In the video, Harvey Davis, vice president at ESPN’s Events Management Group, reckons that “these [action] sports are now recognized in China as real sports, with real committees and real organizations reporting up to the top government organizations in Beijing” and concluded that as “one of the biggest things for the growth of sport in China.” With that comes, as in the case of Shanghainese BMX rider Shen Jian and his friends, a clash of interest between government organization and athletes/brands.

China has definitely been picking up actions sports in the past five years. But just because promoters established ties with the government, doesn’t mean the sports become mainstream in the country. And I think part of the image of the sports, as manifested in tattoos and piercings for most of the athletes, may be the main reason why Chinese parents would not want their children to practice in it.

In the Shen Jian story, we had a chance to talk with Chen Jie, CEO of SMP Skate Park in Shanghai. The world largest skate-park now has about 2,000 members and over ninety percent of them, according to Mr.Chen, are foreigners.

“It looks now we’re turning into a club catering exclusively to foreigners,” said Chen. “Some wealthy Chinese send their kids here to play only because they want their children to be more international, as the children could speak English with kids from other countries in the park.”

“They focus on language exchange, not the sports themselves, which again turned practitioners of extreme sports into a minority group.” Chen is cutting down on the ticket prices this June in hopes of bringing more local kids in, but he opines the results might not be fruitful.

Also in the video, PT Black commentates on sports participation in the country and why Chinese are more likely to watch than actually play sports.

Part of the reason, PT noted, comes from “a legacy of centralized sports planning” which “takes all the kids who’re good at sports out of the mainstream school system, therefore depriving their classmates of the chance to actually play with the good kids.”

Parents are the “biggest obstacle” and another reason to the lack of participation in PT’s opinion. “When the exam system is so important, parents look at any moment dedicated to sports as a moment that should have been spend studying.”

Any other reasons? This is actually what we look forward to finding out at Sports Illustrated China as the magazine is rolling out a cover feature on the topic. So more later on this.

This is the 2nd part of the post on 2011 Kia X Games Asia. Read the 1st part here.

“It is what it is. I’m going back to play for a while, just to take it in.” Shen Jian squeezed a smile at me and then walked back onto the stage. Only less than 10 minutes left for him to “play.”

Minutes later, Shen stepped down from the stage with Li Haoran and watched the elimination match with his team in athletes’ area. Behind him, there were a few DJs, organizers and media people scattered on the stand. Looking from afar, a middle-aged man stood out from the others. He wore a blue shirt and khaki pants. The pants seemed a bit short that you could see his legs. The man, as I later found out, is Wei Xing (魏星), general secretary at the CESA.

Shen watching the game after being pulled out at the last minute

“It’s not the association doesn’t want him to compete. We have a set of rules that the athletes need to follow.” Wei told me when I asked him about Shen Jian’s last-minute pullout, and said Shen was out for “a multitude of reasons” that he ” has no time to go into details.”

The details about the incident, as I later heard from a friend close to an ESPN staffer, was that people from the association asked this ESPN guy right before the match to remove all Chinese athletes who’s not from the national teams from the list. If failed to cooperate, the CESA would not give them the permit to host the X Games Asia in China next year.

“The X Games has always been an open playing field and the qualifications is done on ranking systems,” said Harvey Davis, vice president at ESPN’s Events Management Group. “We work with government agency, the Chinese Extreme Sports Association, to make sure we have the best local athletes compete. So if that’s the case (Shen and other cn athletes barred from participating) that’s something we need to look into, but it’s not something that we’re aware about.”

A feature story on Shen Jian’s pullout is published on the May 13 issue of Sports Illustrated China.

At the beginning of April, a month ahead of ESPN’s 2011 X Games Asia in Shanghai, Shen Jian (申剑), arguebly China’s best BMX rider, was worried about his eligibility for the Games.

Born in 1988 along the Yangtze River, Shen grew his interest in bicycles since middle school and began practicing BMX when he was 16. With hard training and perseverance, it only took him less than a year to get the Street BMX Champion in Huzhou, Zhejiang, one of the top trophies in BMX in the country. Shen then flourished in competitions in the coming years and, in 2008, Nike came to him to sponsor gears and outfits.

That year, Shen was dominant in street BMX competitions and won nearly all major domestic prizes. In 2010, the handsome young man signed with Vans to become the company’s first and only sponsored BMX athlete in China to date.

Shen Jian, one of China's best BMX riders

“The prize money in our country’s very limited, though you have several good sponsors here. The big money goes to the Chinese Extreme Sports Association (CESA,中国极限运动协会),” Shen complained.

“Sportswear maker X-Step pours 7 mln yuan into the China X Games competition (全国极限精英赛) every year. ” said an informant asked to remain anonymous. “But an athlete can get only about 15,000 RMB of prize money at most if he wins all the champions from its 10 races, a sum one can barely compensate his travel expenses.”

Founded in 2005, the Chinese Extreme Sports Association now manages competitions and events around the country in inline-skating, skateboarding, BMX, bike trailing and parkour.

“They established a BMX national team, and asked us to wear their sponsor’s jersy,” said Shen. “If you’re not a national team member, you’re out of the X Games.”

“A national team athlete gets very little from the association’s sponsorship,” said Wen Qiang (温强), a Nike sponsored BMX athlete. “The CESA has done nothing for us and their sole aim all these years has been making money by using these players.”

Unlike other tax-payer funded national teams, CESA teams provide no stipend, zero training or overseas competition opportunity for its members. But these are not Shen’s top concern at the moment. As his sponsorship deal with Vans forbids his profile linked with other sponsors, Shen’s worrying about whether he can actually compete in the X Games Asia.

“The X Games Asia is valued the most in all the competitions to us riders,” said Shen. “The sport really took off since they (X Games) came here in 2007, but there’s no way you can compete in the Games as a non-national team member now.”

Shen’s friends at ESPN wanted him and his friends in too. It’d be such a shame if the country hosts the event without some proper home-grown athletes participating.

In the afternoon of April 28, I met Shen in Jiangwan Sports Center, where the Games would be held. The 23-year-old was overjoyed to tell me that he can finally participate, as ESPN granted him a ‘wild card’ by which he’ll be able to compete in the Games for Shanghai. Li Haoran (李浩然) and Wen Qiang, two Nike sponsored athletes, were also granted the opportunity.

Gearing up for match play

“Maybe the association didn’t do this out of malice. It’s good to play for Shanghai anyway, as I was born and raised here.” Shen Jian’s optimistic about tomorrow’s elimination match.

The next day, I accompanied him to Jiangwan Sports Center. The match would start at five and we’re an hour early. Shen began practicing in street park with his buddy Li Haoran as I made my way to the stands.

By 16:45, Shen shouted to me from the park, “they cancelled me again!” The stadium was so noisy that I wasn’t able to make sure of his words. And I waved to ask him to step outside the park for talk.

“They say I can’t compete in the Games anymore. There’s nothing I can do now. Mei banfa.”

“What reasons did they give you?”

“The association didn’t agree.”

“But your name’s on the list, I saw it on the screen already. Didn’t you talk to people at ESPN?”

“I told them. They said there’s nothing they can do now and had to cancel us.”

“What about Li Haoran?” I asked about the Nike-sponsored athlete.

“He got cancelled too, both Wen Qiang and him. Only Zhang Zhiyong (张智勇) can play, as he’s wearing the national team jersey.”

Nightime shredding at the Nanshan Ski Resort (Photo courtesy of Mellow Parks).

Apparently Mellow Parks Construction — China’s experts for all things snowboarding — never bothered to check the calendar when they released its Magnum opus Nov. 14. For the snowboarding community both in China and around the world, the New Year comes six weeks early with the release of “Happy Niu Year,” a film documenting some of the most exciting riding in the People’s Republic to date.

“It is helping to put China on the map as far as the world snowboarding community is concerned,” said Olli Fenwick-Ross, marketing director for Mellow Parks. “People know the Nanshan Open now, but they don’t know what else is happening here. This film is reaching a broader audience, to show there are good snowboarders here in China.”

A teaser video is currently online, click here.

Heading down the hill at the Burton Qiaobo Indoor center (Photo courtesy of Mellow Parks).

The new film — which also includes video from the crew’s recent snowboarding trip to New Zealand as well as international rider’s footage shot at last year’s Nanshan Open, located just north of Beijing near Miyun — raises the bar yet again for the minds at Mellow Parks, the foundation for snowboarding in China and now the country’s most visible face of the sport.

“If Chinese kids are into snowboarding, there isn’t too much to watch in China,” said Fenwick-Ross. “They can watch international movies, but the riders, the mountains, the type of snow; it’s different in other countries. The film gives other Chinese some local boarders to look up to. There is a national pride attached.”

“Happy Niu Year” is also the latest in a string of successes that have been aimed at promoting snowboarding inside China. In January 2010, the 8th Annual Red Bull Nanshan Open will take place in Beijing, the largest snowboarding competition in Asia, with this year’s event featuring 18 international riders and six Chinese riders. That’s double the number of local snowboarder’s from last year’s competition.

The DVD currently can be found at Quiksilver, Nitro and other participating stores all over China, and is free to the public. In addition to screening “Happy Niu Year” recently in Beijing and holding a premiere in Shanghai, Mellow Parks Construction said they plan on releasing the entire video online for free starting in January. According to Fenwick-Ross, the bonus footage alone makes the whole DVD worth checking out.

Previously:

• Building Snowboarding from the Peak Down

— Zachary Franklin

Andy Macdonald gives another flawless display in the Skateboard Vert finals at the KIA X Games Asia.

Good news for extreme sports lovers in Shanghai! The KIA X Games Asia 2009 will come back to Shanghai for the third consecutive year. The games will hosted from April 30th to May 3rd at Jiangwan Sports Center. Tickets are now available at 400-666-6699.

This year the event will showcase more than 200 of the best action sports athletes from more than 20 countries in world-class competition in the sports of Skateboard, BMX, In-Line Skate and Sport Climbing. New to the Asian X Games, this year’s event will also feature a Moto X Big Air demonstration. Televised live from Shanghai’s KIC Jiangwan Stadium, X Games Asia will air May 1 – May 3 on ESPN Asia networks and will be organized by sports broadcaster ESPN STAR Sports along with the Shanghai Media Group and Shanghai Sports Federation. The event will also be shown on ESPN International networks in Latin America, Australia, Middle East and Africa.

As in last year, there will also be some roadshows this month with in-line skating and BMX freestyle demonstrations:

- Apr 11-12 at Yandang Road, Luwan District
- Apr 18-19 at Wanda Plaza,Yangpu District
- Apr 25-26 at Wanda Plaza,Yangpu District

photo:  Charlie Xia via XgamesAsia

Previously:

• Parkour, Chinese Style
• Building Snowboarding from the Peak Down

–-

Subscribe to our RSS feed or follow us on Twitter for more China sports news

Well, we’d like  to take the blame for a little miscategorization this time. It seems young Chinese traceurs have discovered a new cool place to practice their skills – right inside their dorms. (h/t Youku Buzz)

–-

Subscribe to our RSS feed or follow us on Twitter for more China sports news

Winners of this year's 7th Annual Red Bull Nanshan Open at the awards ceremony.

“Snowboarding in China is never going to be the way it is in Europe or the United States,” says Steve Zdarsky, the man who runs Mellow Constructions in China. “Every year I say snowboarding is going to take off, but not too many kids start this sport every year. China is more like Russia, where only the wealthy can afford to do a sport like this.”

There is a hint of bitterness in Zdarsky’s voice despite the optimism he and the others who run the Quiksilver Nanshan Mellow Park, a ski resort about 40 minutes north of Beijing, have for snowboarding in the People’s Republic.

It’s not that they’re tired of their jobs, far from it. But after seven years of Nanshan, Zdarsky seems disappointed that snowboarding is not where he wants it to be in China. If it weren’t for Zdarsky and his team, snowboarding would not be anywhere close in popularity to where the sport is right now. The group is synonymous with the dissemination of the sport within the mainland.

But what happens after hosting seven Nanshan Open competitions — the latest incarnation and most successful to date that took place January 10 – 11, featured 20 internationally known riders and four Chinese competitors and gave away $25,000 USD in prize money — produces progressive results for the sport, but does not increase the number of lift tickets sold?

“Sooner or later I am done here because no one ever says thanks for this,” says Zdarsky. “As soon as it becomes a job, I am out. But right now, I love this. I am doing what I love to do.”

One could say Zdarsky is at a crossroads, but unwilling to surrender. He says the group has tried everything they could muster together to get snowboarding more recognized in China.

A rider hits one of the kickers at the Burton Qiaobo Park, the indoor facility the Mellow Parks crew heads to during the summer months.

The group currently has three parks around the country. They’re planning to open a second park in Miyun for 2009, just a few kilometers down the road from Nanshan. When Nanshan dusts off the snow for the summer, the group moves to its Burton Qiaobo Mellow Park, an indoor facility in Shunyi. They’re the only snowboarding group in the world that can claim to have both Burton and Quiksilver sponsorship — arguably the two biggest brand names in the sport. Every weekend during the winter months that Nanshan is open, the group hosts Fat Saturdays, a chance for free demonstrations for non-riders and tons of merchandise to give away. They threw together the Mellow Park tour one year that saw snowboarding in Shanghai, Hebei and Beijing in an effort to bring the sport to a wider audience.

It is mind-boggling just how intertwined snowboarding and Nanshan could possibly be, but every year they manage to take it a step further.

How Nanshan Came to Be

Zdarsky began studying Chinese in Shandong at the university, and on his time off from school he would head to Yabuli Ski Resort. When he first offered his services as a snowboarding instructor, Zdarsky says the instructors at Yabuli had never even heard of snowboarding. By 2000, he was teaching large groups on how to ride.

After he was introduced to someone who said Zdarsky should check out Nanshan, the ski resort offered to pay his school tuition if he would build snowboarding at Nanshan. His first season at the park he was instructing former ski instructors how to teach snowboarding, even making a manual of all the snowboarding terms converted into Mandarin.

When the Nanshan Open first started, it was a group of five snowboarders messing around in the park, and Zdarsky jokes that the grand prize that year was a can of beer. Jump seven years, and the Nanshan Open has grown into China’s largest snowboarding event. And it is the Nanshan Open that has been one of the biggest catapults of the sport in China.

“Five years ago, Nokia was the first big sponsor of the Nanshan Open,” says Zdarsky. “When Nokia cam on board, the event got much bigger. We started getting more international riders.”

Snickers began sponsoring the event for the fourth Open, but over the past three years it has been Red Bull as Nanshan’s main sponsor. Additionally, the Nanshan Open hooked up with Swatch Ticket to Ride, which connects the most prestigious independent snowboarding events around the world, bringing more international recognition for boarding in the Far East.

To Build a Park

Riding one of the obstacles at Nanshan.

“Making the park is the easy part,” says Zdarsky. “It is maintenance that is the trick. Every ski resort in China can do a park if it wants to.”

Zdarsky hooked up with an old friend from back home who had created Mellow Constructions, a company that specializes in building snowboarding parks. Now Zdarsky and company are the go-to people to build parks in the People’s Republic.

“When you are building a park, you have in your head what you want to do, and then it is just a matter of translating it over to the real thing,” says Zdarsky.

The current park at Nanshan consists of two kickers — larger mountains where riders hit ramps to perform tricks while coming down hill — that are actually made from dirt, as the resort uses fake snow. The kickers were redesigned three years ago. There is also an 80-meter, hand-shaped half pipe, and several other boxes for riders to perform tricks on. The other, smaller contraptions scattered about the course will get changed every two weeks.

Landing the Next Trick

“I was just here to learn Chinese,” says Zdarsky. “I thought I was going to be back home after two years.”

While Zdarsky sees all his friends back home getting married or having kids, he’s still hitting the slopes with his team. From day one, Zdarsky aligned himself with Chinese snowboarder Marco Huang. Three winters ago, Olli Fenwick-Ross, the current head of public relations and media for Nanshan, got on board. Additionally, Nanshan has a group of core Chinese riders who show up daily in the winter months to help shape the course in exchange for free lift tickets or gear. It is a small group that has made snowboarding something in China.

But where do Zdarsky and the others go from here? How do they land the next trick and push Nanshan to even bigger fame, or snowboarding to a higher plane? And is that even the name of the game? A big part of snowboarding’s future in China is completely out of Zdarsky’s hands.

Zdarsky says he thinks the Winter Olympics will be a huge boost for snowboarding in China given the Chinese National team's training regime.

“Like every sport in China it needs a hero,” says Zdarsky. “With the Winter Olympics in Vancouver next year, and the Chinese national snowboarding team getting better, should they bring home a medal that will be huge for the sport.”

Zdarsky is confident the team will exceed expectations given that he says they’re training seriously every day — and even use Mellow Park’s summer course to continue during the warmer months.

For those running Nanshan, the team will see a movie released later in 2009 documenting snowboarding in China. The Nanshan Park will begin snowboarding again at the end of the year. But in between now and then, snowboarding in China wants you.

“At the end of the day, if it is just us pushing snowboarding, it is not going to work,” says Zdarsky.

— Zachary Franklin

–-

Subscribe to our RSS feed or follow us on Twitter for more China sports news

So adventure sports fanatics in Shanghai will have their festival tomorrow at the SMP Skate Park. (h/t Shanghaiist)

Saturday – Nov. 8th

SMP Skate/Music Festival – SCMP Skate Park – 10am-Late (free)

Location: 2100 Songhu Road, Yangpu Distrct (Jiangwan Stadium) 淞沪路2100号，江湾体育场

SMP launched its 138,000 sq ft SMP Skatepark in October 2005, making it the biggest skatepark in the world by almost double. Located in Shanghai China, the park boasts the biggest vert ramp in the world, the biggest concrete bowl in the world, a 5000 – 7000 seat arena, plaza and beginners areas.

–-

Subscribe to our RSS feed or follow us on Twitter for more China sports news