https://padlet.com/jinsoljeong97/8j1vv39qcvw6kkro en-us 2022-07-24 01:08:19 UTC 2026-03-01 22:22:37 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.com/jinsoljeong97/8j1vv39qcvw6kkro/wish/2248710131 Excerpt from Yao Ming: The Road to the NBA written by Chunfei Xiao

After Yao Ming became a number-one center, a lot of people said that he had loved basketball ever since he was little, and that his parents had practiced playing ball with him from a young age. But Yao Ming, Yao Ming’s parents, and his teachers and coaches, as well as his companions at that time, all say that at first he didn’t like basketball at all, and that during those years basketball was just another game to him. […]
“It was probably around 1998 to 1999 that I first started to like basketball.” Yao Ming remembers. “When I first started, it was kind of like I was half being forced into it, purely because at the time my parents were basketball players, and I also felt like I was doing it for their benefit, and so I said that no matter what, I would just have to do my best and stick it out. But I didn’t know why I went to play basketball. So I eventually joined a basketball team; maybe it was just my fate. Then in 1998-1999 I played in a lot of international competitions, and then, especially after playing in the 2000 Olympics, I realized how marvelous high-level basketball was!”
Because he was tall, and because his achievements and basketball gave him an increasingly greater sense of accomplishment, Yao Ming discovered more and more how fascinating basketball was. Yao Ming has waxed poetic in describing the basketball that he loves so earnestly:
“The sounds of the court, the atmosphere of the court, bodies colliding, the sweat flying off from the impact, plus the ‘swoosh’ of the ball as it goes through the basket, the sound of basketball shoes scraping on the court, and the ‘tick-tock, tick-tock’ of the time clock as it runs, the sound of the referees’ whistles – all of these are beautiful to hear! Just like a symphony.”
He says, “As far as I am concerned, basketball is a part of life. Life is all, and basketball is part of life.]]> 2022-07-24 07:56:18 UTC https://padlet.com/jinsoljeong97/8j1vv39qcvw6kkro/wish/2248710131