导语【文眼】睢冉的寰铂体育能否超越原来的篮战体育，或许只有未来五年的运营成果才能给出答案。困扰校园篮球圈数月之久的耐克中国高中篮球联赛（耐高）与中国初中篮球联赛运营权归属问题，有了阶段性答案。

B |     

    Ronald Sakolsky is interviewed by Xinhua at his home in Plum, a suburb east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the United States, on June 16, 2026. (Xinhua/Li Rui)Ronald Sakolsky was already waiting on the front lawn as the car rounded the last bend, more than 20 minutes ahead of schedule.
"I knew you would come early and sit here until four o'clock and then knock on my door," Sakolsky told Xinhua reporters with a grin. "That's why I was outside." It was, he said, just the way he remembered Chinese people doing things.
His waiting outside was a small gesture of thoughtfulness, one that hinted at a friendship forged nearly three decades earlier between a veteran middle school world history teacher from Plum, a leafy suburb east of Pittsburgh, and a rural Chinese woman who devoted decades to holding back the shifting sands of the Mu Us Desert.
In 1999, while working as an English teacher in China, Sakolsky was moved to tears by a TV report about Yin Yuzhen, a rural Chinese woman who was trying to hold back the shifting sands of the Mu Us Desert in northern China by planting trees. He spent two months raising 5,000 U.S. dollars to help Yin, then a stranger.
Now 69, Sakolsky will return to China this month for his third visit, traveling from Beijing to Luoyang and finally to the Mu Us Desert. He looks forward to reuniting with Yin, giving her a big hug and planting another tree beside her, where shifting sands have given way to a forest roughly 50,000 trees strong.
"It's a miracle," he told Xinhua recently. "There's no other word than it's a miracle."
A JOURNEY HE NEVER PLANNED
Sakolsky's modest two-story home in Plum is not where one might expect an international story to begin. He bought it 32 years ago and raised his family there with Barbara, his wife of 46 years. They have four children and eight grandchildren.
High on one living room wall, "The Sakolskys," in large letters, crowns a display of framed family photos surrounding the words: "Family is where our story begins. Life takes us to unexpected places. Love brings us home."
Asked to sum up his worldview in three words, Sakolsky answered without hesitation: family, respect, kindness -- the values that have anchored his life.
"Family first," he said. "I'm a family man."
That makes what he did in 1999 all the more striking. In his forties, in a doctor's waiting room, he spotted a tiny magazine advertisement recruiting Americans to teach English in China. Without hesitation, he applied, flew to New York for an interview, and was offered the position.
His parents were stunned and came all the way from Florida to talk him out of it: He had four children and a stable teaching career. His oldest daughter was a high school senior, while his youngest son was entering elementary school. But his daughters supported him.
"My dad said, 'You're crazy. How are you going to go away for a year? You have four children, a wife and a house to take care of.' Then he looked at my girls and said to them, 'Are you going to let your dad go to China for that long?'"
"And my girls looked at their grandfather, and I'll never forget this. They said to him, "Whatever dad wants to do, we support him."
With his family's blessing, Sakolsky left for Beijing, then traveled by train to Luoyang three days later. When he arrived at about 9 p.m. that night, the platform was almost empty and dimly lit. For a moment, he felt uneasy until he spotted two Chinese teachers holding up a piece of cardboard with his name written across it.
Teaching at Luoyang Foreign Language School was only one part of Sakolsky's life in China. One of the earliest "lessons" he learned came from watching children kick an empty Coca-Cola bottle between two stones serving as goalposts.
At first, he was puzzled by how they could play without a real soccer ball. "Then I realized it didn't matter to them," Sakolsky said.
"They could play the game, laugh and have fun with a plastic bottle," he said. "So China taught me to appreciate the simple things in life. You don't have to have a lot of money, you don't have to have a big car and a fancy house, and you can still be happy. That was a big lesson that I learned right away."
Beyond the classroom, Sakolsky often volunteered at nearby schools and villages and traveled with Chinese colleagues during school holidays, sharing modest guesthouses, simple meals and long train rides.
Sakolsky told Xinhua such experiences helped him break the ice with his Chinese colleagues, who eventually treated him just like one of them. "That's what I wanted," he said.
Sakolsky also told Xinhua that shortly after he arrived in China, his hosts gave him a Chinese name, Long Fu, or "Happy Dragon."
"I like dragons," he said, laughing, "and I laugh a lot."
A MIRACLE HE NEVER IMAGINED
Every evening in Luoyang, Sakolsky watched a half-hour English news broadcast before heading downstairs to practice tai chi with elderly neighbors.
Then, on an autumn evening in 1999, a brief TV report caught his eye. On the screen was Yin, planting trees by hand with her husband to push back the advancing sands of the Mu Us Desert, he remembered.
The story stayed with him. "I was so touched in the heart, I started to cry," he recalled nearly 30 years later. "I honestly cannot tell you why. Something just happened to me. I just felt like I needed to help."
Over the next two months, Sakolsky spent his evenings contacting more than a dozen organizations across the United States, determined to help the woman he knew only from that five-minute broadcast. After a series of setbacks, a Boston-based charity agreed to provide a 5,000-U.S. dollar grant with no strings attached.
He then spent weeks helping coordinate the cross-border paperwork and communications. By the end of December, word finally came that the money had reached China and was on its way to Yin.
"I expected nothing," he said. "You don't give something expecting something in return. I wanted to thank China and help her make China more beautiful. That was all. I didn't need a thank-you or anything else."
He heard nothing more about the donation until the following May, when the school told him he needed to take a week off for a trip. When he asked his Chinese colleague, Bai Fan, and the New York-based coordinator of the exchange program where he was going, both gave the same reply: "I know, but I cannot tell you, you will cry."
He was flown to Hohhot, the regional capital. At dinner, as Sakolsky sat facing the door, it swung open, and in walked a woman in a pink jacket.
"That's the lady from television!" he recalled. "I jumped out of my seat, and I ran up to Ms. Yin and gave her a big hug."
The next morning, before an audience of about 500 people, Sakolsky was asked to give an impromptu speech. He remembers little of the 20-minute address except its core message: Americans and Chinese "must focus on our similarities and not on our differences," and can work together to plant a forest in the desert.
Afterward, they drove for four hours. "No roads, no timber, no houses," he recalled. "We were just driving over sand dunes in the desert."
When the vehicle finally stopped, there was nothing but sand stretching to the horizon. Then Yin emerged from a hollow in the dunes, where she had been digging for water to irrigate her young trees.
Yin showed him how to plant the trees, which he thought would grow only about knee-high to hold back the sand. "I never thought that it was going to be a 50,000-tree forest," he said. "Back then, I said this was impossible (turning this desert into a forest), but she did it, she and her helpers."
That night, Yin and her husband welcomed him into their home. Nearly three decades later, he still remembers the homemade noodles Yin cooked for him. "Delicious," he recalled softly.
Earlier this year, Yin launched an online search for the American teacher who had helped her plant the first trees. The story eventually reached Sakolsky, who was stunned to learn that the forest had grown to roughly 50,000 trees.
"Fifty thousand trees!" he exclaimed. "I cannot believe it."
Then came photos showing a building and a road where there had been nothing but sand in 1999. "When I go back, I will be amazed," he said. "It's a miracle. There's no other word for it."
Sakolsky insisted that Yin was the real hero. "I'm not the hero of this story," he said. "Ms. Yin is the hero. I just helped."
"Since she was a child, she always wanted to beautify China. It was a lifetime dream of hers, and she has accomplished her dream," he said.
A REUNION HE NEVER EXPECTED
For more than two decades, Sakolsky and Yin lost touch, but China never really left him. His home is filled with reminders of those years: a Year of the Dragon card, a calligraphy scroll, paintings of peonies and pandas, a wooden dragon made by his children, and even a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from his first dinner in Luoyang, kept as reminders of Chinese hospitality, though he has never smoked.
Downstairs, in the basement, stands a nearly six-foot replica of a Terracotta Army general, a gift he received after returning to teach in Luoyang in 2004. It stood in his classroom for 17 years before he brought it home upon retiring. Now, he hopes his youngest son, also an educator, will one day give it a place in his own office.
Based on his experience in China, Sakolsky summed up his impression of the Chinese people in three words: respect, simplicity and patriotism. He called China's decades-long fight against desertification remarkable in terms of both scale and dedication.
"China also, with what Ms. Yin did with the forest, taught me how much love the Chinese have for their country," he said. "She was making like no money and still planting the trees. That's what got to my heart."
"The fact that Chinese people are willing to sacrifice and give back because they love their motherland is awesome," he added.
In June, while traveling in Australia, Sakolsky was recognized by a woman from Singapore who had seen a video about his story.
"She was like, 'Oh my god, there are millions of people who have watched this video!'" he recalled, still astonished.
"I'm just a simple teacher," he said. "I live a simple life ... I have four fantastic children and eight fabulous grandchildren, and that's what I love. I never thought anything like this was ever going to happen."
Sakolsky is set to travel to China for a trip late this week.
Asked what he wants to do first when he sees Yin again, he didn't hesitate: "Give her a big hug."
He also hopes they can plant trees side by side once more. For Sakolsky, the reunion holds great significance.
"We're all humans. We all love our families, we all love life, we all love the Earth. We all want peace," he said.
He suggested that everyone can work together to create a peaceful world. "It's not an easy thing, and not a quick thing. It will take time, but it can be done."
"(If) the goal is strong enough, and you don't quit every time you face an obstacle, (if) you keep going, (then) you'll reach the goal. That's what Ms. Yin did."
    A printout of a Xinhua report about Yin Yuzhen's online search for "Sakolsky" is pictured at Ronald Sakolsky's home in Plum, a suburb east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the United States, on June 16, 2026. TO GO WITH "Feature: From 5,000 USD to 50,000 trees: an American teacher and a Chinese woman's efforts to green a desert" (Xinhua/Li Rui)
    Ronald Sakolsky poses beside a printout of a Xinhua report about Yin Yuzhen's online search for "Sakolsky" at his home in Plum, a suburb east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the United States, on June 16, 2026. TO GO WITH "Feature: From 5,000 USD to 50,000 trees: an American teacher and a Chinese woman's efforts to green a desert" (Xinhua/Li Rui)
    Ronald Sakolsky is interviewed by Xinhua at his home in Plum, a suburb east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the United States, on June 16, 2026. (Xinhua/Li Rui)
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C | 近日，中国学生体育联合会官网发布《中国中学生篮球相关联赛独家运营推广商征集项目征集结果公示》，招标已有结果，拟确定寰铂（深圳）体育文化有限公司为耐高和中国初中篮球联赛未来五年的独家运营推广商。

D | 消息公布后，尤其是在前运营方篮战体育刚刚因资金问题被解约、赛事体系经历动荡之后，外界，包括学生和家长们最关心的问题却并非“终于找到接盘者”，而是另一个更加现实的问题：寰铂是什么公司，他们有足够的全国性校园赛事运营的经验吗？能够承接得住国内影响力最大的校园篮球IP吗？众所周知，耐高和初中联赛的主办方是学体联，是国内教育系统青少年篮球领域最知名的两个IP。过去这些年间，这两项赛事由篮战体育负责推广运营。

E | 其中，最新一份的耐高运营合同为期五年（从2024-25赛季到2028-29赛季），篮战体育每年需向中国学体联缴纳授权费至少450万元，篮战最近一次获得的初中篮球联赛运营期限也是五年（2025-2030年），每年需缴纳授权费至少500万，篮战则相对应获得这两项赛事的商务开发权。不过，在今年的4月21日和5月25日，中国学体联先后向篮战体育发出解约通知书，以对方未能及时缴纳授权费为由，通知对方解除中国初中篮球联赛、耐克中国高中篮球联赛这两项赛事的合作关系。笔者关注校园篮球赛事多年，所以第一时间发布了这一消息，引发业内热议，时至今日，尚且还有不少学生球员的家长发私信询问今年中国初中篮球联赛究竟何时才能举办。

F | 我非常能理解这些学生家长和球员的担忧，毕竟篮战体育深耕耐高和中国初中篮球联赛这两项赛事多年，居然依旧没能探索出可持续发展模式，导致因为拖欠授权费而被解约。篮战体育尚且如此，仓促间能找到水平相当的专业运营机构吗？随后在6月8日，学体联官网刊登《中国中学篮球相关联赛独家运营推广商征集公告》，公开征集耐克中国高中篮球联赛和中国初中篮球联赛的独家运营推广商，并且明确提出“本次征集项目为两个联赛独家运营推广商，合作周期为5年，提供合作资金总金额不低于人民币6000万元（首年度合作经费不低于人民币1000万元），且赛两项事的冠名和运动装备权益不包含在本采购项目内。”纵观这个征集公告，除了要求缴纳5年至少6000万元的费用外，其余对赛事运营机构的企业资质要求并不算高，赛事运营专业要求也没有提及太多。终于，在7月23日，学体联官网发文宣布“拟确定寰铂(深圳)体育文化有限公司为耐克中国高中篮球联赛、中国初中篮球联赛独家运营推广商。

G | ”这份公示寥寥数语，只是标注了公示期（5个工作日）与监督电话，却无官方落款、无电子公章、无发文主体，显得非常简洁，很难提供更多有用信息。寰铂(深圳)体育文化有限公司这家深圳的公司是什么来头？据企查查显示，寰铂（深圳）体育文化有限公司创立于2018年，法人代表和大股东是著名篮球经纪人睢冉。众所周知，睢冉从CBA退役后创立了专注于篮球运动员经纪人业务的纽勒维尔体育，在公司巅峰时期，丁彦雨航、周琦、王哲林、陈林坚、李梦、王思雨等多位男女篮明星一度都与勒维尔体育签约。如今，在看到睢冉这个名字时，他原来已经从顶级经纪人转型成为顶级校园篮球赛事的运营方。有一说一，这种转型跨度还是挺大的，经纪人的核心业务是为球员做好职业生涯规划、充分挖掘其竞技状态和商业价值，而中国高中篮球联赛、中国初中篮球联赛的独家运营机构则要求做好竞赛管理、赛事落地、招商运营、赞助商权益激活、赛事传播推广、赛事内容生产……业务非常繁琐驳杂，每一项需要较高专业水准和丰富的从业经验才能应对。简而言之，经纪人只需要照顾好明星球员，日常工作内容相对单一，走的是轻资产模式，而赛事运营推广则是事无巨细都要亲力亲为，属于典型的重资产模式。一经对比，睢冉这种转型力度和面临的挑战之大可想而知。本次学体联之所以对耐高、中国初中篮球联赛独家运营推广商进行重新招标，本身就是为解决前运营商资金违约、赛事运营不稳定的问题，如今睢冉领衔的寰铂体育中标，接下来，该公司肯定要接受全国数万名学生球员和家长们的审视。毕竟，寰铂目前尚且没有全国中学生联赛全周期落地实操案例，他们的赛事运营推广水准如何，有待实战检验。此外，经纪人和赛事运营这两项业务的边界和利益关联也需要精准界定。眼下，只要在篮球圈提及睢冉，他身上著名经纪人的标签可谓无人不知无人不晓，旗下云集着一群知名球员。而随着如今寰铂负责耐高、中国初中篮球联赛，无疑又掌握了全国初高中优质篮球苗子的选拔渠道。近水楼台先得月，如何打通这些球员资源的同时又确保赛事公平公正，这也是可以预见到的未来绕不开的核心议题。校园赛事具备公益属性，睢冉团队擅长商业开发，如何平衡商业变现与学生赛事纯粹性，把赞助资金真正用于赛事升级、球员保障，也是其转型路上的一大考验。回顾往昔，睢冉依托独有的球员资源，在退役后顺利转型成为业内首屈一指的著名经纪人。如今他又将尝试从经纪人转型成为校园篮球赛事运营专家，他的寰铂体育能否超越原来的篮战体育，或许只有未来五年的运营成果才能给出答案。

H |