A dream held up by a ball.

 Interview with the Chinese table soccer navigator - Li Dehua

"As the heavens are moving, a gentleman must be self-improving." When I first met Chairman Li Dehua, his speech was gentle yet sharp, showing all the magnanimity and boldness of a man floating in the business world.

Li Dehua, a private entrepreneur, was born in 1965 in JiuJiang, Jiangxi Province. As the brand founder of "Jiuxing Sports" and the navigator of Chinese table soccer, he has been sticking to the path of brand management for the past 26 years. Through scientific management, he has built Nine Stars Sports into "The Chinese Top Brand on Soccer Table" and his products are exported to more than thirty countries, including the United States, Germany, the Netherlands and etc. HOFFMANN, a famous German company, has continuously awarded the honorary title of "Top Supplier" to Jiuxing Sports.

The Entrepreneurship chapter- God's Reward, Encourage Entrepreneurship

Remembering the past, he always believed that success always belonged to those who piled on the thorns, perseverance and courage all the way through.

In 1983, Li Dehua graduated from high school and has been working in JiuJiang, Jiangxi province. Influenced by the tide of reform and opening up, in the spring of 1986, just 20 years old, he was carrying a dream to go alone to the more developed private economy region in Jiangyin City, Jiangsu Province, to make a breakthrough in the Jiangyin Synthetic Fiber Factory, adjacent to Huaxi Village, Jiangyin City. This try lasted 5 years. Because of his strong self-discipline and the spirit of unyielding, only 3 years later, the grass-roots employees promoted to senior management, he said, "I started at the bottom, learned all the contents of business management, which is a good training for me." This work experience had given him a deeper understanding of the business management model and prospects of private enterprises, laying the foundation for his future career.

Although successful outside, he has a strong hometown complex, he still resolutely embarked on the road to entrepreneurship back home. He had operated a clothing store, started a stone processing plant. The best-selling stone billiard table, let him keen to see the unlimited business opportunities. In 1994, only 28 years old Li DeHua, who was the first in JiuJiang City created the Jiuxing billiards Facility Co. Ltd. In 1998, he was elected president of JiuJiang Billiards Association. During his presidency, he organized and held 6 billiards competitions for Jiangxi province and even the whole country, and sent a large number of excellent players to Jiangxi province and even the whole country, the small pool table made him get the first bucket of "gold" in life.

In 2006, the market economic environment changed and was unstable, private enterprises also needed to find opportunities in the crisis. In order to find the long-term survival of enterprises, Li Dehua spotted on soccer table innovation industry. After meticulous market research, with the spirit of dare to try, dare to break through the boldness, he gave up the original well-managed billiard table business, but focused on the more cold table soccer table. And in January of the same year, Jiujiang Jiuxing Sports Facility Co., Ltd. was established.

During the business transformation process, due to table soccer in the domestic penetration rate is low, to delve into its production process and technology is very difficult, to solve this problem, LiDehua visited similar coastal enterprises several times, found that most enterprises in imitation of Japan and South Korea, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan enterprises' technology. In order to learn directly to the top technology, in 2010, LiDeHua traveled to Munich, Germany, Nuremberg and other places to study and brought back a world class top rods from Germany. Then he invested 2 million yuan for technology research and development. In those years, the company suffered losses for years, the partners did not believe in the market prospects of table soccer and gave up and left. But Li Dehua resolutely persisted, and together with his team, sought a breakthrough in a difficult situation, always believing that such a good sunrise sport will flourish and usher in an outbreak of momentum.

Three years later, he finally succeeded in mastering the world's most advanced table football table production technology, Jiuxing Sports began to stand out in the Canton Fair, the Sports Expo. With high quality, material beauty, high value-added and national brand to win, quickly got the recognition of the market at home and abroad, and finally made the Jiuxing Sports to become the domestic top table soccer production enterprise. Evidently, business opportunities are everywhere, and the times have made the heroes.

In recent years, Jiuxing Sports has participated in the development and compilation of eight national standards, such as the National Standard for Table Soccer Competition Equipment, the National Management Measures for Levels of Table Soccer Players, Coaches and Referees, and won a number of national patents. The professional table researched and developed by the company has been appointed by the national, provincial and municipal tournament organizing committees for many times.

In 2017, Li Dehua also registered JiuJiang Jiuxing Sports and Culture Co., Ltd. and officially started the road of training, promoting and running tournaments for table soccer, and established a professional table soccer team. Jiuxing Sports is the only company that has the ability of manufacturing, sports training and promotion, and event hosting at the same time in China.

Precision work rewards enterprise, benevolent enterprise pursuits win-win.

"Build a business with precision, win with quality" is the brand management philosophy of Nine Stars Sports. With many years on the road of enterprise business , Li Dehua knows that the life of the enterprise rely on innovation, the soul of the enterprise lies in quality, in order to win in the market competition by quality, to obtain the development of a long stream of fine water, the spirit of artisanship of excellence is essential.

He told reporters: no unscrupulous business, no business is not unscrupulous, this is called unscrupulous business, unscrupulous business in Jiuxing Sports can never exist, and will never work, we have to do real work, honestly, away from unscrupulous business, only honestly can win the world, which is also the root of the achievement of a hundred years of business!

Li Dehua regards technical research and development and quality management as the first requirement for the survival and development of the enterprise. He said: "All products produced and sold by Jiuxing Sports, as long as there are quality problems, Jiuxing Sports promises a full refund." In 2018, due to raw material quality problems, a number of products unqualified, customers claimed indemnity for more than 2 million yuan, although the payment has been into the company's account, when Li Dehua learned the incident, he notified the business department to contact customers at once: we agree to pay the full amount of compensation!

In 2020, the world has been affected to varying degrees by covid-19, Jiuxing also is very tough as an export company, but we still persist Jiuxing spirit. Li Dehua does not compromise and give up the quality standard who insists on the whole life for  any reason, no matter how difficult, always seriously control quality, no accepting, no producing and no delivering defective products.     

Li Dehua implements the "army + school + family" management mode within the company, created a cohesive, learning, combat effectiveness elite team" Employees are the creators of corporate wealth, but also the relatives of business operators. The first thing I think of when there is a surplus in the enterprise's profit is to distribute it to the employees and increase everyone's welfare and income, and the wolf culture I advocate is to let the wolves hunt as well as share the meat." Li Dehua said.

Rewards the good and helps the world

Saying the proud results achieved by Jiuxing Sports, Lee Dehua is grateful for the great times. How to continue to return to the community after the development of the enterprise? It was a question he often agonized over.

"Our goal is to build the Nine Stars brand into a top five global brand of excellence within three years," Li Dehua told reporters, "Currently 90% of Jiuxing sports products are exported, and it can be said that it does not involve the domestic market at all, but I still want to persevere in sponsoring tournaments and devote myself to the table football education and training business. Doing business is a career, not a profit-making tool. It is too much cost for me, whom is not rich.” Li Dehua insists on developing and promoting this sports with his love and selflessness.

In order to commit to the comprehensive promotion and popularization of table football sport, since 2011, " Jiuxing Sports" give away ball table free of charge for various national events and schools and provide free teaching, the amount equivalent to nearly 5 million yuan, JiuJiang City has 8 primary and secondary schools opened table football courses. In November 2018, Nine Stars rate JiuJiang Delegation for the first time Participated in the "China Table Soccer Open" and achieved 1 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medals.

In terms of table football training and teaching, Li Dehua has developed an unique teaching model, devoting 30% of his energy to quality education and assigning daily etiquette homework to students. The motherland is strong, but there is still a big gap on people’s quality between the whole population and that of developed countries. This teaching model has always been praised by the community: Since children got in touch with table soccer sport, they became sensible, do not play games, grades improved...

In late September 2019, at the "2019 National Table Football Championship" held in JiuJiang City, Jiangxi Province, the 137.7-meter table football table designed and manufactured by Jiuxing Sports successfully refreshed a new Guinness World Record as the world's longest table football table, picking up a world class Honor, highlighting the spirit of our Chinese children never give up. Li Dehua told reporters that he would donate all the 1.2 million yuan of the original plan to purchase the house and sponsor the event, and that the Jiuxing Sports had been in absolute leadership in the national table football industry, and that the ultimate goal of the Nine Stars was to "create a world brand and run first-class events".

Persist faith, have dream and create future

It is reported that Jiuxing Sports has officially applied to the State General Administration of Sports to establish the "Chinese Table Football Product Development Center" and become the only designated R&D and production enterprise of the State General Administration of Sports in this industry. At present, Jiuxing Sports cooperates with JiuJiang College, both sides fully integrate the advantageous resources, and has applied to the State General Administration of Sports to establish a "National Table Football Training Base".

Li Dehua thinks: JiuJiang locates in the forefront of the "Belt and Road" gold economic zone along the river, has inherent geographical advantages, the development of sports industry has broad prospects for development. JiuJiang can base on Mount Lu, Poyang Lake, Mount Lu West Sea, and take table football as a fulcrum industry, drive the air table, table tennis, billiards table and other industries. Make great efforts to build a production base on wood sport facility that take sports culture as the core, table soccer  industry as a symbol in the middle and lower Yangtze River. Through the introduction of international and domestic high-end events, the formation of table football tournaments, professional exhibitions, training bases, R & D centers, production bases, historical exposition and other components of the sports and cultural industry complex, and then hit the "Chinese table soccer city, the world table soccer capital", so that it has become another card to promote the economic development of JiuJiang.

Table football World Cup is held every two years, China has officially bid to host the 2023 table football World Cup, Nine Stars Sports strives to host this World Cup in Jiu Jiang. At that time, the global news media will focus on Jiu Jiang and China, which will certainly make new contributions to the local economic development and China's sports industry.

Table soccer sports is developing well, time and again against the wind and waves, time and again to rise to the occasion, it is precisely because more and more "LiDeHua" type navigators do not forget the original intention, in exchange for table football's hard work forward. For the future of table football, Li Dehua is full of beautiful expectations, he is willing to add to this dream, he will be down-to-earth, step by step, leading the "Nine Stars Sports" to continue to move forward towards a more professional, international direction!