What does a special sports meeting mean?

Compared with comprehensive sports games covering multiple categories of sports, special sports events are sports events held only around a single sport or several highly related sports of the same category. The core features are vertical projects and precise audiences.

Don’t think this concept sounds too official. In fact, we are exposed to many such events on a daily basis, ranging from neighborhood badminton special events organized by community property management to the World Table Tennis Professional League Championships broadcast globally. They all fall into the category of special sports events. I worked as a co-ordinator for folk events in the local sports department two years ago. At that time, we held a special outdoor sports meeting, which only included three outdoor-related events: rock climbing, mountain biking, and orienteering. I originally thought that only senior enthusiasts would come, but I didn’t expect that the registration channel was full within a week of opening. Most of them were ordinary office workers who like to run in the mountains on weekends. There were even many people who came from neighboring cities to participate. The excitement was not inferior to the comprehensive citizen sports meeting we held at the same time.

Nowadays, the industry actually has different views on the boundaries of special sports events. Some people think that since it is called a "special event", it should only do a single event, and the rules and groups should be as detailed as possible. For example, a special Frisbee competition should be divided into novice groups, advanced groups, and mixed male and female groups. Even newcomers who have just played for two or three months can find suitable competition positions without fear of being "abused by professional players"”； Some people think that there is no need to be so stuck, as long as the relevance of the events is high enough. For example, winter sports events can include skiing, curling, ice hockey and other ice and snow events, which are both targeted and give participants more room to choose.

If we use the analogy of eating, the comprehensive sports meeting is like a buffet with dozens of dishes. There are all kinds of dishes to satisfy the tastes of different people.； A special sports meeting is a time-honored à la carte signature dish that you drive half an hour to eat. You eat the bite that you like best, and the experience is naturally more satisfying. Anyway, I have been doing competitions for so long, and my deepest feeling is that the popularity of special sports events has increased very quickly in the past few years. After all, people's sports needs are becoming more and more segmented. Some people like to play badminton, and some people like to play paddleboards. An event specially created for them is naturally more attractive than a comprehensive sports meeting with a bunch of sports that they are not interested in.