Zaijian, Yao Ming
Image from www.bleacherreport.com
In the fall of 2004 I came to Lianyungang, China to teach English to a group of high-school students. I was 23 years old, spoke no Chinese, and had never formally taught before. The vast majority of my students were good sports, but a few clearly didn't want to be there. After my initial efforts to engage them fell short, I mostly was content to let them sit in the back of the class and doze off.
One boy in the class was particularly difficult to reach- he never spoke, and since I couldn't speak any Chinese we mostly communicated in nods and grunts. One day, while walking home, I saw him shooting hoops by himself. He waved at me, and I came over. For the first time, he spoke to me in English.
"You are American, aren't you?"
"Yes"
"Do you like basketball?"
"Yes, I do"
His eyes lit up. He then spat out the names of some of the league's marquee players. Kobe Bryant. Allen Iverson. Shaq. Then, he managed to ask me which team I liked.
"Warriors"
Appropriately, he laughed in pity. For unfamiliar readers, the Warriors were then (and still are) a laughingstock of the NBA, a team that had been terrible for years. I asked him about his favorite team.
"Lakers. I like Kobe," he replied immediately. Of course. The Lakers are the Manchester United or New York Yankees of the NBA, the marquee franchise.
We then parted ways, silently acknowledging that we had ran out of language with which to communicate. But for the rest of that year, that student would diligently supply me with the number of points Kobe scored each game. 27. 32. 16. 47. And while I don't think his English ever developed much beyond that, basketball at least provided him with a portal into the language and the cultures that use it.
That, more than anything, is the legacy of Yao Ming, who has the distinction of being the first Chinese star in NBA history. Can you imagine the pressure that he must have felt? In China, stellar athletes are seldom found, randomly, in rural sandlots or anonymous urban gyms. They're bred, cultivated, nurtured, trained, and funnelled into a life where they have little choice but to excel in the sport, whether they like it or not. For a man of extraordinary height (7 feet 6 inches) like Yao Ming, basketball was to be his profession from the beginning- whether he liked it or not.
At an age when most people are still trying to find themselves, Yao went to America as the first pick in the NBA draft by the Houston Rockets. Being picked first is a great honor for any player, of course, but also a great burden: in a game like basketball, a first overall pick has the fate of the franchise resting on his shoulders. So Yao not only had the usual baggage associated with being a high draft pick but also the weight of a billion Chinese eyes to deal with. And- it should go without saying- he was a young man with limited language skills sent to a faraway country, thousands of miles from family and friends and everything familiar. Being in a similar situation myself, I understood that that pressure alone could be unbearable at times. And I was just an anonymous English teacher, not a famous professional athlete.
Given all that, it would have been easy to understand of Yao crumbled- if the big man from China couldn't hack it in America, with all the heckling fans and bright lights and translators and handlers. No one would have blamed him if after a while he decided to return to China and attempt to live an ordinary life.
But instead Yao Ming turned himself into one of the very best players in the game. Prior to his career, men of his size in the NBA were typically awkward freaks, players called upon to do little else besides block shots and disrupt an opposing team's offense. But Yao was a force. When he was on his game, there were few players more dominant on the floor than the center from China. Yao not only shut down opposing team's big men but also could score, relying on a deft touch around the basket. Not only that, but the man was truly a gentle giant- he conducted himself with grace and aplomb, never letting the criticisms and jibes distract him from the game. Even when injuries ravaged his body in recent years, causing him to lose much of his on-court effectiveness, he was a credit to his team, the league, and his country.
Yao Ming, aged 31, has reportedly decided to retire from the NBA after nine seasons. Now wealthy and a hero on two continents, Yao seems to have set himself up very nicely in his retirement. Given what he has been through, it's difficult to imagine anyone who deserves it more.
