Text: Tsui Man Yee , Yau Yuk Fong
Photos by Tsui Man Yee
He joined the Incheon Asian Game as a player of Hong Kong Basketball Team, which lost two games to Kuwait and Mongolia in three games at group stage, and failed to get qualified for the next round. “The basketball players of other countries have professional level but we do not, and that depends on training and mentality,” Lau said.
Lau started playing basketball, the only activity in his childhood, with his cousin. “I was not interested in basketball until my secondary school days. Once I played a game badly, one of my teammates challenged my ability, and that’s why I started to focus on training.”
Lau joined “Fukien” in 2008, as the youngest player of the basketball team, which won the first-runner up in first-division in that year. The Hong Kong Basketball League is divided into three groups, first-division, second-division and third-division. The Members of Hong Kong Basketball Team are picked by the coach group of Hong Kong Basketball Association.
The Incheon Asian Game held from Sep.19 to Oct. 4 in South Korea. Hong Kong, as a participant competing in 31 sports, got total 42 medals but none of them is from basketball events.
Lui Chor Wai, member of Eagle Baskeball team, has participated in the CBA, which is the pre-eminent men’s professional basketball league in China, thought that the basketball training system of Mainland China is better than that of Hong Kong.
“The players of China National Basketball Team have two training sessions each day and five times per week, in short, total 10 sessions a week. In contrast, the players of Hong Kong Team only get two sessions a week. The China Team can hire top foreign coaches and training partners but we have no resources to do so.”
Lau said: “players of other countries and regions have professional level but we do not.” One of reasons why Hong Kong players have such limitations, Lau pointed out, is that the young kids in Hong Kong have many choices on entertainment such as playing video games and music instruments, and most of the local basketball players are amateur without secured future.
At present, Lau is also a part-time basketball coach teaching kids to play basketball. “My parents are not exactly supporting me. They’re worried about the stability of my income.”
Henry Wong, retired international basketball referee of Hong Kong, agreed that it’s hard to see any prospects of local basketball to win medals from international games, as there is a big gap in basketball level between other regions and Hong Kong.
“In Mainland China and Taiwan, those would-be players start to be trained at the age of their eight or ten while Hong Kong, as basketball is not the Focus Sport, has never focused on youth training,” Wong said.
For the current situation of local basketball, all of our three interviewees thought the government should put more resources on basketball. “If there is still no reform, the level of Hong Kong basketball will just mark time, even drawing back,” Lui said.
