The niche ＂tidal movement＂, blowout ＂fire out of the circle＂

Half-monthly talk reporter Liu Yangtao Ma Xiaoyuan Ji Jiadong

Frisbee, land surfing, ultra-jogging, peak ball, flag football … In recent years, a number of emerging sports have come out of the circle one after another, and the heat wave of minority sports has come one after another, and the sports industry has entered a new round of rapid development. However, after the initial blowout period, many projects gradually encountered cold and bottleneck period. From "tidal movement" to "regular movement", how can emerging projects further move towards mass and healthy development? How far is the new era of diversified and personalized sports industry from us?

"Tide Movement" shows multiple personalities.

Located in the square in front of the Shanxi Grand Theatre in Changfeng Business District, Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province, you can always see a group of skateboarders every weekend. Among them, there are not only young students in their twenties, but also middle-aged white-collar workers in their thirties and forties.

Zhang Lu, a 34-year-old state-owned enterprise employee, is one of them. "I started playing last year. At that time, my friend called me and said that it is popular to play land surfing now." He said, "I like the feeling of flying freely when sliding. It’s a way to release pressure."

There are many minority projects like land surfing. According to the Insight Report on the Consumption Trend of Trend Sports in 2023 released by the media in the new economic field, in the past three years, there have been more than 900,000 trend sports-related enterprises in nine categories, including rock climbing, diving, frisbee, land rushing and rugby. From the perspective of the participants, the post-90s generation is the main group, and the players are mainly between the ages of 18 and 40.

In Dongfeng International Sports Park, Chaoyang District, Beijing, frisbee fans have a frisbee competition. Xinhua News Agency reporter Ren Chaoshe

Shi Chunjian, the founder of Chunjian Running Club, is a "big V" with 1.2 million fans on social media. Super jogging is her main sport at present. "Ultra-jogging refers to running at an ultra-slow speed as slow as walking or even slower." She believes that "this kind of exercise can not only have the exercise effect of running, but also minimize the risk of excessive wear and injury, so it is welcomed by more and more runners, especially those aged 40 to 60."

Shi Chunjian told a reporter who talked for half a month that she began to explain the knowledge of super jogging on social media in 2020. I didn’t expect her course to be very popular. In the past two years, there have been more than 2,000 online and offline fee-paying students.

Bai Yufei, deputy dean of the School of Physical Education of Beijing Sport University, analyzed that from the research in the industry, generally, after a country’s per capita GDP exceeds 10,000 US dollars, the sports industry will usher in a big outbreak, and people’s acceptance of non-traditional sports activities will be greatly improved. Bai Yufei said: "In 2019, China’s per capita GDP exceeded US$ 10,000 for the first time and achieved steady growth. From this point of view, the popularity of sports such as frisbee, land surfing and peak ball is in line with the law of industrial development, and can be seen as the product of the gradual diversification and individualization of sports demand after the income level is improved and consumption is upgraded. "

Bottleneck period after blowout

"Frisbee, which exploded among young people in the summer of 2022, has declined in popularity this year. Last year, the newcomers could open seven or eight games a week, and now there are only one or two games a week. " Yang Guang (a pseudonym), the head of a frisbee club in Guangzhou, told reporters that many frisbee clubs are facing the problem of fewer students, and some even have to shut down.

According to the "Research Report on the Integrated Development of Cultural Tourism Camping Industry in China in 2022" issued by the cultural tourism market research and consulting agency "Power Consulting", the registered number of domestic camping-related enterprises increased by 144% and 122% in 2020 and 2021, respectively, while only 14% in the first ten months of 2022.

Similar to Frisbee and camping, many "tidal sports" have experienced the situation from popularity to cooling to varying degrees. How to maintain and expand the mass base after the initial "broken circle" is a common challenge they face.

In Yang Guang’s view, the "hot" and "cold" of the "tidal movement" are determined by its strong social attributes. "The rise of most tidal movements began with social media such as Weibo, Tik Tok and friends circle. Relevant content continued to be screened to attract young people to try, and then displayed and shared on the platform to form a trend." He said, "But as the focus of social media shifts, the popularity of these sports will naturally decrease."

Waving a large table tennis racket and playing plastic "tennis" on the badminton court, Peak ball is becoming the new favorite of urban sports enthusiasts. "In addition to the venue and coaches, we also provide professional photographers for the students to ensure that they can take the most fashionable and trendy photos." Lin Tao, the head of a Peak Ball Club in Shenzhen, believes that Peak Ball has the potential to develop into a new online celebrity sport. However, he is also worried: "Even if it becomes the next’ Frisbee’, we still need to think about where the future development path is."

Bai Yufei pointed out that the "barbaric growth" of emerging sports in the first round of "blowout period" is another influencing factor. "The rapid rise of an emerging industry is usually accompanied by the influx of many practitioners. Some practitioners with insufficient teachers, training experience and organizational skills will become the role of "showstopper", and even lead product sales, activity organization and competition development astray due to vicious competition. These will affect the reputation and sustainability of the’ Tide Movement’. "

Yang Zi, the head of Beijing Burning Ice Sports Development Co., Ltd., has been deeply involved in board sports for more than ten years. He believes that when the minority movement has a certain number of participants and market volume, it will often face the bottleneck of increasing costs and product homogenization. "With the development of society and the improvement of user demand, the cost of venues and manpower is increasing, which requires us to continuously increase data, develop formats, find new profit points, and upgrade products and services." He said: "This in itself is a process of survival of the fittest."

Promote the healthy development of emerging sports.

To make "tidal sports" become "regular sports", Bai Yufei suggested that relevant departments should strengthen the supervision of sports training institutions and clubs. Strictly review and check the key information such as the entry threshold, business scope and coach qualification of practitioners, and punish and focus on supervision of institutions with poor reputation and many complaints. At the same time, we should do a good job in support and guidance, and make full use of inclusive small and micro loans, financial subsidies, tax relief and other ways to support relevant institutions.

Cheng Minduo, a teacher in the School of Physical Education of Shanxi University, believes that we should give full play to the role of trade associations, speed up the formulation of perfect industry standards and sports rules, establish an institutional access mechanism and credit evaluation system, strengthen the management optimization within the industry, and form a benign development ecology.

At the same time, we should focus on some emerging sports with a certain mass base, speed up the creation of various sports activities, events and leagues at all levels, and provide a platform and soil for the development and growth of these sports.

Li Gao, a player in the "Happy May Day" gyro team competition held in Dahua Yao Autonomous County, Hechi City, Guangxi Province. Xinhua News Agency reporter Huang Xiaobang photo

Yang Zi said that for practitioners, on the one hand, it is necessary to practice hard, do a good job in the systematic construction of coach recruitment and training, the professional construction of training courses, and the modular construction of event organizations, and strive to build independent product lines and their own brands; On the other hand, we should make good use of external forces to "break the circle", actively strengthen contacts with industry associations, and enhance cooperation and interaction with platforms such as universities, primary and secondary schools and the media.

Source: Xinhua News Agency