Comprehensive partnership between NBA and the Chinese Ministry of Education grows sport at grassroots

Cleanups and speeches are what Chinese children expect on the opening day of school but students at Shanghai Wuai High School started their new semester in a surprising and fun way by practicing basketball with the NBA's Most Valuable Player, Stephen Curry, at the school's gym on Sept 8.

The visit of the champion Golden State Warriors' star was part of the initiative established last year between the NBA and China's Ministry of Education to introduce a fitness and basketball curriculum to elementary and secondary schools, which aims to involve at least three million students by 2017.

Curry, who showed off the NBA championship trophy at the school, instructed Chinese students in a clinic before sharing his ideas about how basketball and physical education can enhance teamwork, discipline and mutual respect.

China's Vice-Premier, Liu Yandong, who witnessed the signing of the partnership in Beijing last October, envisions greater relations between the US and China through the basketball education program and sees it as a sequel to the 'ping-pong diplomacy' in the 1970s.

"The China-US relationship is the most important bilateral relationship. Only by deepening people-to-people exchanges in various fields can we build a strong social foundation for it," Liu said during her visit to Houston, Texas, in June.

"Sports are one of the earliest areas used in people-to-people relationships and the NBA is a champion at doing this," she said.

After a game at the World Table Tennis Championships in 1971, Chinese player Zhuang Zedong presented a gift to US paddler Glenn Cowan, who inadvertently rode on China's team bus. Later, the US squad was invited to China for a friendly tour, which paved way for then-US president Richard Nixon's visit to China in 1972 and ultimately the establishment of the two countries' diplomatic ties in 1979.

Invited by the NBA, the Tsinghua High School team visited Houston for a six-day clinic in June and played an exhibition game with a local select high school squad, which was watched by Liu, NBA China CEO David Shoemaker and former Rockets' All Star center Yao Ming.

Liu encouraged the Chinese students to bridge the cultural gap between China and the US on the basketball court as Yao did during his remarkable nine-year NBA career.

According to Shoemaker, four clinics for students and two for coaches have been held since the initiative was launched last October.

"To have the vice-premier here and witness this basketball diplomacy is really wonderful. I think it's a statement of how important the partnership is in her role of overseeing culture and sport," said Shoemaker.

During Liu's visit, NBA China also announced it would provide 10 million yuan ($1.57 million) to build and refurbish public basketball courts across China as part of its partnership with the education ministry.

The pledge was formalized at a signing ceremony by Shoemaker and Hao Ping, China's vice education minister, at the US-China High-Level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange on June 23 in Washington, DC.

"The Chinese government attaches great importance to physical education. We highly appreciate the NBA's efforts to promote basketball and improve basketball education in Chinese schools," said Hao.

As part of the expanded partnership, the NBA will help build three public basketball courts with modern facilities at the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai, the Longgang Universiade Center in Shenzhen and the High-Tech Sports Center in Chongqing.

A basketball curriculum will soon be completed and then implemented as part of the compulsory PE program in Chinese schools, according to NBA China.

Before receiving governmental backing, the NBA teamed with retired Yao to boost youth development.

In October 2013, NBA China and Yao launched an after-school basketball program, the NBA Yao School, in Beijing, which provides basketball training and fitness programs for boys and girls at all skill levels, while also stressing the importance of teamwork, leadership and communication.

"We hope that by playing basketball together, children can learn how to make new friends, how to work with others and how to stay confident facing adversity," said Yao, who has been actively promoting youth development through physical education and charity since he retired in 2011.

The NBA-Yao venture also saw active NBA stars visit the Yao Foundation Hope Primary School Basketball Season training camps, an annual charitable program designed to help Chinese students in underprivileged areas learn basketball and English.

In September 2011, the CBA Dongguan Basketball School, an NBA training center, was launched for elite players aged 12-17, and has since had more than 2,000 young players and coaches pass through its doors.

sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily USA 09/25/2015 page14)