A sign of going global! What Butler brought to the village BA
In the past year, the village BA has broken down layer after layer of dimensional walls, attracting groups of people to admire it. In one year, this carnival belonging to Chinese rural basketball not only did not subside, but embarked on a new journey from out of the circle to breaking the circle.
In the story of the NBA star's trip to China, no one ever put the event in the village until a year after the village BA came out of the circle.
On the evening of July 21, NBA Heat star Jimmy Butler appeared in Taipan Village, the birthplace of the village BA, becoming the first NBA star to come to the village BA scene.
"A year ago we were just doing a village game, and we didn't expect so many changes a year later, and we didn't expect NBA stars to come." Village chief Cen Jianglong sighed to the surging news reporter.
Butler was the first NBA superstar to come to the Village BA.
Today, Taipan Village has the familiar name of Village BA, and the original village competition has developed into a provincial competition, and the provincial competition has evolved into a national competition, until NBA stars also come to check in, and the village BA and the NBA achieve a dream linkage.
In the past year, the village BA has broken down layer after layer of dimensional walls, attracting groups of people to admire it. In one year, this carnival belonging to Chinese rural basketball not only did not subside, but embarked on a new journey from out of the circle to breaking the circle.
Butler's arrival sparked a craze in the village BA.
"Unbelievable"
Butler, who was standing at the village BA Stadium, listened to the tens of thousands of people on the sidelines shouting his name, he patted the shoulders of the people around him and said: "This scene is so shocking, thank you for bringing me here." ”
One fan described the shock of the village BA with "numb scalp": "The moment Butler walked into the stadium, tens of thousands of people in the audience were shouting, and goosebumps rose immediately. ”
In the cheers of tens of thousands of people, Butler put on Miao silver jewelry, showed off three points and dunks, and even learned the Miao dialect of "Hello to fathers and fellow countrymen", but the most sincere expression was his answer.
When the host asked Butler how he felt about the trip to the village, he repeated "incredible" several times in his answer.
Previously, Butler experienced four stops of China tours, and he had seen a lot of crowded scenes, but he felt the atmosphere of the village BA on the spot, and Butler was still a little moved.
After receiving the Miao embroidery prepared for him by the village chief Cen Jianglong, the staff wanted to help him keep it, but Butler insisted on holding it in his hand; After the trip, Butler specifically instructed the staff to give him some pictures and video materials, "I want to post my social media." ”
The relevant person in charge of Butler's China trip Li Ning told The Paper: "Butler was particularly interested when he got off the plane and saw Miao costumes, and he told me that he liked this local culture of China very much and wanted to understand the most primitive life in China, so he came here, and the village BA brought him a great shock." ”
Butler performs a live dunk.
"Unbelievable" became Butler's first impression of the village BA, and this emotion not only appeared in Butler's feelings, but also flashed in the emotion of Cen Jianglong, the head of Taipan Village, "A year ago, we just did a village-level game, and we didn't expect so many changes a year later, let alone that NBA stars would come." ”
A year ago, Cen Jianglong was still working in Guangzhou, and in order to hold the village BA competition, he would rather resign than rush back - "return to Guangzhou to work after the competition" was Cen Jianglong's plan in an interview with The Paper at that time.
A year later, the plan failed to materialize, Cen Jianglong stayed in the village and opened a restaurant near the stadium with his wife, and also became the "net celebrity village chief" of Taipan Village, devoting himself to the development of the village BA.
If Butler's "unbelievable" is his surprise at the enthusiasm of the fans and the basketball culture in China's countryside, then Cen Jianglong's "unbelievable" is an exclamation of his own encounters this year.
The gears of fate have quietly turned over the past year, allowing the lines of time and space that the two would not have intersected to overlap.
Village BA themed restaurant.
Butler effect
A year ago, Taipan Village became popular on the Internet because of the "June 6" New Festival basketball game, and the same game was held again after a year, and this village hidden next to the G320 national highway has undergone a lot of changes.
Today, at the entrance of Taipan Village, a large sign "Welcome to the Hometown of China Village BA" has been erected; The only main road in the village, merchants on both sides have put up various welcome signs; On the other side of the village entrance, Taipan built a new parking lot of 1,000 square meters, a mobile booth renovation of 2,500 square meters, and a style improvement wall of 40,000 square meters.
The bigger change comes from the stadium in Taipan Village, the originally empty stadium has added guardrails and turnstiles, the media interview reception room, guest rest room, athlete changing rest room have been built on the side of the stadium, public toilets have been renovated, and the side stands have been covered from the original 6 floors to more than 20 floors, behind which is the newly opened village BA offline experience store and village BA theme restaurant.
According to official data, during the Guizhou Village BA Finals in early 2023, the cumulative sales of basketball cultural and creative peripherals in Taipan Village exceeded 200,000 yuan, and the sales of agricultural special products exceeded 2 million yuan, of which 15% of the profit was a dividend shared by the whole village.
The streets are full of village BA slogans.
With the village BA out of the circle, many local young people returned to Taipan Village because of basketball, and 25-year-old Liu Shicheng was one of them.
He used 1,500 yuan per month to buy the village BA theme restaurant, but during the competition, he did not open the theme restaurant business, but volunteered to participate in the security work of the village BA.
As a young man from the Taipan Village Basketball Association, he focused most of his energy on how to make the village BA better, "I can usually eat enough, the village BA is a family affair, and we can also be regarded as doing things for our own family." ”
In addition, there is a volunteer service booth at the entrance of the village BA, which displays the competition schedule, nearby hotel accommodations, Taijiang travel guides, etc. Two college students looked like girls said that they were from the village, and although their parents were still working in other places, they came back specially from vacation to help the village BA do some publicity and promotion.
The enthusiasm of the fans for the venue did not cool down, and Butler's arrival ignited the enthusiasm of the crowd.
Qin Can, a young man from Zunyi, rushed to the village BA stadium at 8 o'clock in the morning, just to occupy a position in advance. But even so, Qin Can still underestimated the popularity of the village BA.
"When I got to the pitch, the lower middle was already full." Qin Can pointed to the seat in the middle of the court, which was already crowded.
Buses from Taijiang County to Taipan Village were supposed to run every half hour, but they run every 15 minutes from 8 a.m. on the day of the race, and even then, many people have to wait for several buses to get on the bus.
And some people because they couldn't find accommodation, they planned to occupy a seat on the court all night, and Cen Jianglong had to rush to the court at night to persuade them to rest and help them coordinate the arrangement of homestays - all as Qin Can said: "After all, this is the closest we have come to an NBA star." ”
The scene was crowded.
Love and inheritance
NBA superstars came to the village BA arena, such a fantastic linkage, directly rushed to the top of the major hot search lists.
In recent years, most NBA stars' China trips have been arranged in first- and second-tier cities, and this year's players who carried out China trips have all been placed in provincial capitals, except Butler, who has put a stop on his China trip in the village BA.
When it comes to the reason for the itinerary, the relevant person in charge of Li Ning Butler's China trip said the most word "pure".
"The most unique thing about the village BA is the extreme purity and love of basketball among the locals, and Butler is also the ultimate purity and love for basketball, so we felt that bringing him here was a very fitting idea." The relevant person in charge of Li Ning told the surging news reporter.
"The other is the Chinese rural basketball culture presented by the village BA, which NBA players have never touched or seen. And Butler also particularly likes to see some different cultures, so we brought him to experience the village BA. ”
At a basketball association meeting, the relevant person in charge of Li Ning told this idea to Zhu Baolin, secretary general of the Guizhou Provincial Basketball Association, and the other party immediately responded, "They attach great importance to it, and they also welcome such stars to go to the village BA." ”
In the entire BA tour of Butler Village, there were no advertising signs or commercial activities in the stadium, but Butler went to Taipan Township Central Primary School before appearing on the stadium, interacting with local students and donating equipment.
In addition, few people noticed that when Butler left Taipan Village for the next stop in Guangzhou, he invited some students from Taipan Village to participate in the TOP24 elite basketball training camp held in Guangzhou.
The relevant person in charge of Li Ning explained: "We hope to have a inheritance significance in this trip to Butler Village BA, not only Butler went to watch the village BA game, but he also wanted to take the children out of the mountains to experience more professional basketball training and games." ”
Butler instructs the children to play basketball.
From out of the circle to out of the circle
In Cen Jianglong's view, Butler's coming to the village BA has a different meaning, "The village BA from the village competition to the provincial competition and then to the national competition can be regarded as having gone to the whole country." Now Butler has come to Taipan Village, which is a symbol of the village's BA going global. We also hope to use Butler's influence to let more people in the world know about the village BA. ”
One fan lamented: "After Butler came, I felt that this place instantly changed from a col to a very high-class place. ”
In fact, before Butler went to the village BA, many cultural and sports stars had come to the village BA site.
A week ago, Su Xing and Wang Lixin came here to record a variety show; Three days ago, Sabine had just become an "honorary villager" in Taipan Village, and was ridiculed by netizens as a "conspicuous bag" in the village.
After Butler came to the village BA, Du Feng, Marbury and other stars will also go to the table one after another to experience the basketball culture of the village BA.
From sports celebrities to entertainment stars, if the village BA a year ago successfully came out of the circle because of basketball, then today's Taipan Village hopes to embark on a journey to break the circle through the integration of resources.
The popularity of the village BA has not abated in the slightest.
A year ago, Cen Jianglong stated that there would never be commercialization, no tickets, and no parking fees in the village BA venue, and the restraint at that time allowed the village BA to maintain the purity of the competition venue in the past year, and there are no commercial elements in the venue so far.
Now, throwing a similar problem to Cen Jianglong again, although he said that "the pace is too fast to keep up", he seems to have more thinking: "Although we definitely do not commercialize in the stadium, you can try it off-field, after all, you have to have commercial support to go far." ”
The business in Cen Jianglong's mouth is not an endorsement, a sponsorship or a cooperation, but the social attention and tourism potential brought by popularity.
According to official data, the total number of tourists in Taijiang County between July 2022 and May 2023 was 6,331,200, a year-on-year increase of 38.79%; The comprehensive tourism revenue was 7.459 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 81.72%.
Today, the village BA is no longer a basketball game, but a broken circle into a tourist business card, the best proof is hidden in a detail - when the surging news reporter entered Qiandongnan Prefecture, he received a text message from the local cultural and tourism bureau on his mobile phone, which read:
"Welcome to 'Jinxiu Qiandong Southeast', the hometown of 'Village BA'."