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There are times when all Yao
Ming wants to do on his time off is sleep.
Slumber is a luxury that the 24-year-old Shanghai native
has little time for. From October to June, he leads a
busy life in America, playing centre for the NBA’s
Houston Rockets and spending some 80 nights a year on
the road with his team-mates.
When the NBA season ends,
Yao heads back to his homeland, where he plays
for the Chinese National Team. Playing for Team China in
the 2004 Athens Olympics was a great honour,
Yao says, and the
emotional 67-66 win over Serbia-Montenegro was a game
he’ll never forget.
“Even though I was
disappointed that our team did not get on the medal
stand, it was such an amazing event for me to be a part
of,” says Yao. “I
think our basketball team is going to be much better in
four years. The new developing stars will be pointing
toward the games and I intend to be much better too!”
The energetic sportsman rarely stops working.
Endorsement offers come at
Yao constantly. He carefully analyses each
product, only willing to support those he likes. Such
endorsements have introduced
Yao Ming to non-basketball fans. His humorous TV
commercial for Visa was a favourite among American
viewers, making the soft-spoken player a well-known
celebrity there.
Yet there is more to Yao
than his athletic skill and business savvy. He has used
his fame to help others. Last year he hosted a telethon
to raise funds to fight SARS, and was recently named the
global Spokesperson of the Special Olympics.
Yao is pleased that
Shanghai will host the Special Olympics World Summer
Games in 2007.
He is also looking forward to introducing the
Houston Rockets to his hometown. The Rockets play a
preseason game against the Sacramento Kings in Shanghai
on October 14, the first-ever NBA game in China. The two
teams meet again in Beijing on October 17.
This mixing of cultures is typical for
Yao. Sport is a
universal language and the Chinese basketball star has
often been the translator, bringing two very different
countries together.
“Yao tries to
bridge the gap between the two cultures,” says Tim
McDougal, vice president of marketing of the Houston
Rockets. “He’s found a way to be a stand-out person in
both societies.”
The October visit to China will be a first for many
of Yao’s American
team-mates. Yao is
eager to introduce his friends to Chinese culture,
traditions and food, something he misses when he is in
Texas.
It was in Shanghai that
Yao, whose parents both played for Chinese
national teams, began his rise to basketball stardom,
playing on the Shanghai Youth Team at age 14 and then
the Chinese National Team at 18.
As a child, Yao
dreamed of being an explorer and pioneer – and his
skills have allowed that dream to come true. The 7' 6"
star is now entering his third season with the Rockets,
having been an All-Star Game starter both seasons. He
has obviously adapted to the fast-pace of the NBA. He
has also adapted well to life in Houston, which is home
to some 120,000 Chinese-Americans. He’s gotten used to
driving in the city’s crazy traffic, developed a love
for huge steaks and made good friends.
“I spend a lot of time
at home, listening to music and reading new books,” says
Yao. “My team-mates
really help me out, not just by teaching me the game,
but also some American slang!”
Although Yao often
uses the help of his translator, Colin Pine, his English
has greatly improved. “He speaks English all the time
with his team-mates,” says McDougal. “And when he speaks
English during interviews, fans are just blown away by
his fun personality.”
It’s obvious that Yao
has earned the respect of those he works with. “Yao
Ming is one of the most remarkable young men I’ve
ever met,” says Barry Warner, president of Asian
Southwest Media in Texas. “He’s very atypical of today’s
athletes. He’s humble and has a good perspective on
life. I’m sure he would make an impact on society
whatever he did. His parents have great reason to be
proud of him.”
Yao is known for his
great sense of humour. “He’s quick with a joke,” says
Warner. “I’ve seen him laugh so hard that he has doubled
over and fallen into his locker. The only time I’ve seen
him down was when the Rockets traded Steve Francis,
Cuttino Mobley and Kelvin Cato (former Rockets players),
his good friends, to Orlando.”
There is something inside of
Yao that makes him
work harder and want to do even better, says Rockets’
strength and conditioning coach Anthony Falsone, who
travelled to China this past summer to prepare
Yao for the Olympics.
“Yao understands
what he represents,” Falsone says. “How he handles
himself and everything he does is really a
representation of a whole country, and he understands
that. There is more to it than just him playing
basketball and doing well for himself. “
Yao Ming is one of
the few NBA players who has fans all over the world, and
the Houston Rockets gained a whole new fan base when
Yao joined their team.
At first, they weren’t sure how to reach that audience.
In the end, the Rockets hired Chinese web developers to
design a stand-alone website in traditional and
simplified Chinese, says Audrey Cheng Trevino, the
Rockets’ director of strategic planning.
The website also offers a weekly radio interview
with Yao – in
Mandarin. Houston resident Andy
Yao hosts an online
interview show, “The Big Hour”, for the city’s
Chinese-American community. Such technology allows fans
to keep up with Yao Ming.
In fact, communicating with his fans is so important
to Yao that he
recently launched two of his own websites –
www.yaoming.net and
www.yaomingfanclub.com.
The first is his official site and the second is a fan
club.
“I felt it was really important for me to have the
websites because it is a way for me to reach out to my
fans,” Yao explains.
“My goal was to allow fans to interact with me. Even
though I have a busy schedule, I want my loyal fans to
feel that they can still reach out to me when they want
to during the season and the off-season. Fans can read
the journals that I post on the websites, ask me
questions and look at my stats.”
It’s obvious that Yao
Ming cares about his fans, but that fame has come
at a price. These days, it’s almost impossible for him
to go out to eat or even go shopping. And when he does
venture out with friends, Yao
is almost always mobbed.
“Everybody recognises Yao,”
says Falsone. “In a way, it’s a double-edged sword.
Because of his great ability, he’s created this
character that can’t really go out and enjoy life,
especially in China. I’d say he was like the Beatles,
only the Beatles didn’t speak Chinese and
Yao doesn’t sing, but
other than that, it’s exactly the same.”
So when the world becomes too demanding,
Yao simply retreats to
the peaceful solitude of his home, where he enjoys his
mother’s home-cooked meals and playing games on his
computer. He likes to surf the net, and sometimes he
even goes online to chat with his fans.
Who knows? Next time you venture online, you may
just find yourself chatting with China’s humble
superstar himself.
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