During this time, Chinese basketball needed Yao Ming to worry about a lot of things.
The Chinese men's basketball team fell into a trough in the World Cup, the three-man basketball men's and women's teams entered the final stage of the Paris Olympics, and the journey of the Hangzhou Asian Games is just around the corner... But during his two days in Macau, Yao Ming talked about only one topic the most – charity.
Yao Ming interacts with the children.
Last weekend, Yao Ming and thousands of spectators witnessed the "Galaxy Entertainment Group 2023 11th Yao Foundation Charity Competition" after three years. With Jeremy Lin's "tie-breaker" in the final moments of the game, the international basketball stars finally had the last laugh 147-144.
However, the difference between victory and loss has never been the focus of this charity match. Since Yao Ming and Nash first brought charity basketball games to China in 2007, nearly 3.72 million rural teenagers have benefited from 11 games in 15 years.
"Sports has great benefits, but in fact, there are even bigger benefits that need to be explored by all of us." Yao Ming said, "The road is long, and I believe that as long as the relevant parties can reach a consensus and meet each other halfway, it will be far away." ”
Match site.
The loudest cheers
This is the first time that the Yao Foundation Charity Tournament has come to Macau, and for Macau fans, the star and guest line-up of the game has enough reason to stay outside an hour or two earlier - the international basketball star team invited Jeremy Lin and Isaiah Thomas, once the "strongest 175 on the surface"; Among the guests, there were also Yi Jianlian, Su Bingtian and Fan Zhiyi, who had just retired.
"Being able to participate in a charity competition like this means a lot to me, and I give my best every time I play." As early as the press conference the day before the game, Thomas Jr. had already whetted the appetite of the fans, "The most important thing is that I will put a smile on the face of everyone who comes to the game. ”
Thomas didn't break his word. He put on an "Ankle Terminator" performance from the first quarter, and his seriousness led the rest of the international basketball star team players, Joseph Young first copied the "Janway Connection", assisted Thorne Meck to perform a two-handed dunk, and then he hit frequent long-range 3-pointers.
Kids on the game.
However, the climax of the whole game came in the third quarter - since 2013, this charity game has a tradition of handing the third quarter to the best 20 young players selected in the annual "Yao Foundation Basketball Season".
When Xiao Xinlei from Luoyuan, Fujian Province, used her skillful dribbling to change into the penalty area at the beginning, thousands of spectators at the scene involuntarily exclaimed.
When Liang Wenhan from Zigong, Sichuan Province, hit a difficult stepback jumper, the stadium boiled over - the fans, who were supposed to watch the star's performance, gave the loudest cheers to this group of young players who stood on such a big stage for the first time.
Lambek lifts the child to complete the slam dunk.
Throughout the quarter, the players of the Chinese star team and the international star team have also been accompanying these young players on the sidelines, constantly giving guidance and encouragement, and Kelan Baike and Thorne Meck also personally came on the court to pick up the young players to complete the slam dunk.
"Since joining the Yao Foundation basketball season, I have practiced basketball harder and harder..." At the end of the third quarter, Xiao Xinlei, who was standing in the center of the court for an interview, suddenly lost the sharpness of the game and was nervous and unable to speak, at that moment, the players who were originally warming up at both ends of the court all stopped, turned to this little girl, and led all the audience to applaud her.
Then, Xiao Xinlei took a deep breath and confidently raised her voice, "Because of basketball, I study harder and practice more seriously." ”
Thorne Meck also picked up the children.
15 years of perseverance
This warm and touching moment left by Xiao Xinlei, the star players and the audience may be one of the most important reasons why Yao Ming has insisted on the Yao Foundation Charity Tournament in the past 15 years.
Once upon a time, when some star players could not participate in the charity game due to external reasons, Yao Ming was asked whether he would worry about the lack of attention" and "how to face the storm of ticket refunds", he once replied: "This charity game is mainly to raise funds for the elementary school basketball season and hope to provide a steady stream of financial support." I hope that more people will pay attention to children through competitions, identify with the way we do things, change their attitude to life through sports, and stand up spiritually. ”
Since the completion of the first Yao Foundation Hope Primary School in 2008, the Yao Foundation Charity Competition has been suspended several times in the past 15 years, but Yao Ming, as the founder of the Yao Foundation, has been insisting.
Yao Ming delivered a speech on the spot.
He taught for 14 days at a rural primary school in Guang'an, Sichuan; He once competed free throws on a cement court with a group of kids who had no contact with basketball at all; He once received a cookie from a left-behind child named Liang Zongwei, and then he was completely moved by the light in the child's eyes...
In those years, Yao Ming led his team alone, trying to change the life trajectory of rural teenagers through basketball.
Yao Ming himself also sighed, "It turns out that I really spent a lot of time on the Yao Foundation, one-third of my time was spent on it." After becoming the president of the Chinese Basketball Association, he did not completely let go of the charity game and the children in the rural school.
In 2018, the Beijing Yao Foundation was officially registered, Yao Ming's wife Ye Li took over the "big banner" of the Yao Foundation from her husband's hands and officially became the chairman of the foundation, as the head of Chinese basketball, Yao Ming became Ye Li's "man behind him".
Jeremy Lin led the young players in.
According to public data, as of 2022, the Yao Foundation Hope Primary School basketball season has been held for 11 consecutive sessions so far, cooperating with 49 colleges and universities across the country, sending a total of 4,754 volunteer teaching volunteers to carry out sports volunteer teaching, basketball training, training leagues and other activities in more than 3,000 schools in 30 provinces across the country, while providing hardware support, nearly 3.72 million rural teenagers have benefited from it.
Just two weeks ago, the 12th China Charity Award Commendation Conference was held in the Great Hall of the People, and in the Decision on Commending the Winners of the 12th "China Charity Award" issued by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the "Yao Foundation Hope Primary School Basketball Season", co-sponsored by the Yao Foundation and the China Youth Development Foundation, was listed as the only sports public welfare project.
Established in 2005, the China Charity Award is the highest government award in the field of public welfare and philanthropy in China, aiming to recognize individuals, institutions and projects that have made outstanding contributions in the fields of disaster relief, elderly assistance, disability assistance, orphan relief, poverty relief, education assistance, medical assistance, and support for culture, art, environmental protection and other public welfare and philanthropy.
The young players of the Yao Foundation basketball season and the young players of Macao competed together.
"The future is more than basketball"
"Sports is not just about winning gold and silver, it's not just about getting fit. Sports play an irreplaceable role in enhancing individual self-esteem, condensing social consensus, promoting value recognition, and promoting the healthy development of various groups, and the value of sports public welfare should be discussed from a larger pattern. ”
During the 11th Yao Foundation Charity Competition held in Macao, Lu Hao, Vice Chairman of the Yao Foundation, said this at a public welfare seminar with the theme of "Sports Benefit Up".
This year's seminar covered topics such as "sports events and city branding", "sports for youth health and community development", and "integration of sports and medicine to promote the forward movement of health".
Yao Ming attended the seminar.
At the seminar, Zhong Bingshu, vice president of the China Collegiate Sports Association, former vice president of Beijing Sport University and former president of Capital Institute of Physical Education, talked about the future development direction of "physical and medical integration" and "physical health integration" - that is, sports public welfare institutions can set up "sports and health" demonstration schools, organically integrate health and physical education, cultivate talents with physical education integration into school-related positions, and gradually promote the integration process.
"Many people have neglected the health part of physical education and health classes in schools, and after the promulgation of this year's new curriculum standards, there are books on physical education and health, so can we add health classes to the demonstration school of the Yao Foundation basketball season?" Zhong Bingshu put forward a new direction and higher expectations for the future Yao Foundation basketball season for Yao Ming.
"Will these basketball coaches trained by Yao Foundation still be coaches who only teach technology in the future, and can they be integrated into health education?" Through basketball education, cultivate healthier people, good technology, flexible minds, and then professional ethics, and mentally healthy people, bring such coaches to more schools, we can gradually achieve 'physical education integration' and 'physical health integration' from top to bottom. ”
Yao Ming led Chinese and foreign players to visit Macao Educational Secondary School.
Yao Ming himself said that he has felt pressure in these years of adhering to public welfare, but these are also the motivation for him to continue to adhere to the Yao Foundation basketball season and charity games, which is why he brings charity games to different cities every year, and personally invites celebrities from all walks of life to attend charity dinners every year, and continues to raise funds for rural schools through charity auctions.
Just like this year's charity dinner, after he attended Yi Jianlian's retirement ceremony, he invited Yi Jianlian to Macau and brought the pair of signed shoes that were sold at auction for 510,000 yuan.
Yao himself took out a pair of signature shoes and a signed basketball, and eventually sold for 2 million yuan — according to official figures, at this auction, the Yao Foundation raised 5.59 million yuan for rural schools.
Yi Jianlian came to the charity competition.
"As a sports practitioner, I feel both honored and pressured because there are more and more connected things, many of which are beyond our knowledge and require us to strengthen our own learning."
"There's a lot of pressure because there's some industry we've never been exposed to, and we're afraid of taking the wrong step but having to try. We will slowly clarify the expert opinions in the seminar so that more people can understand them. ”
Yao Ming hopes that the charity tournament will affect more people after 15 years, and he has said more than once that charity is "more than basketball" - "When sports become an indispensable part of every public's daily life and lifestyle, then naturally the goal of sports public welfare can be achieved." ”