HARBIN, China   An enormous red-and-gold banner stretches down the gray masonry front of the No. 19 High School in this northern Chinese city, proclaiming its proudest achievement: Ninety-two percent of this year's graduates won admission to universities.
Like most Chinese high schools, No. 19 has no sports teams and no gymnasium. On the pavement outside, there are a handful of basketball hoops and a set of rusty metal parallel bars. The playground was completely empty on a recent summer afternoon.
The winners of the Nike-sponsored tournament in Harbin pose with their winnings: new Nike basketball shoes and other gear.
'The cool kids are the ones who do best at their studies,' says Niu Shibin, 18. Mr. Niu, who will be a junior in September, says he likes to play basketball, but his nearly 12 hours a day of school work leave him little time.
China's elite young athletes may be winning a lot of medals at the Olympics. But in China, organized sports still aren't really something for regular kids.
Less than 3% of Chinese secondary-school students attend schools with sports teams. Children with exceptional athletic prowess or physical attributes are pulled out of ordinary schools early on and sent to the special academies that train the country's sporting elite.
That poses a big challenge for sporting-goods companies such as Nike Inc. and Adidas AG. Both are looking to China and its 1.3 billion people to drive sales growth and both have set out to transform Chinese youth sports.
'We have to make sport accessible to children to really build a market for this business,' says Terry Rhoads, a former Nike executive who is now general manager of sports-marketing firm Zou Marketing Ltd. in Shanghai.
Across town from No. 19 High School in late July, Nike was trying to do just that. As American pop and hip-hop music pounded, high-school and college students battled on outdoor courts under a bright midday sun in a Nike-sponsored basketball tournament.
More than 400 teams competed over three days in Harbin to earn the right to play against winners from three other cities   where a total of another 1,600 teams played -- in a championship match in Shanghai.
To promote participation in sports, Nike and Adidas also have organized high-school sports leagues. They run training programs for coaches and have invested in public sports facilities. Neither company will disclose how much they spend on the programs.
Nike's high-school basketball league now includes nearly 2,500 kids at 205 schools in 20 cities across China. The company runs summer training camps where U.S. coaches tutor aspiring players. And this year, it is launching a high-school soccer league in 16 cities.
More than 30,000 high-school students in 15 cities already play soccer every year in a league sponsored by Adidas, which has also trained more than 1,500 soccer coaches. Another 8,000 players in six cities compete in the company's summer basketball league.
 'Our focus is to develop sports, to give individuals the chance to participate,' says Paul Pi, Adidas vice president of marketing for China. 'We're trying to reach more people.'
All the sports evangelism, not surprisingly, comes with a heavy dose of commercialism.
The courts used for the Nike tournament in Harbin were festooned with ads for the company's new, lightweight Hyperdunk basketball shoe, which costs about 1,200 yuan (about $175). The average annual per capita gross domestic product in Harbin in 2007 was about $3,400. Pairs were given as a prize to players on the winning teams as they were photographed for local newspapers and sports Web sites.
Next to the courts, in a giant air-conditioned tent, Nike set up a shrine to the players on the U.S. and China national basketball teams, both of which are sponsored by Nike. Among the items on display: mannequins of all the players dressed out in Nike gear.
Jin Xin, 20, a college sophomore, was touring the exhibits with a friend, both of them wearing Dallas Mavericks jerseys. Mr. Jin, a math major, says he plays basketball nearly every day, and cut class to watch the NBA finals this year. 'It's very, very cool to play basketball,' he says.
'I think Nike shoes are the best. But it is so expensive,' Mr. Jin says. 'I'm saving money. One day I will buy a pair.'
China's sporting culture is developing at 'an explosive rate,' says Charlie Denson, the Nike executive in charge of the Nike brand. China has been Nike's second-largest market after the U.S. since 2007. Sales in China topped $1 billion in Nike's latest fiscal year, which ended in June. U.S. sales for the period were $6.4 billion.
Adidas says that it expects sales in China to surpass $1 billion by 2010. This year, Adidas expects China to pass Japan and become the company's No. 2 market. The U.S. ranks first.
Much of that is the result of China's enormous size, coupled with the rapidly rising disposable income of the country's new urban middle class, which is concentrated in booming eastern cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
The challenge now for sporting-goods companies is to keep the growth going. Overall sporting-goods sales in China vastly lag those in the U.S., and per-capita spending is even further behind. So companies such as Nike and Adidas remain focused on grassroots promotions.
Zou Marketing's Mr. Rhoads is hopeful that in the years after the Olympics China will start devoting more money to sports and physical education in regular schools. Many hurdles remain, though.
'There are still a lot of school administrators and parents who see sports as a frivolous waste of time,' he says. There's also the fact that schools that can afford sports programs tend to be in cities and lack the space for playing fields and other facilities.
That is the opposite of the situation in many suburban U.S. communities, where children start playing organized sports such as soccer and tee ball at an early age. Many U.S. high schools face criticism for devoting too much attention and resources to sports programs and shortchanging academics or other extracurricular activities such as music and art.
Resistance from parents and children themselves is likely to be the biggest brake. In many of China's one-child households   the result of the country's strict family-planning policies -- parents see their children's academic and professional success as critical to the family's financial survival.
Many children are under enormous pressure to do well on exams in order to get into good high schools and then good universities so that they can land secure and well-paying jobs. 'Parents are very focused on education and success in the school system,' says Mr. Pi.
'My father doesn't want me to play,' says Cai Peihan, a reedy, bespectacled middle-school student in Harbin, playing a game of H-O-R-S-E with some friends on the basketball court next to the Nike tournament. 'He thinks it will affect my studies.'
He can only play on the weekends. He typically spends eight hours a day in class, and an additional two hours every day on homework and studying. 'I wish we could play in school.'
Sportswear companies also need to persuade kids that sports are something for them and not just for an elite of state-selected athletes, with whom regular students often have a hard time identifying.
'People do feel proud of them, especially when they compete on the world stage,' says Nike's China communications director, Ginger Zhu. 'But their sense of connection with the athletes isn't there. They don't see that they have anything in common with them.'
In an effort to present athlete role-models who resonate with ordinary kids, Nike this year sponsored something it called the Kobe Mentor programs. Thirty student basketball players were chosen from around the country by coaches and Nike scouts. The players were then sent to train with Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant.
Players were eliminated, reality-show style, until 16 were left, who then spent weeks training with Mr. Bryant and his coaches. The process was turned into a six-installment television series and broadcast on the Chinese equivalent of ESPN. One of the most popular players with fans was a 5-foot-10 Beijing high-school student named Zhang Hengshan.
Nike and Adidas are also looking to tap another nascent market: white-collar workers in China's big cities, who see sports as part of the modern, urban lifestyle to which they aspire, but who didn't have the opportunity to do organized athletics as kids.
Gym membership in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou is exploding. Nike sponsors exercise-dance programs of university-aged girls, and is organizing training runs, complete with coaches, for people participating in a Nike-sponsored 10-kilometer race at the end of August. Adidas sponsors gyms and conducts running clinics for people who do much of their jogging on gym treadmills.
One of the clearest signs that attitudes are changing: a rearrangement of the hierarchy in schools where basketball is taking off.
'The cool kids play basketball,' says Wang Zhuo, wearing a yellow T-shirt and clutching the hand of her 6-foot-tall, basketball playing boyfriend on the sidelines of a match at the Nike tournament in Harbin.
'Sometimes it helps guys get girlfriends,' Ms. Wang observed. 'Many of my friends like boys who play basketball.'
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中国北部城市哈尔滨第十九中学，灰色的砖 前挂着一面巨大的金红两色标语，展示着这座学校最引以为荣的成就：今年该校有92%的毕业生考入了大学。
和绝大多数中国高中一样，哈尔滨十九中没有运动队和体育馆。教室外面的操场竖着几个篮球架和生锈的金属双杠。前不久一个夏日午后，操场上空空荡荡。
耐克(Nike)篮球巡回赛哈尔滨站的获胜者正在展示他们的奖品：崭新的耐克篮球鞋和其他装备。
18岁的牛世宾（音）说，学习好的人最牛。9月份就要进入大学的牛世宾说，他喜欢打篮球，但每天要花将近12个小时学习，实在没时间打球。
中国年轻的体育精英们在奥运会上摘金夺银，势不可挡。但对于中国的普通孩子来说，有组织的体育运动仍没有真正进入他们的生活。
在中国，大约不到3%的学生所在中学有运动队。运动天分过人或身体条件超常的孩子会很早就离开普通学校，被选拔进培养未来体育菁英的专业体校。
对耐克和阿迪达斯(Adidas AG)等运动用品公司来说，这种状况无疑是一大挑战。两家公司都极为重视拥有13亿人口的中国市场，希望能借此推动销售增长；它们都不约而同地开始着手改变中国年轻人的体育活动。
曾在耐克公司担任管理职务的陆海瑞(Terry Rhoads)表示，我们必须让孩子有机会参加体育运动，才能在中国培养出市场。陆海瑞目前是运动市场营销公司前锐商务咨询有限公司(Zou Marketing Ltd.)的董事总经理。
篮球循环赛就是耐克在这方面所做的尝试。7月下旬，耐克篮球循环赛来到了哈尔滨。在节奏强劲的美国流行音乐和Hip Hop音乐声中，高中生和大学生们在正午阳光下展开激战。
为期三天的哈尔滨站比赛吸引了400多只队伍报名，他们中的优胜者将前往上海，与来自其他三个城市（总共1,600只参赛队伍）的获胜者争夺总冠军。
为了鼓励年轻人参与运动，耐克和阿迪达斯还组织了高中联赛。两大公司为教练提供培训项目，并投资于公共运动设施。两家公司都没有透露它们在这方面的投资规模。
目前耐克高中篮球联赛已经发展到中国20个城市，覆盖了205所学校的将近2,500名学生。此外，耐克每年还举办夏季训练营，请来美国教练指导那些有抱负的学生。今年耐克正在16个城市推出了高中足球联赛。
阿迪达斯在足球方面已经先行一步，在其赞助的高中足球联赛中，每年有15个城市的3万多名学生参赛。阿迪达斯还为1,500多名足球教练提供了培训机会。另有六个城市的8,000名学生参加了该公司的夏季篮球联赛。
阿迪达斯大中华区营销副总裁毕宝元(Paul Pi)表示，我们的重点是发展体育运动，给个人参与的机会。我们努力让更多的人有机会参与。
当然，这种推广体育的活动带有浓厚的商业气息。
耐克在哈尔滨的比赛场地四周布满了该公司新品Hyperdunk超轻篮球鞋的广告。这双鞋售价大约在人民币1,200元（合175美元左右）。去年哈尔滨的人均GDP大约是3,400美元。获胜队员的奖品就是这款球鞋，他们领奖的照片会出现在本地报纸和体育网站上。
耐克还在场地旁边设了一个装有空调的巨大帐篷，里面展示的是耐克赞助的美国和中国国家篮球队员的模型。所有这些模型从头到脚全都是耐克的装备。
20岁的大二学生靳新(音)和一个朋友来看参观，他俩都穿着达拉斯小牛队的球衣。数学系的靳新表示，他几乎每天都打篮球，今年还翘课看了NBA总决赛。他说，打篮球非常非常酷。
靳新说，他觉得耐克鞋是最好的，就是太贵了。他正在省钱，有一天会给自己买一双。
耐克品牌总裁查理·登森(Charlie Denson)表示，中国的运动文化正在爆炸般地发展。去年中国已经成为了耐克第二大市场，仅次于美国市场。在耐克截至6月份的财年中，中国市场销售额超过了10亿美元，而同期美国市场销售额为64亿美元。
阿迪达斯预计，2010年中国市场销售额将超过10亿美元，并且今年中国将超过日本，成为仅次于美国的第二大市场。
这主要得益于中国巨大的市场规模，以及新兴的城市中产阶层的可支配收入迅速增长，后者主要集中在北京&#12289;上海&#12289;广州等大城市。
体育用品公司目前面临的挑战是如何保持增长。中国体育用品市场整体销售还远远落后于美国，人均消费差距更加巨大。因此，耐克和阿迪达斯等公司目前仍然专注于在普通民众中的促销。
前锐商务咨询的陆海瑞认为，奥运过后中国将开着手加大投入，发展普通学校的运动和体育教育，他对此抱有希望。不过，仍有许多障碍。
他表示，很多校方和家长仍然把运动看作是浪费时间。另一方面，能负担得起体育运动计划的学校大多位于城市，缺乏运动场地和其他设施。
很多美国城郊社区则是截然不同的情况，那里的孩子从很小就开始接触足球和棒球等团队运动。许多美国高中还面临着批评，认为他们将过多的精力和资源放在了运动项目上，从而对学习以及音乐与艺术等课外活动有所忽略。
来自家长和孩子本身的阻力可能是最大的障碍。在许多中国独生子女家庭（中国严格计划生育政策的产物）中，家长都把孩子的学业和职业成就视为维持家庭财务状况的关键。
很多孩子也承受着巨大压力，他们得在考试中取得好成绩，进入重点中学和名牌大学，这样才能获得稳定和高薪工作。毕宝元说，家长们非常重视教育和孩子在学校取得的成绩。
带着眼镜&#12289;显得很文静的蔡培汉（音）说，我爸爸不希望我玩。这名哈尔滨中学生和朋友在耐克循环赛旁边的球场上投篮。他说，爸爸觉得这会影响我的学习。
蔡培汉只有在周末才有时间玩。他每天要在课堂上度过八个小时，还要花两个小时做作业和学习。他说，我希望我们有时间在学校玩。
体育用品公司还需要让孩子们相信，运动是属于每个人的，而不只是那些优秀运动员的专利，普通学生通常很难把自己和这些体育明星们联系起来。
耐克中国传媒总监朱近倩(Ginger Zhu)说，人们的确为运动员感到骄傲，尤其是当他们在国际舞台竞技时。但人们缺乏对运动员的联系感，他们认为运动员和自己没有共同点。
为了展现能和普通孩子产生共鸣的体育明星的模范作用，耐克今年赞助了一个叫作Kobe Mentor的项目。耐克球探和教练从中国各地选拔出30位学生球员。这些球员随后会得到和洛杉矶湖人队后卫科比·布莱恩特(Kobe Bryant)一道训练的机会。
这些球员将通过真人秀式的淘汰，直至剩下16人，留下来的人将和布莱恩特及他的教练们一起训练。这个过程被制作成一个六集的电视节目，在中国的体育频道上播放。此次活动中最受欢迎的球员之一是来自北京的高中生──身高5英尺10英寸的张衡山（音）。
耐克和阿迪达斯还把目标对准了另一个新兴市场：中国大城市的白领人群。他们把运动视为自己喜欢的现代都市生活的一部分，但这些人却没有参加团队运动的机会。
北京&#12289;上海和广州等城市的健身会员正在迅猛增长。耐克赞助了大学女生的健身操项目；对参加8月底耐克组织10公里长跑比赛的人，耐克还为他们提供了包括教练在内的全套训练计划。阿迪达斯赞助了一些健身房，并为主要在健身房慢跑的人提供了跑步讲座。
一个事实很明显地反映了年轻人对运动的态度正在转变：打篮球的人在学校里的地位发生了巨大变化。
王卓（音）说，打篮球的人很酷。她穿着一件黄色的T恤，牵着身旁6英尺高打篮球的男朋友的手，这个男孩子也是来参加耐克巡回赛哈尔滨站比赛的。
王卓说，有时候篮球能帮男孩子找到女朋友，我的很多朋友都喜欢打篮球的男孩。
