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Professional Basketball in Taiwan

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Professional Basketball in Taiwan Sports, Culture, and Asia Professional Basketball in Taiwan An EAA Interview with Ben Metcalf Ben Metcalf is currently the Head Coach of the professional Pure Youth basketball team in Taipei, Taiwan. A lifelong basketball fan, he spent his formative years living overseas in Japan, England, and Turkey before moving back to the US. After graduating from George Washington University in 2003, he worked for the Orlando Magic be- fore ultimately moving to Taiwan to learn Mandarin. In the following eight years, he was a part of four Taiwanese professional basketball championship teams and helped coach the Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) national team to a fourth-place finish in the 2013 Asia Championships and a gold medal in the 2013 East Asian Games. Ben Metcalf. Source: Courtesy of author. Lucien: Tell us a little about your background and your earlier experiences After graduating college, I joined the Washington Mystics of the Wom- with basketball as a boy and young man before you became a professional en’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and spent a season as their coach. video coordinator before accepting an internship doing the same thing Ben: From as early I can remember, my life seemed to revolve around bas- with the Orlando Magic of the NBA. Most of my year interning with the ketball. Whether playing for teams in high school and college, obsessive- Magic was spent in the video room, breaking down hundreds of NBA ly watching college and professional basketball, or occasionally making it games, thousands of college games, and even some high school games. De- to an arena to watch a National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) spite the long hours that led to me spending Thanksgiving and Christmas tournament or National Basketball Association (NBA) game live, I was sleeping on our head coach’s office sofa, the basketball knowledge I picked always wrapped up in basketball. While in high school, it was simply an up in one season turned out to be invaluable and jump-started my journey obsession; as I entered college, I started turning my focus to how I could in professional basketball. When the internship finished after the season, make basketball into a career. Since my lack of athletic ability limited my I was offered a job as the head video coordinator for the Magic, where I options as far as playing was concerned, I decided to try and get my foot in stayed for another three years. the door in the coaching side of things. Fortunately, studying in Washing- Lucien: How did you become involved with the Super Basketball League ton, DC, at George Washington University gave me a number of options. (SBL) and, especially with from what I can tell, one of the best teams in After a brief stop interning with the Washington Capitals hockey team, the league? I managed to find a job as a ball boy with the Washington Wizards. As a Ben: Before the 2007–2008 NBA season started, the NBA announced that huge basketball fan, this was the best job I could possibly imagine. Not only the Magic would be traveling to China to participate in a few preseason was I able to sit courtside for NBA games, I was also able to rebound and games. Knowing that we’d be spending a few weeks over there, I enrolled hand water to Michael Jordan during his final season, certainly a dream in an intensive Chinese-language course to prepare for the journey. Unex- come true. Professionally, it was also the perfect opportunity to meet NBA pectedly, after a few weeks, I found that my interest in learning Mandarin coaches and team officials, and start networking with people involved grew and grew, eventually resulting in my leaving the Magic and heading in professional basketball. Throughout my three years working with the to Taiwan to study the language. team, I was fortunate enough to build up a number of contacts, and after The initial plan was to stay two years and then head over to China to discussing numerous possibilities, I decided that the best way to get my work for NBA China. However, learning Mandarin turned out to be more foot in the door was through video editing. than a two-year project, and the NBA’s expansion in China slowed dra- For those not familiar with the daily responsibilities of basketball matically. While initially a bit disappointed in the lack of opportunities in coaches, basically everything that a coach does starts with watching game China, I slowly fell in love with Taiwan and decided to focus my efforts on film. Regardless of whether it’s planning practice, preparing for opponents, finding a job in basketball in Taiwan. or designing one’s own game plan, the process always begins by watching Starting from scratch was virtually impossible. Knowing nobody in- videos of previous games, practices, or workouts to understand what the volved in the league or how to get in touch with them made it tough to team needs to work on. The fortunate coaches will have a video coordina- even know where exactly to start, but I eventually started emailing all the tor responsible for taking a two-hour game and cutting it down to bite-size journalists who wrote about the league. One responded. He was gracious pieces to show the coaching staff and players, saving both time and energy. enough to meet with me, chat basketball, and give me some guidance as far In the past ten years or so, NBA teams have recognized the importance of as which teams would be more open to helping me out. Using the contact film study and have been progressively adding staff to edit film, with some information he provided, I emailed and called a few dozen people connect- teams having seven or eight people responsible for editing different aspects ed to the league and waited for a response. None responded. of the game. Teams have also seen the benefit of starting out in the video As a last-ditch effort, I took a day off from the cram school in Taichung room and have increasingly hired candidates with this background to be where I was teaching English and made the trek up to Taipei, where most their head coaches. of the games are held. I went to five or six games, trying to get some face 8 Education About ASIA Volume 21, Number 2 Fall 2016 9 Sports, Culture, and Asia time with anybody who would talk to me. Eventually, I was able to connect basketball tournament is run by the Ministry of Education and is therefore with the import (foreign player) for the Pure Youth team and picked his unable to sell tickets and must distribute them for free. Still, when com- brain as he was warming up for that evening’s game. He basically said that pared with a playoff game the SBL held in the same arena a few years ago, nobody in Taiwan was doing any of the stuff that I had done in the past, in which they were only able to sell some 3,000 tickets, the difference in that for the most part the league was in the dark ages, and that very few of popularity is tremendous. the “old school” coaches would even be willing to listen to someone in my Lucien: Regarding the professional level, there are many things I’m sure our position. Despite his ringing endorsement, he did recognize the neccessity readers would like to know. For example, how are Taiwanese and foreign for the league to start working in this direction and agreed to help out in players selected for the SBL? How many exhibition (if applicable) and reg- any way he could. ular-season games are played in the SBL schedule, and what months do After heading back home, I decided to do what I had done for years the regular season begin and end? I am sure you know that the eighty- in Orlando. Throughout that year’s playoffs, I recorded and watched all two-game NBA schedule is controversial because of its length. How is the of Pure Youth’s games. Afterward, I would proceed to cut up some video playoff system structured? What are the differences in SBL and NBA rules? clips, break down some plays, and suggest some game plan adjustments, What are the ownership and management structures of the SBL like com- combining everything into a scouting report that I emailed to the player for pared to the NBA? What is the range of crowd sizes at typical SBL games him to, hopefully, pass on to the coach or anyone else who would listen. I and during the playoffs? did this for every one of their games, and despite hearing no reponse from Ben: The SBL is entering its fourteenth season and consists of seven teams anybody on the team, I finally felt like I was getting my foot in the door. owned by both private and government institutions. The league is run by A few weeks after the season ended, the head coach, Coach Hsu, called the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association, and because the revenue gen- me and told me he wanted us to meet. We had a great conversation talking erated by ticket sales does not go back to individual teams but instead is about a number of different ways we could work together, and heading handled by the Association, the league is technically considered semipro- back down to Taichung, I felt very optimistic. Unfortunately, the next day, fessional. However, for all intents and purposes, it is a professional league.
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