China News Service, Jinan, October 3 (Zhou Yiwei) "I have made a reservation for the badminton court. Come over quickly and I will warm up first." On October 3, the Workers' Cultural Palace in Juancheng County, Heze City was bustling with activity. Citizen Liu Qingqing made a reservation for the badminton court through the "Qilu Gonghui" App and was calling to invite friends. "There is a park just outside the Cultural Palace. If you want to practice indoors, there are treadmills in the gym; if you want to run outdoors, you can go out to the park's 'health track'." Liu Qingqing said. During the National Day holiday, Juancheng County announced venue opening information through WeChat public accounts, short video platforms, offline bulletin boards and other channels. The Workers' Cultural Palace was open to the public all day long, and the evening closing time was extended to 20:00 to facilitate citizens' off-peak activities. Citizens exercise in the badminton court of the Juancheng County Workers' Cultural Palace. Photo by Fu Banghao According to He Bing, director of the Juancheng County Workers’ Cultural Palace, the Cultural Palace covers an area of 15 acres and has 15 standardized activity venues including a staff library, music and dance room, fitness gym, basketball badminton hall, and table tennis room. The cultural palace relies on the "Qilu Gonghui" App to implement online reservations. The public can check the vacant status and remaining places of the venue in real time, achieving precise diversion and staggered use, which not only avoids crowding of the venue, but also reduces idle resources and improves the public's sports experience. Exercising nearby and enjoying health are becoming a new trend during the National Day holiday in Shandong. Holiday sports continue to heat up, injecting new momentum into boosting holiday consumption and enriching people's cultural and sports life. During the National Day, the “National Fitness Parlor” in Linshu County, Linyi City became an “Internet celebrity check-in place” for citizens to enjoy leisure and fitness. This public welfare fitness venue with an area of more than 1,200 square meters is open to the public free of charge around the clock. It has table tennis tables, leisure bicycles, elliptical machines, pickleball and other sports equipment, covering the sports needs of all ages, including the elderly, middle-aged and young. Two intelligent fitness stations and intelligent fitness trails outside the living room are spread along the river, forming a continuous leisure and sports space with the riverside trail. Not only that, Linshu County People's Park has been fully transformed into a multi-functional sports park, with 20 outdoor table tennis tables, 3 lighted basketball courts, badminton courts and 8 kilometers of fitness trails open for free to meet people's sports needs all day long. The county's Hongshi Lake Health Sports Park and Cangyuan River Park Scenic Belt have been fully opened after renovation and upgrade. More than 260 pieces of sports equipment have been laid out along the lines, and nearly 100 sports courts of various types have been built, connecting 40 kilometers of riverside fitness trails. Citizens exercise in Linshu County People's Park. Photo courtesy of the Propaganda Department of Linshu County Party Committee. In recent years, Linshu County has continued to promote national fitness and livelihood projects, weaving a dense urban and rural inclusive fitness network to create a "15-minute fitness circle" that is convenient and beneficial to the people. As early as 2020, all 236 administrative villages in the county have achieved full coverage of fitness facilities. At present, the county's per capita sports venue area reaches 3.88 square meters, ranking among the top counties in Shandong Province. Yuecheng Street, Luxi New District, Heze integrates the resources of the new era civilization practice position and is open to the public free of charge during the National Day. The district's national fitness square and football field guarantee group events. People can exercise in nearby fitness activity rooms and village (community) outdoor fitness stations, and enjoy the convenient service of "15-minute fitness circle". At the same time, the "Shared Employee Home" of the Heze Luxi New District Federation of Trade Unions will be open to the public on a regular basis from 9:00 to 12:00 and 14:00 to 21:00 every day during the National Day. Coaches from professional fitness institutions provide free guidance, "one-on-one" training plans and scientific fitness knowledge, so that employees can not only "practice", but also "practice correctly". In addition to opening inclusive fitness venues, Shandong also enriches people's cultural and sports life during the long holidays with holiday sports events. On October 2, the 2026 Shandong Province 16th National Fitness Games Children’s Fun Football Conference (Heze Station) kicked off at the Caozhou Martial Arts School in Heze City. More than 40 children's football teams and nearly 400 young athletes from Shanxi, Anhui, Gansu and other provinces and counties in Heze gathered at the school's football field to make friends with the ball and compete on the field. On October 2, the 2026 Shandong Province 16th National Fitness Games Children’s Fun Football Conference (Heze Station) kicked off at the Caozhou Martial Arts School in Heze City. Photo courtesy of Heze Luxi New District Office During the National Day, Zaozhuang and Tengzhou City launched a series of high-quality events: "Good Luck Shandong" 2026 City Fighting Competition along the Canal, "Good Luck Shandong" 2026 Children's Table Tennis Competition in the City Along the Canal Tennis Open, Tengzhou's 4th "Banmo" Street Dance Competition, "Good Luck Shandong" 2026 LKD Cup Snooker U21 Open... Each of these down-to-earth and interesting events continues to ignite the sports enthusiasm of Tengzhou during the National Day holiday. Behind the craze for sports to benefit the people is Shandong’s solid layout of continuing to deepen the construction of a strong sports province. In recent years, the province has continued to strengthen the "Good Luck Shandong" event brand, successfully organized the sports consumption season, promoted the opening of public sports venues to the public for free or at low fees, continued to improve the network of urban and rural fitness facilities, and expanded the supply of "15-minute fitness circles." In 2026, the first year of the "15th Five-Year Plan", Shandong will promote the construction of sports facilities with high quality, renovate 160 ball fields, 390 table tennis tables, update 4,000 pieces of fitness equipment, vigorously promote the "national football into communities and parks" activities, connect with the national trail "three horizontal and four vertical" framework, and accelerate the construction of the province's "one ring, six lines and three connections" Qilu fitness trail network system. (over)
