"The 'crown' every year, just like the festival for us basketball lovers. No, a few of us have already started to make plans for next year's competition!" a member of the Xunxing team told reporters with a smile. In the 2023 "Industrial Bank Cup" Shanghai City Amateur League, the 3rd "Double Happiness" Shanghai Basketball Champions League (hereinafter referred to as the "Champion League") elite group competition of the Basketball Futsal League, which ended a few days ago, this team won the championship.
As the player said, in recent years, the hottest topic in Shanghai's amateur basketball scene is the "Champions League". With its relaxed and pleasant competition atmosphere, low threshold and high-standard competition characteristics, the "Shangguan League" has promoted friendly exchanges among Shanghai mass basketball enthusiasts, deeply explored the profound heritage of Shanghai's mass basketball, fully demonstrated Shanghai's urban vitality, and injected new impetus into Shanghai's construction of a world-famous sports city.
The popularity and reputation of the "Champion League" are not innate. It is through step by step, step by step, and continuous innovation and progress for three years that he has achieved the leap of "deeply rooted in the hearts of the people".
In June 2020, Gong Deqing, the newly appointed president of the Shanghai Basketball Association, put forward three main tasks for the future implementation of the Basketball Association, and the Shanghai Basketball Champions League was among them. The following year, in anticipation, this brand new event met with basketball lovers in Shanghai.
In fact, the "Shanghai Champions League", hosted by the Shanghai Municipal Sports Bureau and undertaken by the Shanghai Basketball Association, received guidance from the Shanghai Municipal Sports Bureau and the Shanghai Sports Federation during the preparatory stage, and received support from the sports bureaus and basketball associations of various districts. With the recognition and support of all parties, the "Shangguan League" is based on the "basketball five-on-five project" of the city amateur league, and has gained a sufficient space for growth from the beginning.
The first event relied on the "organizational structure of the urban two-level basketball association" of the Municipal Basketball Association, set up sub-divisions in all 16 districts, and selected the champion teams of each sub-division through actual combat, advanced to the semi-final stage, and competed for the championship of the open group of the "Champion League". At the same time, the "Champion League" also sets up "elite group" competitions for retired athletes, full-time amateur basketball players and other professionals, and sets up invitation-only events such as "women's group" and "senior group".
In the second "Shanghai Championship League" in 2022, the Shanghai Basketball Association will further strengthen the concept of no threshold for all people to participate in the first competition, and newly set up a 16-district 3x3 basketball audition, and the top 2 teams in each district can advance to the top 32 of the audition and jointly compete for the three-person championship of the "Shangguan League". The Shanghai Basketball Association has joined hands with the city amateur league platform to jointly create the highest level of non-governmental basketball in Shanghai and promote the development of urban basketball.
In addition, the event also introduced the concept of blockchain for the first time, and comprehensively upgraded and launched a digital participation certificate. This is a digital credential that is fully owned by the participant. Athletes only need to register a "digital wallet" for themselves, and they can get "fan identity", "participation package", "completion certificate", "ranking reward", etc. according to the process of participating in the competition, and also have the opportunity to randomly get a sponsor "blind box". On top of that, the NFT digital certificate innovatively launched by the event is entirely owned by the individual athletes. In the technical environment of WEB3, athletes can accumulate achievements (such as competition results, technical statistics, etc.) obtained in different competitions, and their unique event career files will be displayed in their own personal digital wallets, and there is no need to go to different platforms to view their experience and honors.
In order to allow more basketball enthusiasts to have the opportunity to participate in the event, the organizing committee has also increased the number of team members from 4 to 6. In the audition stage, the team can freely match the 4-person lineup in each single game, so that every citizen player can fully enjoy the game.
In order to ensure that people of all ages in the city can participate, a variety of basketball formats are brought together, including traditional five-a-side basketball, flexible three-a-side basketball, and the first introduction of children's basketball; The women's and mixed divisions provide a more diverse game experience, so that every participant can feel the unique charm of basketball.
This arrangement not only ensures the professionalism of the competition, but also takes into account the entertainment of the participants, so that the league has successfully attracted nearly 200 teams and more than 2,800 people to participate in the five-a-side event, nearly 360 teams and more than 2,700 people to participate in the three-a-side event, and nearly 330 teams and more than 2,700 people to participate in the children's event. Shanghai citizens' love and pursuit of basketball have been fully stimulated.
It can be said that behind the concept of "basketball, make life happier", there is a service-oriented and people-oriented purpose, which constantly leads the event to a more detailed, fairer, more humane and more attractive direction.
In Shanghai, basketball-related activities and tournaments are held almost every week in all corners of the city, and the strong basketball atmosphere can be seen. On weekends, basketball venues of all sizes are rarely full. During the city's amateur leagues that span months, basketball always manages to be the liveliest part of the many sports. The "Champion League" will become a shining "pearl" in many basketball events every year, which is not only due to the characteristics of basketball being down-to-earth and gathering popularity, but also because of the ingenuity of the organizers. It can be said that the "Shangguan League" has integrated excellent basketball resources into a whole, fully meeting the "basketball needs" of the people.
Editor-in-chief: Chen Hua
Source: Author: Yao Qinyi