Life in China

I will tell you about my experience at Jilin Northeast Tigers, a team in the CBA (Chinese Basketball Association), a competition followed by millions in China, where there is enormous potential, a market in which basketball is gaining importance. It is another type of basketball, an important cultural shock but a source of knowledge. I will try to explain what basketball is like here.

As soon as the plane touches down on the runway, you realise that you have just arrived in a totally new world. China is one of the major world powers and this is reflected in its streets, in its cities and in its people. I am sure that my stay here will make me grow as a coach, but also as a person, as the culture, language, personal relations… are all different.

One of the things that has surprised me most is how big everything is. Distances are enormous and moving from one city to another to play a match is always a big trip. Cities like Beijing or Shanghai have over 20 million inhabitants. There are people everywhere and it is crowded wherever you go. Really, it is like a small human anthill!

One aspect about which I am pleasantly surprised is the warmth of the people. Everyone is really friendly and helpful. They are always willing to help you in everything you need. But, first of all, you need to get them to understand you! Chinese is the only language for them; very few people speak English and the language barrier has been important so far.

As you can imagine, my command of Chinese still has a long way to go. I know how to say a few everyday words and I have learnt those that are most repeated in training sessions, but here, you rely on the interpreter for almost everything.

All teams have this person. He is usually a young guy, who speaks English and in some cases, understands something about basketball. In our team, none of the Chinese players speak English and therefore the method of communicating is via “Pancake” (as the translator is called). They normally all give themselves an English name, as they say that we are not able to say their Chinese name properly. His name is Huoo, but all of the players, even the Chinese, call him Pancake.

Pancake becomes your shadow during training. Wherever I go, he comes with me. He translates all of the instructions, corrections, words of encouragement, etc and he even gets angry if I raise my voice. Or at least, that seems to be the case….

Another curious thing is that one of the players is called by his number by his teammates. Therefore, we have “Number Five” in the team, who is our starting point guard and played in this year’s Rockies match in the All Star CBA.

Communication outside the training sessions is another story. Pancake is not there. Even at the Hotel, there are not many people who speak English and you have to use the new technologies for anything you need. We get by with an i-phone application that appears to translate into Chinese quite well. You write what you need in English and show the photo… and you do that for everything, in taxis, restaurants, shops…

1. The eliminations start today by vying for the title that the best 8 classified of the league out of the regular 20 teams.

2. Double Spanish presence in the playoffs. Ranked 5th ( Jilin Northeast Tigers) in second ( Liaoning Jiebao Hunters) of @sergiopinzas.

3. The title favourites Guandong, Beijing and Liaoning have been the only teams capable of winning on the Guandong court.

4. Playoffs. Quarter final and semi final to the best of 5 games, only the final will be played best of 7 games.

5. The 1-2-1-1 format with the first field of the worst rated, may make the playoffs more equalized. Would this be possible in Spain?

6. All matches are televised live with special coverage on national TV to the playoffs by the Jilin Beijing Channel CCTV5.

7. CBA playoffs. 26 wins were necessary to enter 8th. It was not decided until the last round of the game. Andray Blatche’s powerful team Xinjang Fliying Tigers are now out.

8. It has been a trying year with a heavy cost to the team. Tied 27-11 record from the fourth to the seventh.

9. The great dominators are Guandong and Liaoning @sergiopinzas who has been presented as a clear candidate to win the league ending with only 4 and 5 defeats.

10. Congratulations to @sergiopinzas for the enormous amount of work and effort with Liaoning. If only we could reach the final! Let’s go!