Chinese-Canadian division one player Ben Li wants to dunk all over racist Asian athlete stigma – ‘I’ve heard all the names’

Chinese-Canadian NCAA division one basketball prospect Ben Li has received all the Asian-related racist jibes under the sun.

“I’ve heard all the names right when I step onto the court. From the players it’d be all comparisons to any Asian thing – soy sauce, Jackie Chan, Yao Ming, small eyes. Like I’d be shooting free throws and another team would be standing right there saying ‘can you even see the rim?’ and all that,” the 19-year-old Lehigh University, Pennsylvania first-year said.

Born in Toronto to native Chinese parents, Li defied the odds, stereotypes and stigma to make history as the first ethnic-Chinese player to make the All-Canadian game last year. It is but only the beginning of the forward’s mission to reach the NBA and the Chinese national team.

Already touted as the “Chinese Zion Williamson” by adoring media, Li hoped his unconventionally large physical presence on the court would help rid the arena of any prejudices. Otherwise he will have to take into his own hands.

“It’s definitely annoying but over time, their words didn’t matter to me. Most of the time they were trash-talking and all that, they were usually down. So any time they’d say anything, most of the time I don’t say anything back and just point at the scoreboard,” said Li, all 1.98m, 105kg of him.

“It’s actually pretty fun to get to prove people wrong or when they expect me to not really do anything. Then I showcase my game. Sometimes they start talking trash and I’d get my stuff going and dominate the game. That’s pretty fun sometimes.”

Li regularly seeks advice – be it basketball or identity related, or both – from hero-turned-friend Jeremy Lin, the Taiwanese-American who famously graced the NBA with the “Linsanity” era of 2012. That he is now exchanging texts with the man he watched on TV is another “pinch me” moment in his fledgling career so far.

“I definitely want to shout out Jeremy Lin,” said Li, who he featured alongside on a Chinese basketball TV show in 2019.

“ This year, he gave me his number and offered me an outlet to ask questions if I’m struggling or need any advice. I look up to him like a bigger bro. That’s kind of surreal to me because he was my role model.

“When I first met him, I told him I was just trying to get scholarships and play division one basketball so my parents wouldn’t need to pay a cent for me at university. I think that’s where it kicked off because he could relate to me and had to go through a lot of things. He’s even been kind enough to offer to get a workout in together. That’s surreal. That person you watched, that got you into the sport I’m in now. Now I can just to talk to him. It’s just crazy.”

No racial slur is justifiable, but the ignorance may be partly to do with the lack of Asian faces in the game. That applies throughout all age groups, from little leagues to the NBA, where you could count the number of Asian players on your fingers.

“From my very first organised basketball team to now, I‘ve seen very few Asians or Asian-Americans playing at the top level,” Li said. “Most of the time they’ll be sitting on the bench or being managers. When people saw me on the floor playing, no one really expected me to do anything. I always felt like that guy who everybody could pick on because no one really looked on me to do anything.

“I was always tall from a young age, probably six-feet-two before high school. I was definitely pretty chubby growing up and I think it was a lot easier to turn fat into muscle than turning skin and bones into muscle mass. By ninth grade, I could still barely even touch the backboard but I started to eat right and keep healthy. That’s when my athleticism started growing.”

Li’s athletic talent had grown to the point that he would need to head south from his native Canada. The path to a division one scholarship offer was meticulously planned and it was only a matter of time before calls came flooding in.

“I had to do what was best for me and expose myself to more schools and coaches. When I got to Virginia, my coach started calling schools in to come watch. Over time, my stock grew and my coach even told me that people were calling asking ‘is the big Asian guy still available? Can I come watch him work out?’” he said.

“I stopped my recruitment process fairly early because I had already got an offer from Lehigh. I committed to Lehigh and went back to Canada after my senior year of high school. It turned out to be the better decision for me because I made the All-Canadian game, too.”

Reaching such rarely seen heights was the product of total dedication. Li explained he humbly worked his way up from watching NBA highlights on TV, to mimicking moves outside, to his first organised game, to breaking boundaries, all with his family cheering in the background.

“My parents are the greatest mentors I’ve ever had. A lot of people ask me if I have stereotypical Asian parents and why they allow me to spend so much time in sports. The simple thing my dad always implemented in my mind was: as long as your school work’s done, I don’t really care what you do in your free time. It wasn’t a hard thing to abide by.

“When I’m actually playing, my parents turn into my number one fans. They drive hours and hours just to come watch me play, drive me everywhere from training to eating to practice to physio, all that type of stuff. I definitely would not have come this far without them.”

As for the big picture Li already has his enormous hand out for the baton.

“I do this for the younger generation looking for knowledge from anyone in my situation. They’ll read this as the next Asian guy who wants to play division one basketball. My goal on top of playing in the NBA and the national team is to inspire the next generation of Asians to break out of their comfort zones.

“I feel like there’s a stigma that we’re less than other people in a sport just because of the colour of our skin – and I think that’s kind of bulls***. If you just put in the work and screw what other people think, you can go wherever you want to go in your sport. I don’t want other people thinking they can’t get past something if they’re Asian.”