Free basketball training camp enriches summer for Ningxia teens

YINCHUAN -- This summer holiday, 9-year-old Hou Tianrun gets up at 7 am everyday for an appointment with a basketball.

Hou is taking part in a free five-day basketball training at a summer camp organized by the Ningxia Sports Lottery Administration Center in China. Hou practices six hours a day to learn how to dribble and pass a ball, and how to shoot and score. The training is exhausting, but has made him "become more interested in basketball."

Hou's teammate, Wang Jie, has been playing basketball since he was eight. "I usually watch popular TV shows over the summer holiday, but this year I've made many friends and enjoyed the basketball camp," said Wang.

For many teenagers like Hou and Wang, summer holiday used to be a rest for them to hide from the burning sun, or to take extra tutorial classes, play, or relax.

However, nowadays more and more parents would like their children to receive sports training over the summer holiday.

"I'm amazed at children's enthusiasm for basketball, and all the seats were filled within two hours after recruitment was opened," said one of the organizers Qiao Yulei.

According to Qiao, this basketball summer camp includes about 220 teenagers from the region aged from six to 15 years old.

"I planned to send my son to a basketball course long before the summer holiday, and this free program is a surprise," said Zheng Yongli, Hou's mother.

Ningxia's sports department began to offer these sports camp last summer, according to Qiao.

"This summer we have seen the children's great passion for sports," said Qiao.