Pick-Up Basketball as a 5’9" Asian American
“All these people, all these things came into my life, and they’re all blessings from God. And now that I look back, I realize that these are His fingerprints all over my story.” — Jeremy Lin
I love basketball. Plain and simple. Ever since I heard the crisp sound of a net swishing after a perfectly made shot, I knew it was for me.
It is just such a beautiful sport. It has an important individual component of working on your athleticism, dribbling, lay-ups, post, shooting, etc. However, success is interwoven with the team element of passing, motion, defense, etc.
My first experience with basketball actually came from church. On Sundays, my friends and I would get together in our building’s gymnasium and hoop out. As a Korean-American, my parents pushed me to focus on my grades and academic extracurricular activities, so this one day a week was my only chance to play the game I enjoyed. Trust me when I say, I started out as awful as they get. I had terrible stamina, no handles, a broken jumper, and lazy defense. The crazy thing though was I still loved being out on the court. Maybe it was to get credit from my boys when I finally made a decent play or perhaps it was to impress the girls who watched but really did not even care. It was just pure joy that I had.
I put in the work. Over the years, my game has improved tremendously and grown more than I could have ever imagined. Using Paul Pierce as a model, I now have a sneaky quick first step, simple yet effective handles, can finish around the basket with both hands, a solid post game, a deadly jump shot, average passing skills, and defense that can be turned up on command. On courts all over, I was molded by facing real competition throughout high school, college, and beyond. Although not anywhere near as talented, I had the extraordinary privilege of playing with and against overseas pros, varsity athletes, and just generally other great players. However, you would never know by the way people guard me when a game starts.
Could it be my height? Definitely as I stand at a modest 5'9".
Is it my athletic look? It very well could be because I am an average medium build.
However, I have seen plenty of individuals who are about as tall as me and who have a similar body shape to me who are guarded much tighter. I would be misguided to say this is the only factor, but having communicated with other Asian-Americans who experience the same treatment when they play, I would say we certainly do not get anywhere near the respect we deserve on the court because of how we appear.
I truly cannot blame people though. What other Asian-American NBA players could you point to beside Yao Ming and Jeremy Lin? They do not share nearly enough of the spotlight on the world’s biggest stage for ‘ball.
I will be the first to admit there are so many other crucial race issues holding far higher significance than this. Also, truth be told, having my defender helping off of me at the beginning of games is always a welcome advantage, but this perception and my experience of it is something I felt like should be brought to light. In the mean time though, I will simply keep doing what I love and working hard as to let my game do the talking.
Thank you for listening to my thoughts!
