Developing grassroots sports in Con Cuong

(Baonghean) - As a mountainous district with a poverty rate of over 30%, mobilizing the construction of cultural and sports facilities still faces many difficulties, but in recent years, the sports movement in Con Cuong has had many positive changes, becoming a bright spot in the sports movement of mountainous districts.

In Chau Khe commune, at the end of each afternoon, the matches on 18 volleyball courts in 10 villages of the commune take place enthusiastically, attracting a large number of people to participate in the competition and cheer. Mr. Lo Xuan Hoc - Vice Chairman of Chau Khe Commune People's Committee said: "In recent years, the commune has paid attention to supporting villages to build playgrounds and organize sports tournaments, thanks to which the mass sports movement in Chau Khe has developed quite well. In the villages, young people often organize small competitions, that is, groups compete with each other, the prize for the winning team is just a few bunches of wild vegetables, or a few ears of corn... but it has created quite exciting competitions, creating solidarity in the residential area".

Volleyball competition at the 2014 Mon Son Festival.

Mr. Nguyen Huy Chuong - Head of the Department of Culture - Information of Con Cuong district said: "In recent years, the district has implemented many synchronous solutions to stimulate the development of the sports movement in the area. As a mountainous district, the lives of ethnic minorities in the district are still difficult, the terrain is steep, the investment budget for building sports grounds is limited, so the district has mobilized the district's agencies and departments to take advantage of the empty spaces at the office for training and sports competitions; mobilized the people to level volleyball and football fields. Up to now, the whole district has 48 football fields, 120 volleyball courts, 20 badminton courts, 26 table tennis tables and 15 sports clubs. Besides, the district also pays attention to organizing sports tournaments to promote the development movement.

In addition to regularly participating in provincial tournaments, every year, in the early days of spring, volleyball tournaments between strong teams are organized, especially from 1992 to present, Con Cuong is the only mountainous district in the province to maintain and develop the annual ethnic cultural and sports festival with the participation of hundreds of athletes from communes, towns, agencies and units in the district. At this festival, the sports tournament is considered a "miniature district sports festival" with traditional competitions such as volleyball (men, women), stick pushing, crossbow shooting, throwing, tug of war, table tennis, badminton. Thanks to that, the mass sports movement in the district has had positive changes. In 2014, the total number of people regularly practicing sports was 17,280 people, reaching 24%. The number of families achieving the title of sports family was 3,2028, accounting for 18%.

It is worth noting that in addition to familiar sports such as football, volleyball, table tennis, in recent years, Con Cuong has paid much attention to ethnic sports. In fact, in recent years, in this mountainous district, there has been almost no place for sports that are quite popular in many other localities such as rattan ball, shuttlecock kicking, martial arts, chess, petanque, etc. These are sports that are not suitable for the conditions as well as the customs and production practices of the ethnic people here. Instead, ethnic sports such as crossbow shooting, stick pushing, shuttlecock throwing, tug of war or sports with a high collective nature such as volleyball, football, table tennis, etc. are quite developed.

Most villages have volleyball and football teams and groups that love traditional sports such as stick pushing, crossbow shooting, throwing, tug of war, which not only create strong bonds among the people and the community, but also contribute to improving achievements in provincial tournaments. In particular, since 2012, crossbow shooting has been included in extracurricular activities in some secondary schools in the district such as Don Phuc, Bong Khe, Binh Chuan, Chi Khe... Mr. Cao Xuan Tung - Head of the professional group - Con Cuong Cultural and Sports Center said: "Crossbow shooting is a unique sport of the Thai ethnic group in Con Cuong, so when it was included in the school, both male and female students were very interested, creating a quite exciting movement.

Many students have been passionate about training and have become good athletes, competing in district and provincial sports competitions. At the recent 7th Provincial Sports Festival, the Con Cuong district crossbow shooting team, although having many athletes who are junior high school students such as Ha Thi Thuong, Lo Thi Thuong, Lang Thi Huyen Dieu..., created an interesting surprise when it surpassed the Tuong Duong team - the unit with the number 1 "general" Lo Van Kien and "experienced" shooters such as Lo Thi Dinh, Lo Thi Trang, to take first place on the overall ranking with 5/8 gold medals. That achievement contributed to the district's ranking first among mountainous districts, and 10th out of 23 teams participating in the festival.

According to Mr. Vi Van Kim - Director of Con Cuong Culture - Information and Sports Center, to promote the development of the sports movement in the district, many officials of the district Culture - Information and Sports Center have been very active, enthusiastic, know how to mobilize, build and connect the core of the grassroots movement. Many times, the center's officials have used their own money to advance to organize the district's tournaments. Besides, the athletes of Con Cuong district, although not having much investment, their passion and efforts to overcome difficulties are always very strong. Although only operating in the form of amateur, that is, only when it is necessary to form a team to compete, the center focuses on training, however, through the competitions, the district's athletes have affirmed their high level of expertise, not only in ethnic sports. At the Provincial Sports Festival, in addition to 5 gold medals, 1 silver medal, 2 bronze medals in crossbow shooting, 1 silver medal, 1 bronze medal in tug of war, 1 bronze medal in stick pushing, Con Cuong district athletes also won 2 silver medals in karate and stick pushing. In addition, at the 2014 Provincial Family Sports Tournament, the district's athletes won 2 gold medals, 1 silver medal, 2 bronze medals in table tennis. At the 2014 Provincial Youth Table Tennis Tournament held in Yen Thanh district in November, Con Cuong team also excellently won 4 gold medals, 2 silver medals and 1 bronze medal.

Although the sports activities of Con Cuong district still have many limitations and cannot be compared with the localities in the plains, with what is available, this mountainous district can be completely confident in the goal of developing both mass sports and high-performance sports in the coming time. Hopefully, the local Party committees and authorities will pay more attention to the sports career of the district so that Con Cuong continues to be a bright spot for mountainous districts to learn from.

Article and photos:Minh Quan