Local fitness venue transforming into 'urban sports center'
On the basketball court on the east side of the activity center in Anting Town, a man surnamed Yu is taking his 3-year-old son to get familiar with the ball.
The original open-air activity center has recently been transformed into Rucker Park. After the transformation, the utilization rate of the venue is significantly higher under the operation of professional teams.
"This site is very large. It has a ceiling to block out the sun, good ventilation and relatively cool temperatures," said Yu. "We are here to let my son temper his character and cultivate a good attitude toward life through sports."
Rucker Park is a national chain sports-venue brand under the helm of Luohe Sports. Through business integration, individual sports venues such as the basketball court, football field and fitness center can combine to create a diversified sports and recreation complex that is more in line with citizens' needs and priorities.
According to Chen Xiang, operations director of Shanghai Luohe Sports Development Co, traditional sports can no longer meet young people's growing demand for more personalized services. They are more willing to learn and experience sports that are easy to learn and require less professionalism.
Rucker Park is a sports complex that offers diversified facilities for fitness.
"We will build more complex venues, which are no longer single-function traditional venues like for basketball and badminton," Chen said. "We plan to invest in a niche sports project similar to indoor surfing, which is quite different from traditional water sports such as swimming and water polo."
The activity center was built in 2008 with a gross floor area of 16,000 square meters and offers a wide variety of wellness and fitness facilities.
After years of use, the facilities had gotten relatively worn. Since last year, the center has partnered with professional institutions to build an "urban sports center."
"In the next stage, we plan to expand the use of indoor venues, as well as the outdoor space," said Li Haiying, director of the Anting Town Culture and Sports Service Center. "In addition to traditional sports, we will add family-oriented sports such as flag rugby and water sports to provide more options for the public."
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