In Ningbo Yongjiang Park, Greentown China joined hands with Zhejiang Professional Football Club to light up the passion of the 8th "Kick it" Community Football Match in the morning sunshine on Saturday. Panasonic, Toshiba Air Conditioning and B/S/H Group joined in to add color to the event. Xiang Xin, Director of the Group Division of Ningbo Sports Bureau, Xi Weida, Chairman of the Municipal Football Association, Liu Zhonghui, Deputy Director of the Board of Directors' Office of Greentown China, and other elites from all walks of life gathered together to kick off the tournament. Greentown sent a deep friendship to the typhoon stricken city of Ningbo in the name of "Kick the ball", and every touch of the ball by the players was a warm greeting and encouragement to the city.
The Ningbo region has been buzzing with enthusiasm for "Kick the Ball" for a long time. As soon as the registration was launched, the 32 places were exhausted instantly, and the unsuccessful teams have already started to plan for next year's "strategy". Today, Yongjiang Park witnessed the spectacle of these lucky teams, with the cheering of family and friends, and the players fighting hard on the field. One of the warm-up players proudly asked his companion, "Do you feel the charm of 'Kick the ball to go'?"
Since 2015, Greentown China has been committed to building a stage for community soccer, expecting the flower of soccer to bloom in the community. Eight years have passed by in a flash, and the "Kick the Ball" community soccer tournament seems like yesterday's first birth, but it has already gone through eight years without realizing it. In these eight years, Greentown has poured its heart and soul into the platform of "Kick the Ball" and continuously upgraded iteratively.
In the first "Kick the Ball", Greentown built a five-a-side soccer field in Taoyuan Town, and declared to the world with the pursuit of perfection: even if it is not a professional league, Greentown wants to build the most professional community tournament. In the first tournament, Greentown invited Baggio to attend, raising the attention of the tournament. In the second edition, Takeshi Okada, former head coach of Zhejiang Greentown and Japan national team, and Clausen, former head coach of China national Olympic team, attended the launching ceremony. In the third edition, amateur players were able to compete with Hangzhou women's soccer team, and amateur men's soccer vs. professional women's soccer team became the focus. In the following years, "Kick the ball to go" launched a "soccer carnival", "North-South Championship Match" and other new highlights, Fan Zhiyi, Yang Chen, Li Weifeng and other former international players have recorded video support. Last year, the tournament even launched an exclusive customized soccer. This year, "Kick the ball to go" to launch the online game of the same name, so that more people online to feel the charm of soccer.
In 2015, the tournament was only held in Hangzhou with 32 teams participating. Now, the influence of the tournament continues to expand, has increased to 12 regions, 168 teams competing. Hangzhou, Ningbo, Beijing, Tianjin, Dalian, Wuxi, Qingdao, Chengdu, Chongqing, Foshan, Wuhan, Xi'an, players share the joy of "kicking the ball".
Last year, Zhejiang won the gold medal in beach soccer at the Shaanxi National Games, and 12 of its players participated in the Ningbo tournament of "Kick the ball to go". Many of the players in the Zhejiang team, the champion of cage soccer in the Tianjin National Games, are also from "Kick the ball to go". While popularizing soccer, Greentown also does not forget to cultivate elites and pursue the all-round development of soccer.
Greentown regards "Kick the Ball" as a public service activity and insists on innovation, hoping to bring new experiences for ball players. Although the platform is amateur, the organizer pursues professionalism and hopes that every participant can feel respect in the game.
This year, Chongqing, Chengdu, Wuxi for the first time to organize "kick the ball to go". After the release of the registration information in Chongqing, it was warmly welcomed by local fans, and community teams have praised it, saying that Greentown allows more people to participate in soccer at zero cost.
Zhang Yadong, Chairman of the Board of Greentown China, said Greentown will continue to be committed to soccer and contribute to the development of national soccer. Greentown's long-termism is not only reflected in youth training and professional matches, but also in grassroots soccer.
