How Hong Kong basketball star playing in US has changed in just 1 year – she now exudes self-confidence and gets much more sleep
- Despite language hurdles and other adjustments, Yannie Chan now brims with confidence thanks in part to her best friend and a team psychologist
- No longer a night owl, she gets good sleep, eats healthily and talks often with her parents – all of which keep her in top physical and mental form
After completing her first year at college in the US, basketball player Yannie Chan Yan-man is brimming with excitement.
Chan is the first Hong Kong woman to go to the United States on a scholarship and play in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Although her team – the Saints, of Emmanuel College in Boston – didn’t get further than the first round in the 2022 Division 3 Championship tournament, the 20-year-old made her college’s dean’s list, which recognises outstanding achievement.
But her experience hasn’t been without its challenges: Chan had never been outside Asia before and had to get used to speaking English all the time, while adjusting to her new environment.
“It definitely took me time to get used to everything: cultural stuff, basketball stuff and everything in English,” she says on a Zoom call in Hong Kong, where she is on summer break until early July.
“Most of the time people are very friendly, so they will just help you if you can’t express something. In basketball there were some technical terms I needed to learn, but other than that everything is good.”