Zhang Qian, Wang Piaoyi

    zhqcindy@163.com

    ZHONG KE traveled more than one hour by bus from Pinghu in northern Shenzhen to Futian District in order to receive training from a group of coaches from the United States. As a PE teacher at a public school in Pinghu, Zhong wanted to improve his teaching skills.

    Like Zhong, more than 400 sports teachers from all kinds of schools in Shenzhen registered to join a weeklong basketball training camp, held from Monday to Sunday, organized by the Shenzhen Academy of Educational Science and Deyi Sports, a local sports promotion agency.

    “One of the best things about the training is that the American coaches that train us come from different levels of institutions including primary schools, middle schools, colleges and professional teams,” said Zhong during a break from yesterday’s training at Shenzhen Senior High School in Futian District.

    Zhong said that some of the training methods he had learned from the American coaches were more interesting and innovative than he had learned while studying at a teachers’ college.

    “Compared with Chinese ways of training, the American coaches’ training methods can cultivate young players’ interest in playing basketball better,” said Zhong.

    The training camp, called One Dream Elite Basketball Camp, has been held four times in Shenzhen already. Each summer, Deyi Sports invited a group of experienced basketball coaches from the United States to train local players, according to Chen Yi, a person in charge of the camp .

    A training session designed for Shenzhen’s PE teachers started in 2015. It began with 80 teachers and the number of participants increased to over 400 this year, said Chen.

    Garrett Wood was one of the American coaches that came to Shenzhen for the fourth year for the training camp. He was a basketball coach at Saint Joseph High School in California, the United States. Wood wanted to teach coaches to build relationships with players.

    “It’s important to build relationships with the players. In order to get the most out of their players, they have to respect you and like you. If so, the coaches and the players can share a common interest to get better. In America, we try to build relationships at a very young age with the players,” said Wood.

    Apart from the training camp for teachers, the organizers also prepared another weeklong training camp for 200 Shenzhen teenagers from July 12 to 18.