Fuyang Basketball: Underdog Story & Inspiration

Hangzhou, WenzhouZhouzhou, Lishui and Fuyang advanced to the semi-finals of the “Zhejiang BA”. Among them, Fuyang is particularly eye-catching as the only “county team”. How did a small city with a population of 860,000 go from being unpopular to a grassroots counterattack and create a “highlight moment”? The answer is rooted in a basketball bloodline that spans seven decades.

In the early 1950s, a “straw shoe basketball team” in Changlu Town, Fuyang, with the most simple love, won the championship of the first Farmers Basketball Game in Hangzhou in 1956, opening a legendary chapter in Fuyang basketball. In 2009, Fuyang initiated the 100-Village Basketball Tournament and became one of the sources of “Village BA” in the country. On the field, the Fuyang team inherits the “straw shoe basketball spirit” and defends the glory of the “county team”; off the field, Fuyang is also relying on this spirit to embark on a road to high-quality development.

If you dare to fight, you will win

Fuyang basketball has an earthy flavor and strong energy. No matter facing civilian masters or professional players, we always hold the belief that “if you dare to fight, you will win” and go all out with strong mental attributes.

From being an “unseeded player” who was never optimistic, to fighting all the way to become the champion of the Hangzhou Division, first in Group B, and finally reaching the top four in the province – every precise shot and every rebound is a realistic projection of “if you dare to fight, you will win”, reflecting the indomitable spirit of Fuyang people.

The growth trajectory of basketball is just like the arc of development. Faced with the pain of industrial transformation, Fuyang kept in mind the instructions and “vacated the cage and replaced the bird” with the determination of “a strong man cuts off his wrist”, continued to make breakthroughs in creating new advantages through technological innovation, pushed GDP past the 100 billion mark, and ranked among the top in R&D investment intensity in the province.

From the “mud-legged man” to the “pioneer”, the stage of the times has changed, but what remains unchanged is the spirit of “dare to fight and win”.

In the first year of the “15th Five-Year Plan”, Fuyang drew up a blueprint of “One Map, One District” (to create a modern version of Fuchun Mountain Residence Map with affluence and sunshine, and to build a new socialist modern urban area with high quality), transforming the belief that “you will win if you dare” on the basketball court into a surging kinetic energy for development, and revitalize the glory of the “industrial region”.

Basketball is the carrier of spirit, and development is the expedition of dreams. No matter what kind of opponent we face or what kind of track we are on, only “dare to fight and win” can turn “impossible” into “possible”. This is the most vivid footnote of the Zhejiang spirit and the Hangzhou spirit, and is also the most valuable asset for the development of Fuyang.

win overall

Looking at the “Zhejiang BA” competition data, the Fuyang team’s average points per game are evenly distributed, with five or six players scoring in double figures in a single game becoming the norm. There were 7 MVPs in 21 games, confirming the Straw Shoes basketball team’s winning philosophy of “win as a whole”.

Because only by supporting your teammates with all your strength can you surpass yourself. This is an inevitable victory for “overall basketball”, and is it not a mirror for Fuyang’s development?

Over the years, Fuyang has not pursued the “lonely peak” of a single industry, but has built a development ecology of diverse symbiosis, coordination and linkage. From the ancient charm of Longmen to the scenery of Fuchun River, from advanced manufacturing to pastoral economy, Fuyang’s development “score points” are widely scattered in all walks of life.

Develop new productive forces in accordance with local conditions and systematically promote the overall transformation of the industry, focusing not only on key industries such as advanced manufacturing, but also on industrial cluster cultivation, supporting connections, high-level talent recruitment, ecological environment creation, development and safety coordination, etc. It may not be enough to “explode” at a certain point, but because the system is complete and the cycle is smooth, it can gain more sustainable endogenous power.

In the overall development of provinces and cities, Fuyang’s exploration has positive significance: regional development is not an individual competition, but a team battle. We should not rely on individual “strong points” but need to fully stimulate the overall synergy.

From the stadium to the city, Fuyang is using its own practice to interpret a “holistic development concept” that can be used for reference.

Fight till the end

Basketball is round and everything is possible, but the Fuyang team always “fights to the end” with strong resilience. Against the Shaoxing team, they came back from 12 points behind to win; against the Lishui team, they made a throw-in to win in 0.4 seconds; against the Taizhou team, they made a tip-in in 0.7 seconds to win… Focus in good times, rise in adversity, persevere in desperate situations, and in the face of falling behind, it is the strong belief of “fighting until the end” that supports the team’s comeback against the wind.

As the “City of Sports and Leisure in China”, Fuyang is a phenomenon in the field of sports. Athletes from Fuyang won 6 gold medals and 2 bronze medals in the 15th National Games, ranking second in the province in total gold medals. The manufacturing of sports equipment such as rowing, dragon boating, and rackets is in the ascendant. Mass events such as paragliding, kayaking, and marathons have been wonderfully presented. International and national-level professional events have been established. The scale of the sports and leisure industry has reached nearly 10 billion yuan.

The performance on the field and the industrial foundation are a reflection of the city’s progress. In recent years, Fuyang has relied on the tenacity of “fighting to the end” to push the total industrial output value to exceed 160 billion yuan, attracting a total of 243 industrial projects in five years, and manufacturing investment exceeding 50 billion yuan.

The accumulation of Soochow culture, the character of Fuchun landscape and the enthusiasm of Fuyang people for starting a business have jointly condensed into the straw sandals basketball spirit of “dare to show the sword, win as a whole, fight to the end”, which is in line with “prosperity in life, sunshine in life”, and is condensing the powerful power of a city.

Faced with the “waist” positioning given by Hangzhou as a metropolis and the mission of “connecting the east with the west, connecting cities to promote rural areas”, Fuyang vigorously carries forward the spirit of straw sandals basketball, creates first-class performance with first-class status, develops “25X” advanced manufacturing clusters, cultivates five emerging industries of “gathering light and wisdom”, and the economic development trend is upward. This counterattack road from grassroots to glory is not only the story of basketball, but also the spiritual epic of a city.