The moment that this came out, I simply just did not have any words, any exclamations, or any reaction. I was in shock. My brain was processing what my eyes just saw. I tried to scream, yell, shout. I wanted to let it all out. But I could not. I was in awe. In disbelief. In a dream.

I am extremely grateful and tremendously happy that I could earn this player spot on the team at one of the best universities in the world. 4 years and I’ve been to the team tryouts 5 different time, but I never wanted to quit on my dream. I never gave up. Quitting was not an option for me. This was my passion. My internal desire to chase the dream, and I have passion about it. It was my love and my life. Even though many people told me that I should quit and give up, I told myself: Charles. How about try another time? Try one more time. Every day I try to try make one more shoot at the gym, try to do more bench press at the weight room. Regardless of all the people who didn’t believe in me and told me that I could not make it, that I could not succeed, I kept on believing, believing, believing. If anything, they were a motivation to me in a sense. They made me want it even more. I learn things from people in good ways.

I came from China 5 years ago, from a completely different culture and background than any of you guys here in Canada. I wish that I could finish school at 3:00pm like here and do whatever I love to do, but that is not how it is in China. There, life consists of waking up at 5:30am, going to class at 6:30am all the way until 9:30pm only with a 2-hour lunch break. That is 13 hours, 12-14 classes per day and school only allowed students come back home once (2 days) a month or twice (2nights 3 days) a month during grade 10-grade 12 which made me like machine. We only had 2 Physical Education classes twice a week and the maximum duration of PE was 40 mins, in which I could only enjoy 40 mins basketball. I got suspended for 2 weeks from school because school director caught me using my lunch break to play basketball instead of studying or napping.
Finally, I joined the school team when I was grade11 and we finished 7th place in the provincial tournament of the Shandong Province. That is when I realized how much I loved being a part of a basketball team, how good I felt when I was with my teammates and coaches. Ever since, I have loved basketball as well as team sports. I love when we do something for each other and later feeling great about it. Making my family and friends proud is a wonderful thing in life and always made me feel very special.
Coach Hanson once texted me and said … Sport teaches you a lot of valuable life skills; team work, loyalty, goal setting, desire, passion, commitment, and dedication. It’s the journey that I need to enjoy. The drive to make me a better player and better person. There is no guarantees in life so all that I can do is strive to be the best I can be. Keep striving, Charles!
It means a lot to myself. I will keep working hard and try to be the best I can be and I will never quit in getting better. This means more than basketball, it is bigger than basketball itself. I have to appreciate these things, which will help me a lot in my future career too.

Reference:

http://gothunderbirds.ca/roster.aspx?rp_id=5466