Over a thousand kilometers, I rushed back to Xiaoshan, Hangzhou from Xiangyang, Hubei for a basketball tournament in the town | Basketball | Xiangyang, Hubei
At the end of May this year, I was invited to attend a seminar in Linping, Hangzhou. The person in the same room as me is a person from Xiangyang, Hubei, in his forties, with the surname Ding. When he found out that I was from Xiaoshan, he was very excited and asked me, does Xiaoshan have a tower? I nodded immediately. He said, this must be a very distinctive town, right? I said, there are some unique features, mainly a fine tune, a type of folk music. Xiao Ding said, "I haven't heard of it in detail. What I know is the basketball there.". Basketball? I said lightly, yes, the tower people prefer playing basketball. Xiao Ding immediately corrected that he didn't quite like it, but rather liked it very, very much, to an unparalleled extent.
I opened my eyes wide and immediately asked, "You are from Hubei, how do you know better than me?"? Do you have relatives and friends in the tower, or have you been to the tower before?
Xiao Ding shook his head, not even. There is a tower worker in our unit who wrote a leave request in the second half of last year, requesting a one week personal leave to go back and play basketball. When I heard this, I was surprised. Some people take leave after getting married and having children, some have sick or injured family members, some have built houses and buildings, and some even take leave while playing basketball? I wonder, is he a key player of the Hangzhou basketball team in Zhejiang Province? I haven't heard of it before. I asked him, where are you going to play basketball? I'm worried in my heart: I don't see you training on a regular basis, can I just cram for it temporarily? He hummed for a while and then said, "I'm going to the town to participate in various village basketball leagues.". Town? What town? Is it our own tower town? I lifted my head and carefully examined him. His expression was calm, his demeanor calm, and he didn't look like he was joking. For a basketball game in the town, it took over a thousand kilometers from Xiangyang, Hubei to Xiaoshan, Hangzhou. This cost is really too luxurious. I advised him to give up, even if he wins the championship. But he insisted on taking leave. He said that the annual basketball tournament is a tradition in the town, and he is the main player in the village, otherwise he would not have the face to see the villagers in the future.
Xiaoding said, upon hearing this, the question I shouldn't have asked finally came out. If I win the championship, will there be a generous prize? He interjected, "No, our town is not yet very wealthy.". So why don't you add up the back and forth expenses, leave pay, and year-end attendance bonus, how many thousand do you add up to? He told me seriously that we tower people usually don't do this in front of basketball.
After listening to Xiao Ding's narration, I feel a bit embarrassed. As an authentic person from Xiaoshan, I only know that Tower People love playing basketball, but I am not sure how passionate they are. After returning to Xiaoshan, I specifically set aside a few days to visit the Tower, visited several Tower friends, and researched historical materials related to the Tower. I suddenly realized that my understanding of towers was quite superficial.
In the 1950s and 1960s, basketball was introduced to Lou Ta. At that time, it was mainly used in fields such as grain drying and firewood stacking, and villagers played with it every opportunity they saw. Later on, with more people playing, there was an atmosphere, and later on, enthusiasm became increasingly high and widespread. Now, it is gradually moving towards standardization. According to recent statistics, in Louta Town, where the registered residence population is less than 30000, there are 43 standard basketball courts alone, including 32 light courts and 12 administrative villages, all of which have standard light courts. Have so many basketball courts satisfied the football addiction of the villagers? No, many villagers have invested their own money and built basketball courts in their own yards, with hard ground and a basket. The purpose is to fight whenever you want.
There is a Lou Ta Tu Restaurant diagonally opposite my residential area, and the owner is Lou Ta Ren. One day, I went over specifically for dinner. When eating, ask him: I heard that many people in your tower have basketball courts in their homes. Boss, do you have any at home? He almost without hesitation: Yes! To the east of the house, there is a shelf with baskets installed on top and a concrete floor of over thirty square meters below. I asked again, do people usually fight? Yes! The boss said that my son is in fourth grade of elementary school this year and he plays whenever he has free time. I also play during holidays. I am 39 years old and I want to tell you that I have been playing for at least 30 years.
The boss suddenly asked me, "Brazil's football, Tower's basketball." Have you ever heard of this sentence? I said, I saw it, it was written on the wall behind the central ancestral hall in your town. The boss said that this slogan was shouted by the villagers themselves in our village. That day, during the competition, the banner we displayed also had this sentence written on it. Later on, everyone thought this statement was good and shouted louder and louder, becoming the slogan of the entire tower.
The basketball game at the Tower is diverse. Some villagers will arrange a basketball invitational game during the self built house installation ceremony to make everyone happy; When some young people get married, they also organize guests to play a game of football, which is lively and lively; Some villagers also plan a competition to celebrate their birthdays or birthday wishes, to show everyone happiness; As for the most unique and important half year festival in the local area, which is comparable to the Spring Festival, the villagers also take advantage of the opportunity for everyone to gather together and play a few games. Of course, at the Tower, the most grand event is the annual village league, or in fashionable terms, the village BA. The time of the league is usually arranged in late summer and early autumn. Each of the twelve villages in the town organizes a team, and then competes one by one to finally determine the champion, runner up, and third place. This competition is not only a national sports meet, but also a national carnival. The league will last for several days, and this is the busiest time for the entire tower. This year, the basketball craze in Tower Tower has reached a new peak. Why? The Asian Games are about to start, and the main venue is Xiaoshan. The tower people really hope to take this opportunity to showcase their skills.
At the tower, precisely because everyone loves playing basketball and understands it, it is quite difficult to be a referee. If one is not careful, they will be pointed out. It is said that one Spring Festival, the two major surnames of the tower, the Lou and Zhang clans, held a New Year basketball friendly match. For the sake of fairness, they invited a person who is not from the building or chapter to serve as a referee. This referee is an undergraduate student from the Department of Physical Education at Zhejiang Normal University who has been a physical education teacher at a nearby high school for many years. At halftime during the game, someone pulled the corner of the referee's shirt and said, "You made a mistake.". The referee turned his head and saw a grandmother in her seventies with mostly white hair. He thought to himself, "What do you know?"? Ignoring it, to her surprise, the grandmother persisted and took out a video she had taken with her phone, insisting that he correct it. The referee took a closer look at the video and found that a player did indeed make a dribbling collision. The referee scratched his scalp, which was quite embarrassing.
Don't say, basketball really plays a big role. It attracts men, women, and people of all ages in the village from mahjong tables and online gaming tables to the intense sports field. Basketball, which is neither big nor small, not only greatly enriches the leisure life of tower people, but also greatly inspires their spiritual outlook. Now, Lou Ta has become a famous basketball town far and wide. At this point, can I say that I have a deep understanding of the tower? No, I suddenly realized that understanding an ancient village, town, or city with a rich heritage cannot be achieved overnight or in ten days and a half months. It must be experienced and understood slowly over a long period of time, and must be truly heartfelt.
