Word By Jenny Yun-Chen Chang/ Taiwan
Photo By Danny Wang/ Taiwan
Kaohsiung- Once again being the only representative from Kaohsiung at the Final 12 Stage of High School Basketball League (HBL), Kao-Yuan Vocational High School of Technology & Commerce (KYVS), which won its first game at home court, needs one of its seniors, Ho-Yu Chien, to be the leader.
Players at KYVS are taken good care of by Coach Ben-Yu “Sweet” Tien, whom they call “mom”. Caring and warm off the court, Sweet is super agitated while coaching that she got hyperventilation once last year. Whenever situation like this happens or when KYVS suffers from a loss, Chien is always the one who comes to Sweet and comforts her.
“He dares to talk to me the most,” Sweet said, “and he’s good at buttering me up. He always comforts me when I’m angry.”
Talking about the most considerable player on her team, Sweet can’t help but smiling. However, being a player is more about leadership, it’s not enough to just being nice to your coach.
“He’s the most experienced player on the team,” Sweet said, “even with experiences at the national team, so I want him to be a leader, to lead his fellow juniors.”
Chien is an amazing player in all aspects, but the reason why Sweet specifically points this out is that Chien gets angry on the court sometimes, and that affects younger players.
“Fellow juniors are easier affected,” Chien said, “so I can’t be affected. If I myself is affected, the whole team will panic, but I still get too emotional sometimes when I really want to win. Emotions are important, so I need to change this habit of mine.”
Chien clearly knows Coach Sweet’s goal for him, but it’s easy said than done since leadership includes a lot of communication, and although Chien is always the life of party and not afraid of talking to Sweet, this is still a challenge for him.
“I’m the youngest kid at home.” Chien said, “I have one older brother and two older sisters. I know the mission Coach wants me to accomplish, so I tell fellow juniors to focus when they’re not, but I think I could do better.”
Looking back at his performance so far, Chien thinks he’s doing better than the last stage, but he can’t focus on himself, but to pass to his teammates more. More importantly, with his ability, he should attract more defense by cutting to the paint.
Whenever Chien has the ball, the opponent might have more than one player defending him, and that’s the best timing for him to pass the ball to his teammates. Besides passing, Chien also tries to assist more rather than try to score by himself.
“Even when I’m not one of the starters,” Chien said, “I’ll watch the game first, and get more understanding of the situation on the court. This way, whenever coach tells me to be there, I can not only be in the moment, but also focus on the other team’s disadvantages and make up for our own faults to make a difference.”
Sounds pretty much like a leader, Chien is on his way to become the eldest on the team and in his family. Since his grandma’s knees are not in healthy condition for long travels, usually there are only Chien’s mother and sisters coming to the court to cheer for him.
“It’s too expensive to go back home from school too often,” Chien said, “so whenever I go back home, I try to accompany my family more, especially my grandma. She wants to come to my games so badly, but it’s not good for her health, so she never comes.”
Such a considerate grandson and player Chien is, in his last year of senior high, there are more than one goal for him to achieve. Helping the team to get great outcome at the tournament, personal growth as a leader, and last but not least, his college life in the near future.
“Of course I’d like to join my fellow seniors from KYVS,” Chien said, “but I know I’ll need to work harder before I join them. Now my job is to take charge of making the coach happy and be a good leader on the team.”
As Chien’s senior year comes half way, he’s continuing growing on and off the court, and will work his fingers to the bone to be the eldest whom he never was in the past.