Lin Yuan Xianming Editor: Zhong Yiming