Teenagers line up for trials on basketball

In a bid to find more teenage talent, basketball trials are being held at different locations in China this month, including middle school campuses around the country.

"The trials give us a good opportunity to get ready," says 15-year-old Wei Changhao, a 1.92-meter-tall student who was among 119 teenagers who made it through the first phase of the nationwide selection process.

During the trials, the teenagers were told to showcase their skills in pinpoint shooting, backward jumpers, fast break layups and full court dribbling.

Recently, the three provinces of Anhui, Shandong and Henan were chosen by the China Basketball College to select promising teenagers.

Under the 2019 program, a part of the long-term plan of the Chinese Basketball Association, a group of teenagers will be sent abroad for training in central and eastern Europe.

Mou Jian, a member of the college, says: "We have two paths to select our young talent. One is through the China Basketball Association, and the other is through the China Basketball College. We are all doing our best to set up a multilevel system so as to cultivate more teenage players."

In 2018, the China Basketball College launched its first trial to pick up talent, and eventually selected 119 out of the 800-odd teenagers nationwide.

"We hope to cultivate young basketball players," says Song Zhigang, a faculty member of the basketball college, which was set up by the Beijing Sport University in 2017.