In recent years, Son La province has implemented many solutions and organized activities to encourage the preservation of folk games that arouse national spirit and community solidarity, and develop them into competitive sports at tournaments at all levels. The folk games of ethnic minorities in Son La have existed for a long time and are still preserved and developed, contributing to promoting the mass sports movement among the people.
For generations, playing and competing in folk games has become a familiar cultural activity in the ethnic communities in each village of Son La on holidays, New Year, and festivals. Born from the needs of daily life, folk games are close and useful to the people. Most of the folk games are entertaining, bringing laughter and joy during festival gatherings, such as: Con throwing, playing To Mak Le, walking on stilts of the Thai people; Tu Lu fighting, Pao throwing of the Mong people... In addition, there are games that train physical strength, technique, and team spirit such as: Tug of war, Stick pushing or Crossbow shooting, which are also considered as folk sports to train the skills, reflexes, and concentration of the crossbow user.
The "Project for developing mass sports for the period 2021-2030" being implemented by the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Son La has created momentum to develop traditional sports to a new level.
Implementing the project creates fundamental changes in both the scale and quality of mass physical education and sports in the province. In particular, aiming to diversify mass physical education and sports activities, ethnic sports, encourage sports movements in agencies, units, schools, and families. Promoting the Campaign "All people exercise following the example of great Uncle Ho", focusing on developing physical education and sports movements in rural areas, remote areas, and border highlands, contributing to improving the physical and mental health of the people, building grassroots cultural life.
Over the years, folk games such as Tug of War, Stick Pushing, Con Throwing, Con Throwing, and Stilt Throwing have become the main sports in sports competitions at all levels and provincial Sports Congresses. Many tournaments focus on ethnic sports such as Tug of War, Stick Pushing, and Crossbow Shooting for Son La students; The ethnic sports competition to celebrate the Party and celebrate Spring in Son La province in 2024, with 6 events (Tug of War, Stick Pushing, Crossbow Shooting, Con Throwing, Stilt Throwing, and Stilt Throwing). The athletes participating in the competition are selected from mass sports movements, have been trained systematically, and have improved their techniques...
Son La City is a locality with a strong mass sports movement and always achieves high results at provincial competitions. At the National Sports Competition to celebrate the Party and celebrate the Spring of Son La Province in 2024, the city's Sports Delegation won the first prize overall. Son La City is maintaining more than 100 mass sports clubs. Every year, 7-10 city-level sports competitions are organized, creating opportunities for mass sports athletes to exchange, learn experiences and encourage the strong development of the city's sports movement.
From traditional folk games, today's national sports have been developed and upgraded to become competitive sports in various sports tournaments, especially at the national level. That further affirms the attention of all levels to the preservation and development of national sports, arousing national pride.
Le Minh