For a long time, Phu My Hung has been an urban area with a tradition of being attached to sports, with residents competing in extreme sports such as Swim-Bike-Run, Ironman, Oceanman (10-km swim over the ocean), 24-hour cross-Taiwan island cycling, scuba diving, extreme trekking in the Northwest mountains, or mountain climbing in Nepal, etc. These are heavy, specialized sports, but in everyday reality, going to any residential area of this area, we can hear the sound of tennis balls echoing on standard courts. It is no exaggeration to say that Phu My Hung is the urban area with the most tennis courts today (in addition to other sports advantages: the most swimming pools, the most beautiful running tracks, the most gyms, etc. and the important thing for training is that there is fresh, cool air with many trees, rivers, clean environment and good security).
However, what is even more worth mentioning is the people and community of Phu My Hung. Here it seems that the whole community loves to exercise, practice, have competition, etc. And in that same spirit, on May 5, 2024, a community tennis tournament which was voluntary, self-aware, and self-organized took place at the stadium cluster of Riverside residential area. The beauty of this tennis tournament, in addition to its community nature, is also its prefix “Open” in its official name Open Riverside Tennis Tournament. Called “Open” not only because it wants to be similar to Grand Slams like the Australian Open and US Open, but Riverside’s “Open” wants to express the “open” spirit, connecting with the surrounding communities. Ms. Phi Van, organizer of the tournament, a resident and tennis player of Riverside explained: “Previously, Riverside residents have also had internal tournaments, but this time we invite residents of Chateau next door, along with many other tennis lover groups in the vicinity. We want to create an atmosphere, a bigger and more fun community for people who love this sport.”
Ms. Van also provided a few more details about the tennis “potential” of the residential area: “Currently in the Riverside residential area there are 5-7 groups participating in tennis activities in the form of teams and a group of Filipino residents, Japanese residents. In addition, there are still a few residents who participate in singles with teachers because they want to exercise and sweat, not join groups. Notably, there are also a few groups of about four or five children from 8 to 10 years old.
In the past, my group occasionally organized group tournaments (including Riverside residents and Chateau residents), but this time everyone wanted to expand exchanges, learn and connect tennis players together, so we decided to organize the Riverside Open tournament for residents to participate.”
And we saw the 32 players of the “Open” tournament competing intensely and… openly. They were open, cheerful, enthusiastic, fierce, enthusiastic, but happy and… in the spirit of “earning a little sweat”. Just listen to the names of the additional awards and you will understand this cheerful spirit, such as: “Forever Young” Award (for the oldest couples); “Happy, not grumpy” Award; Beautiful sports clothes Award (Couples with the best tennis clothes); “God Saved Shot” Award (Couples with the most beautiful shots), etc. However, it was not because of the nature of the movement and community, there was a lack of professionalism in the organization. The atmosphere of the opening ceremony was both solemn, thoughtful and very intimate like an outdoor party of friends. Professionalism was also shown on the tournament’s banner with the name of the “Sponsors”, many of them are also businesses operating in Phu My Hung or residents of Phu My Hung or tennis players themselves participating in competition. In addition, there were many journalists specializing in reporting mass-participation sports to attend and report. After the tournament, we read reports about the tournament in news such as: Vietnam Plus Sports, Health and Beauty, Cars and Sports, Saigon Sports, and even on VTV3’s Sports, etc.
All the professionalism of a fun community tournament shows: when a community loves the same sport, voluntarily contributes their energy and time, and takes advantage of their existing relationships in career, in business, etc. they can create a very professional mass-participation sports movement. All of this shows the strength of the sports-loving residents of Phu My Hung.
