A video clip about a one-armed teen playing basketball recently went viral on Chinese social media. The teen, in the face of a defender taller and stronger than him, managed to jump and score after swift and seamless crossover-dribbling to fake the defender out with his single arm. The video was liked tens of thousands of times and even garnered the attention of renowned basketball players including Yi Jianlian, Damian Lillard, P.J. Tucker and Stephen Curry.

The teen is Zhang Jiacheng, currently a seventh-grader in Yunfu, Guangdong Province. He lost his right arm in an accident at the age of 5.

“I don’t remember too much about the pain,” recalled Zhang. “What I do remember is that I had to learn to write and use chopsticks with my left hand, which was really tough for me at the beginning. But several months later I became accustomed to it.”

He began to play basketball in the summer of 2018 in a free basketball course offered by his school. During the following summer vacation, he signed up for another training course and it was then that he realized that he loves this sport. “How should I describe the feeling? I just couldn’t stop thinking about it. I always wanted to play basketball before going home.”

He practices playing basketball twice a day, most of the time practicing alone. He does not deny that playing with one arm causes him some trouble.

“Because I’m using only one arm, I need to move very fast. Another challenge is how to better control the ball. My left hand fingers sometimes bruise or bleed after I played for too long, but that’s no longer a problem because calluses have formed on my hand. ”

Speaking of how playing basketball has changed his life, Zhang told reporters that he is becoming more extroverted because of the sport.

“I used to be shy and had few friends, but I’ve made a lot of new friends thanks to basketball. Other boys are willing to share with me how I can play it better, and whenever I have a question, I’m not hesitant to ask them.”

The video clip that made Zhang famous was shot during a basketball game Zhang and his friends were invited to watch in Zhuhai last month. During the halftime, one of the players invited him to go one-on-one.

“I was a little nervous at the beginning because he is a professional player, but when the game started, I became immersed in it, ” said Zhang. “I heard people cheering and screaming when I was playing, and some came to hug me after I won the game. It was not until the video went viral on social media that I knew someone posted it online.”

He also said that people’s attention would encourage him to practice harder. Zhang told reporters that his idol is NBA star Kyrie Irving, and that he hopes one day he could become a professional player like him.

(Yu Yuanfan)