Sport Street
The street next to our office is nicknamed ‘Sport Street’, a name derived from the prevalence of shops selling sporting clothes and paraphernalia.
Just about any sporty-type thing you can possibly imagine is available in Sport Street, from tracksuits to table tennis bats, sneakers to shuttlecocks, treadmills to trophies, footballs to floaties, bathers to backpacks, racquets to rollerblades, punching bags, weights, beach ballswhere is the beach and everything in between. I have shown immense self control in preventing myself from purchasing some fetching 80s-style lycra gym outfits and floral-print bathers with skirt!
At the end of the street there is a sporting precinct with tennis courts, astroturfed mini soccer fields, and outdoor table tennis tables. These tables use a line of wire or piece of plywood in place of a net – more durable and less likely to be stolen I suppose. People play badminton on the concrete and do tai chi in the mornings. Old age pensioners are regularly seen in matching tracksuits with mallets slung over their shoulders, on the way to the croquet ground/field/pitch (?) for a game/match/set (?)does anybody know anything about croquet
The oldies also seem to enjoy the ubiquitous outdoor gym equipment. This stuff is seen in every residential area and is a bit like play equipment for grown ups. In fact it is play equipment for grown ups – they love the swings! It looks to me like an accident waiting to happen but the oldies seem to enjoy themselves and I suppose it keeps them active and is a good excuse to get out for a bit of a chinwag.
The sporting precinct is also home to two large stadiums, one indoor and one outdoor. The outdoor stadium probably seats about 30 000 and has a rubber running track, grassy field and sand jumping-pits. Aside from school kids doing some athletics training the stadium is nearly always empty although perhaps it is used for weekend events.
The indoor stadium seems much busier. Buses are often seen lined up out the front, dropping of teams of young people. From their height and matching tracksuits I assume they are basketball teams, probably from local colleges and universities. Sometimes they’re seen doing warm ups on the 200m undercover running track adjacent to the outdoor stadium. Today a series of brand-new OB vans are set up outside the front of the stadium as apparently there is a big international martial arts competition being staged tonight. There is also a portable mobile phone tower set up so they must be expecting quite a crowd.
The outdoor basketball courts are by far the most popular of the sporting facilities. Unless it is a wet day the courts are full around the clock. In the mornings there are usually just a few young guys having a casual shoot around, although in recent weeks they have been joined by some older men – perhaps because of the Spring Festival holidays. It’s fun to watch the older men challenge the young guys – although they’re a step slower and can’t jump as high they all look like they’re having a great time.
In the afternoons and evening the teams playing look a little bit more structured, often wearing swish uniforms. It is always young men – I’ve only twice ever seen women playing. The first time was a lone woman in her forties or so having a shoot around one morning and the second was yesterday when a very swish looking team of tall young women were doing a proper warm up. They must have been about to play in the stadium because their warmup was pretty swift and they looked as though they knew what they were doing.
Basketball is massive in China and perhaps the most famous Chinese export at the moment is Yao Ming, the 7foot 6 centre for the Houston Rockets. Women’s basketball also has a high profile with the national league getting prime-time live coverage on CCTV 5, the national sports broadcaster. Which reminds me, the Chinese women’s volleyball team – reigning Olympic champions – can be seen plastered on the side of buses all over town endorsing a particular brand of toilet paper. Far preferable to Lleyton Hewitt if you ask me.
Just about any sporty-type thing you can possibly imagine is available in Sport Street, from tracksuits to table tennis bats, sneakers to shuttlecocks, treadmills to trophies, footballs to floaties, bathers to backpacks, racquets to rollerblades, punching bags, weights, beach balls
At the end of the street there is a sporting precinct with tennis courts, astroturfed mini soccer fields, and outdoor table tennis tables. These tables use a line of wire or piece of plywood in place of a net – more durable and less likely to be stolen I suppose. People play badminton on the concrete and do tai chi in the mornings. Old age pensioners are regularly seen in matching tracksuits with mallets slung over their shoulders, on the way to the croquet ground/field/pitch (?) for a game/match/set (?)
The oldies also seem to enjoy the ubiquitous outdoor gym equipment. This stuff is seen in every residential area and is a bit like play equipment for grown ups. In fact it is play equipment for grown ups – they love the swings! It looks to me like an accident waiting to happen but the oldies seem to enjoy themselves and I suppose it keeps them active and is a good excuse to get out for a bit of a chinwag.
The sporting precinct is also home to two large stadiums, one indoor and one outdoor. The outdoor stadium probably seats about 30 000 and has a rubber running track, grassy field and sand jumping-pits. Aside from school kids doing some athletics training the stadium is nearly always empty although perhaps it is used for weekend events.
The indoor stadium seems much busier. Buses are often seen lined up out the front, dropping of teams of young people. From their height and matching tracksuits I assume they are basketball teams, probably from local colleges and universities. Sometimes they’re seen doing warm ups on the 200m undercover running track adjacent to the outdoor stadium. Today a series of brand-new OB vans are set up outside the front of the stadium as apparently there is a big international martial arts competition being staged tonight. There is also a portable mobile phone tower set up so they must be expecting quite a crowd.
The outdoor basketball courts are by far the most popular of the sporting facilities. Unless it is a wet day the courts are full around the clock. In the mornings there are usually just a few young guys having a casual shoot around, although in recent weeks they have been joined by some older men – perhaps because of the Spring Festival holidays. It’s fun to watch the older men challenge the young guys – although they’re a step slower and can’t jump as high they all look like they’re having a great time.
In the afternoons and evening the teams playing look a little bit more structured, often wearing swish uniforms. It is always young men – I’ve only twice ever seen women playing. The first time was a lone woman in her forties or so having a shoot around one morning and the second was yesterday when a very swish looking team of tall young women were doing a proper warm up. They must have been about to play in the stadium because their warmup was pretty swift and they looked as though they knew what they were doing.
Basketball is massive in China and perhaps the most famous Chinese export at the moment is Yao Ming, the 7foot 6 centre for the Houston Rockets. Women’s basketball also has a high profile with the national league getting prime-time live coverage on CCTV 5, the national sports broadcaster. Which reminds me, the Chinese women’s volleyball team – reigning Olympic champions – can be seen plastered on the side of buses all over town endorsing a particular brand of toilet paper. Far preferable to Lleyton Hewitt if you ask me.
posted by bvc @ 1:26 PM
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