The Macao Sport Development Board has been committed to promoting and popularizing Sports for All through organizing various kinds of sports activities and creating more opportunities for citizens to get involved in sports activities. Citizens are encouraged to better utilize their leisure time to participate in sports activities and practice physical exercises for health condition improvement. Meanwhile, ball games enthusiasts throughout Macao are gathered and provided with a platform to compete and exchange ideas, so as to promote harmony and solidarity of the community. Since October 2009, the “Free Sports Ground” Ball Games Competition jointly hosted by the Macao Sport Development Board and the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau and co-organized by the Macao-China Basketball Association and the Macao Football Association has been well-received and warmly supported by many ball game lovers.

The 2014 Spring “Free Sports Ground” Ball Games Competition took place on three Sundays from 20th April to 18th May. The competition included two sports namely basketball and football, dividing participants into youth, junior and open groups respectively. The matches were well-received by citizens in every single community and athletes arrived well before the match started for better preparation. During the match, all competitors showed their skills and talents, embodied team spirits, and were fully engaged in the competition. The intense and exciting matches attracted many audiences. A total of 647 athletes including many teenagers from 171 teams participated in this popular event. The competition provided more opportunities for teenagers to participate in sport games, allowed them to have better understanding of ball games, enabled sports associations to discover more talented players, and hence laid a solid foundation for the development of basketball and football games in the future.

Through “Free Sports Ground” Ball Game Competition, the organizers encouraged citizens to participate in more sports activities in their leisure time, cultivate the desirable habit of regular exercising, and hence improve their health and physical fitness conditions. The game also contributed to sustaining the unique sports culture of Macao, offering citizens a platform to compete, make friends and nurture team spirits. It also promoted harmony and integration of the community. Thus, the “Free Sports Ground” Ball Game Competition effectively disseminated the Sports for All message of “Sports for All - Let’s Exercise for a Better Health!”