NBA star Yao Ming and China's national team yesterday gave young Hong Kong basketball fans a glimpse of the discipline required to be elite athletes, and then fired up the atmosphere at Southorn Stadium in Wan Chai with some spectacular shooting and dunking.
More than 1,500 junior basketball fanatics were given passes to the event and watched in awe as the 12 mainland players went silently through their warm-up and training programme.
Later, a group of talented youngsters were thrilled when Yao, a centre for the Houston Rockets, and the rest of the Chinese team shared advice and tips in a coaching session.
Despite Yao speaking to them in Putonghua, the teenagers said it was a valuable instruction.
'He used a lot of simple words to make sure we understood. He showed us how to protect the ball under the basket, improve our hook shots, our post-up moves and how to use our elbows to protect the ball,' said So Yi-chun, 18.
Another teenager was amazed by Yao's power. Wong Chu-wai, 18, said: 'He is so strong and tall. He is tough and was quite aggressive in defensive play, but has a silky soft touch when shooting.'