Basketball boy Zhang Jiacheng
wants to prove that he is no different from others and dislikes the word "one-armed"
This is a special basketball heads-up. Zhang Jiacheng held the basketball in his left hand, staring at the defensive player with a head over his head, dribbling from behind a one-handed line outside the three-point line, swaying to the left, turning around and turning back to shoot, his right arm half-empty in black The sleeve swings with the body raised and the ball is in the ball.
Zhangjiacheng is a junior high school student in Guangdong Gaofu Township Middle School. On May 30, he was invited to Zhuhai to watch a basketball game. During the game, several players invited him to single out. This video was circulated online by the audience, and after being forwarded by Curry, Lillard, Tucker, Yi Jianlian and other stars, the number of views exceeded 10 million, which caused netizens to watch the "one-armed basketball boy".
The accompanying media, arena and internet celebrity company broke the family's peaceful life. Zhang Jiacheng received shoes, signed basketball, visited Guangdong Hongyuan Basketball Club, and registered as a young athlete in Guangdong Province. He seemed to be "closer" to his basketball dream.
But this week, intensive interviews caused the 13-year-old to collapse and cry. He was invaded by interviews during his class and fixed practice time every day. He was also disturbed during practice. Someone even walked under the rebound to get close to him who was playing with his classmates.
Videos and articles tagged with "One-Handed Basketball Boys" are hot. But Zhangjiacheng hopes to be called "Basketball Boy", "I don't like the word "one arm"".
"I just want to prove that I am no different from others. I will work hard to practice basketball, and everything in life will work hard to do well."
Caught off guard
On May 30, Zhangjiacheng was invited to a basketball stadium in Zhuhai to watch a basketball game. Last year, a video of his playing was broadcast on a local TV show, and he is well-known in the local basketball circle.
In the two years of contact with basketball, he watched countless videos of basketball games on his mobile phone. It was the first time he watched the game on the spot. The warm atmosphere made him feel very different and "excited".
During the game, the player invited him to single out a few games. The defender stood in front of him, he was much bigger than him, and he felt a little nervous. "They are pretty good."
He missed several goals, including falling and dribbling during dribbling. It wasn't until he found the feeling of dribbling that his nervous mood disappeared, "Don't be afraid of them."
The audience photographed several of his best performing passes online. In the 43-second video, he skillfully completed a variety of crotch dribble and back dribble stacking actions with one hand, breaking through the layup. When a player ran over to hug him, he only realized that he had won, "Of course it is happy to win".
He transferred one of the videos to his Douyin and Kuaiyin, and wrote, "Try harder."
On May 31st, Huang Jinghao, who often played with his classmates, went to his house to find him to practice with him. Huang Jinghao said, "You are so good in your hometown.
From Zhangjiacheng's point of view, the online celebrity means that there are a lot of fans.
Walking on the streets of Yunfu, Guangdong, more and more people know him. When it comes to Zhangjiacheng, everyone will always pick up the sentence, "The boy who played basketball very well." When he walks on the road, he will receive a sentence "Cheer up" "It's good to play".
NBA star Curry reposted a video of Zhang Jiacheng playing in Zhuhai on the social platform, "Who is this child? Please help me find him! Keep working hard and don't let anyone say no to you."
NBA star Tucker also uttered on social platforms: "Thank you for the strength of this Chinese teenager, I hope you can continue training every day, maybe you will become a good athlete." Give him a vibrato message: give me your code , I send you a pair of signature sneakers, I hope you continue to cheer!
Zhang Beihai felt a little caught off guard by his son's popularity. The usually silent cell phone has been vibrating nonstop since June 1, and most of the media from all over the country call for interviews. At most, there can be forty or fifty calls a day.
The peaceful life of the Zhangjiacheng family has since been broken. A series of media, stadiums and celebrity companies were found. Zhang Beihai opened a stone shop in the town. In addition to slate and machinery, the narrow aisle was full of people. Zhang Beihai couldn't go out to work. The husband and wife didn't speak well. They burned pot after pot of water to entertain visitors. After a while, they said, "Drink tea, drink tea, the weather is too hot."
Zhang Jiacheng returned home from school, poured a cup of tea, and asked his parents what happened in Cantonese. Someone called him in Mandarin. He nodded slightly, with no expression. He picked up the basketball in his right arm, put a teacup in his left hand, and walked to the second floor.
The neighbors passing by initially stood curiously by the doorway and asked a few words from time to time. A neighbor said that such a lively situation has never been seen.
In the week after becoming famous, Zhang Jiacheng and the school’s basketball teammates were scheduled for a “friendship match” during class time. "Sometimes it's a Chinese class, sometimes it's a math class." A classmate remembered that he had asked Zhang Jiacheng that the interview was boring, and he didn't speak.
"Training time is less than before, learning is not as focused as before, and I will think about playing." Zhang Jiacheng admitted.
Several followers directly broke into the three-point line of the stadium, followed by Zhangjiacheng shooting. The drone flew over the playground, and the corridor of the four-story teaching building between the classrooms was filled with onlookers.
The camera followed the camera, Zhang Jiacheng walked into the classroom, and he walked out of the classroom; he walked past the small shops in the town, and the onlookers stood at the door; he walked faster and faster, his right arm sleeves flicked fast; he couldn’t touch it at home The dog lying at the door ran up to the living room on the second floor to prepare for the game. Parents and younger brothers rarely go up to disturb, but this time, the person with the camera rushed up.
"One night he cried in the room." Zhang Beihai said that the intensive interview made Zhang Jiacheng depressed once, and Zhang Beihai and his wife discovered that "his psychological pressure is so great."
"It will be a little boring, not hard, just practice, practice"
Zhang Jiacheng lost his right arm when he was 5 years old. At that time, he had just finished a small kindergarten class in the urban area of Yunfu and had a summer vacation at his grandmother's house. The grandmother's family ran an oil press in the town. The oil press was on all day. When the adults were busy, he put his right hand into the machine.
Mother Tan Miaoling remembered that her son barely cried, and the adult wept in front of him. He also said like an adult, "Don't cry, my hands will grow."
For nearly a month, Zhangjiacheng was living in a hospital with his right arm wrapped. Tan Miaoling brought him pen and paper, and he waited for everyone to leave the ward before he took the pen with his left hand to draw. After finishing the painting, he would hide it from others. Tan Miaoling secretly saw that he drew flowers and animals in cartoons. He loved painting before, and he painted these too, but he used his right hand to write.
The 5-year-old Zhang Jiacheng became speechless, and Tan Miaoling could only stay at home with him. He is uncomfortable using his left hand to eat. Five fingers hold the spoon handle to scoop up. Tan Miaoling said, "General things let him learn by himself, we don't help him much, he will get used to it sooner or later. You can't follow him all day long, he will grow up, he will go out."
For Zhangjiacheng, he was too young at the time of the accident, and he lost his right hand at the beginning of his memory. He wore long sleeves in the summer. He accepted that he was "not quite the same as others." His right hand became a topic that this family would never talk about.
In the fifth grade, Zhang Jiacheng and students from various villages went to Gaocun Town Middle School to study. The new classmates would be curious, and they asked directly, "What's wrong with your right hand?" Zhang Jiacheng was silent. Some classmates saw that he was struggling to carry his schoolbag, and would step forward to help him. He immediately walked away and slowly carried it on his back. He almost never asked others for help.
Almost all the teachers in the class will pay special attention and care when they see this introverted "one-armed boy". Sports teacher Liu Binglan recalled that the "special care" at the time seemed counterproductive.
In the fifth grade physical education class, when the students skipped rope, Liu Binglan thought he could not do it, and offered to observe him first, and then do some leg exercises later, "He stood on the side with his head bowed, not speaking, It may be a little inferior, and everyone else can do it, he can’t do it."
In the summer vacation two years ago, Zhang Jiacheng was exposed to basketball for the first time in a public welfare basketball training in the town. He and Huang Jinghao and several other students signed up before going home to tell his mother Tan Miaoling.
Before the summer vacation training, Tan Miaoling called the government departments and coaches who organized the training, worried that her son could not play basketball. "If he finds that he cannot play when he goes to training, he is called by the coach to go home, which hurts him even more." Later, "all said no problem, you can play basketball."
At that time, basketball coach Pan Weikun adjusted his training plan, and he led Zhang Jiacheng to practice. He canceled the basketball movements that had to be completed with both hands, and only those that could be completed with one hand were kept.
Tan Miaoling was still not at ease at first and secretly went to school several times. After seeing them practice for a while, a few partners would gather together to play, and she was relieved. It was too hot for a few days. She asked if she wouldn't practice today, Zhang Jiacheng shook her head.
Pan Weikun remembered that when he first saw Zhangjiacheng, more than 20 classmates ran back to the stadium. He was on the side of the fifth grade. "His eyes are timid, he doesn't speak, he's timid and introverted."
At the beginning, he practiced the sense of the ball. He threw the ball with one hand, caught it, held the ball with one hand around his leg, and learned to shoot again. As soon as the ball was thrown up, "I don't know where it goes, it's difficult to control it." Zhang Jiacheng recalled that almost every ball he threw would run away, he had to run around to pick up the ball . Sometimes I was picking up irritability. I just stood in the sun for a few seconds and watched my classmates practice the next project.
"If you don't practice, you will be worse, and others will look down on you. As long as you practice, you don't have to be afraid of being looked down on by others." Zhang Jiacheng told reporters that he didn't love basketball so much at the time, he was just repeating things that didn't do well. action.
After more than ten days of training, Tan Miaoling bought a 20-30 yuan basketball for her son. Zhang Jiacheng was very happy. He had to sleep with a basketball in the evening. The first thing to go home from school was to touch the basketball.
In the following year, he has been practicing dribbling and pitching. When playing games with his classmates, he will practice a few sets of dribbling moves back and forth in the middle of the two courts. In addition to drinking water, he has almost never left basketball. Class teacher Huang Liuhong remembered that after school, the students rested after the ball, and he still practiced the ball under the rebound. "He is very hard."
The dribble on the court must be successful, the ball should be stable, and the dribble speed should be fast. Pan Weikun said that for Zhangjiacheng, who only dribbles with one hand, he has to practice twice as fast as other players to achieve similar results.
The missing right arm caused him a lot of inconvenience. When shooting, the half-sleeved sleeve will affect the ball. The fingers of his left hand are too fierce and often wear out and bleed, forming thick cocoons. "It will be a bit boring, not hard, just practice, practice," Zhang Jiacheng said.
When Liu Binglan met Zhangjiacheng again in physical education class, he was in seventh grade and became much more cheerful. She organized her classmates to do push-ups, and was considering whether to let him learn on the side. He offered to propose that he could complete the push-ups with one hand. "He did a very standard job, and he must have practiced it seriously at first sight." Liu Binglan said, "His mentality is better, he will not care about these things."
In the afternoon on a summer weekend, Zhangjiacheng almost always arrives at the earliest stadium. He practiced at home until 2 pm and would go out. On the stadium where the sun was burning, he set aside the thermos cup and towel, and the stadium began to sound "bang bang".
Classmates holding basketball joined in one after another. Everyone wanted to join him when he turned the ball. He played the point guard in the team. "The home town is too strong. He is fast. When we stop, we will accidentally move too much. If you fall, you don’t have to intercept him as a teammate."
Sometimes, the school's male teacher will change into uniforms and join them. When Zhang Jiacheng arrived home in the sunset, he could not hide his excitement and told his dad, "It was finished, the teacher came to call us to play, and they played so late with them."
"Playing with people who are better than me can improve," he said.
"This ball is his life"
"Boom, bang, bang", the sound of the basketball racket on the floor passed down.
As usual, this sound will last for an hour or two at noon and night. Zhang Jiacheng does dribbling and physical training in the living room on the second floor of his home.
"He has to lock the door when practicing. Only a few friends who play together can enter. He said that we looked at him and he didn't know how to learn movements." Mother Tan Miaoling explained.
"He loves to practice the ball. This ball is his life. Even if he doesn't practice the ball in a day," Tan Miaoling said, as long as his son decides to do something, he will learn it hard. Sometimes taking him to a relative's house as a guest, he was anxious to come back to practice.
Since last spring, because the two courts in town are often out of position, Zhangjiacheng's classmates rode him to the basketball court in his old village 3 km away. When he was at home, he practiced in the living room.
The living room on the second floor of the house is not a good venue for basketball. The living room is not big. Two rows of wooden sofas against the wall separate a walkway that is more than one meter wide. There is a TV on the wall and a refrigerator and fan in the corner.
At first the basketball flew in the room, "the buckets and trash bins were rotten several times." Parents objected, and always murmured, "Neighbors like you want to complain to you, don't smash the TV refrigerator."
The bang from the floor almost never stopped the day. Tan Miaoling bought him the first pair of sneakers, which cost him five or six hundred, and told him, "You must wear such expensive shoes until the New Year." After a few months, the pair of shoes was worn out, and he didn't dare to Mom and Dad said, "We see that it is not a taste in our hearts, and his father said that he will buy you another pair of frugality."
By the summer vacation of the sixth grade, Zhangjiacheng's basketball was no longer flying around the house. He can quickly reach the position where the ball bounces on the left hand, and catches the ball to the next point.
To control the ball, he must first exercise the strength of his left arm. He went online to search for training videos, followed one-handed push-ups and tablet support, and the phone was on the ground with a stopwatch. A large drop of sweat ran down the cheek on the floor, forming a small water stain, orange long sleeves The T-shirt was sweaty and dark brown, sticking to the body.
He jumped up, grabbed a towel on the sofa, rubbed his forehead, back and forth, left and right to his neck, and then squatted against the wall to start practicing leg strength.
At rest, he also brushes his phone. He unconsciously typed "Curry" in the search bar, and the entry related to "looking for a one-armed basketball boy." He frowned, quit and went to Curry Weibo, and glanced at the comments below. Then quit to open the video platform and brush it up. The platform pushes short videos related to basketball.
He put his mobile phone on the window sill and stood up and took a video of himself practicing and playing. He will edit the ball after practicing in the evening. If he sees the details of the movements that are not standard, he will continue to do it again, and then add the words "Basketball can’t be strengthened by practicing one day or two days". , To the video platform. Most of these words were recorded on the Internet to encourage himself, and he often said to Huang Jinghao to encourage him to practice.
He has nearly 1 million followers on two short video platforms, Kuaishou and Douyin. The comments he received at the beginning were all encouraging words, he "will be a little happy and know more people". Slowly, the comments under his video often included phrases such as "one arm" and "can you play with one hand?" "I don't like the word "one arm"." He said bluntly, "Continue to work hard to make them more worthy of themselves."
Basketball dream
In the past two years Zhangjiacheng has been in contact with basketball, people around him feel that he has changed a lot.
Last semester, he took the initiative to raise his hand to run for monitor, and also became a sports committee member. This is his first time as a class cadre. Class teacher Huang Liuhong said, "He is more confident than before and gets along with his classmates better. Many classmates admire him for watching him playing basketball, and his appeal will be enhanced."
"He feels completely different. His eyes are very confident, and he can beat the eyes of the whole world." Coach Pan Weikun looked at the Zhangjiacheng video and turned out the photos two years ago. "Now it is tanned and thinner. , Strong, can feel his love for basketball."
Zhangjiacheng has a group of good friends who are connected with the ball. "There are unhappy things, and you will be happy when you play." They will learn from each other's skills. He will take the initiative to ask good classmates who shoot. When the video flashes the "floating" dribbling skills, he will immediately pick up the basketball and practice it, and show it to the players when they go to the court the next day and play with the players.
"According to my observation, the classmates regarded him as a normal person, which may be a respect for him," said sports teacher Liu Binglan.
After Zhang Jiacheng became famous, some neighbors ridiculed, "You can make Jiacheng make money." Zhang Beihai replied, "He just studies hard and plays when he likes to play." Last year, his grades improved and his parents were satisfied.
On June 4, Zhangjiacheng completed the registration of Guangdong young athletes in 2020. Yunfu City Sports School also invited him to participate in system training. Huang Liuhong said, "We and our parents are helping him analyze. He went to sports school to receive formal sports training, which may be better for him, which is also his hobby."
Sports teacher Liu Binglan has different suggestions, "If you go to ordinary high school, basketball may be slow to improve, but the interest has always been. If you take the professional path, you may not be able to continue." She emphasized that he is only 13 years old after all. No one knows exactly what will happen in the future, "Forget these things for the time being and become an ordinary student in Gaocun Middle School."
Coach Pan Weikun expressed the same concern, one-handed playing the official game will suffer a lot. "When you are defending, they specifically attack where you don't have a hand; when you jump to catch the ball, it is difficult to receive with one hand, which is very different." The current basketball games for disabled athletes are wheelchair basketball and deaf people. Basketball, these two Zhangjiacheng are not suitable.
Zhang Jiacheng has not yet figured out how to choose. But his life seems to have changed dramatically. He saw his basketball idol Yi Jianlian, experienced the training of a professional basketball player in Guangdong Hongyuan team, and also "one-on-one heads-up" with Hongyuan new Xu Jie. He felt "closer" to his dream of becoming a professional basketball player.
But he has not participated in any professional competition. He feels that he is "very good at the level of training, and the training intensity is not enough. He will think of himself to work harder." He hopes to be able to practice better ball control and walk out of Yunfu like his other idol, NBA star Owen. , "You can play more games with more powerful people."
Zhang Jiacheng also hopes that life will return to peace. Without media interviews and no follow-up shots, he can practice with his friends freely. The audience outside the stadium occasionally cheers them a few times. Buy some jelly at home on the weekend and cook it for classmates.
Sometimes, he will flash out videos of other one-armed basketball fans. He will look at how they played and praised, "Some are quite powerful." He wrote in the comment, "Come on, work hard together."
Beijing News reporter Xiao Weiwei