HONG KONG (SE): Dylan Chan Yee-fu, a top basketball player in the Hong Kong A1 Division Championship league, is now the coach of a basketball programme implemented by his alma mater, the Caritas Wu Cheng-chung Secondary School.  
 
During the launching ceremony of the Cheng-chung Youth Basketball and Leadership Training Scheme on November 16, the renowned basketball player thanked the teachers of the school who motivated him from Form 1 to 3.
 
“They encouraged me not only to play basketball well, but also to study well and behave well,” he said.
 
Chan recalled that he was shy and passive when studying in primary school. But he became more confident after the encouragement of the teachers and even more so after he joined the school’s basketball team—a sport that he was not really familiar with at that time.
 
He said he would never forget the days when the 12 players practised together, sweat together and ran for the same purpose on the basketball court. The spirit of unity made him fall in love with basketball and won a number of competitions together with his team.
 
In 2014, he was admitted to the Diocean Boy’s School due to his excellence in sports.
 
Now that he will be teaching basketball at his old school, he will tell the younger students to be humble and never give up. “I will tell them to learn with all their might, not to give up due to a few unhappy incidents and, above all, not to rest on their laurels. Because there are always people playing better,” he told the Sunday Examiner after the launching ceremony in which the winners of the Wu Cheng-chung Cup—Primary School Basketball Competition were also awarded.
 
The basketball programme, to be held from December 1 to March 2, will include not only basketball skills training, but also a leadership training camp aimed at developing the self-esteem of students from age nine to 15. The training is free of charge.
 
Stephen Chan San-hang, principal of Caritas Wu Cheng-chung Secondary School, said during the ceremony that the purpose of programme is to help students develop an interest in sports, as well as unity and a spirit of cooperation among team members which is important for the building of their self-esteem and positive values.
 
The Youth Basketball and Leadership Training Scheme is being implemented in cooperation with Western District Police Community Relations Office as well as the Caritas Community Centre-Aberdeen.