Nghe An female student in top 15 of US basketball talent search contest

(Baonghean.vn) – Le Thao Anh (9th grade student, Ben Thuy Secondary School, Vinh City) has just excelled over 5,500 candidates to be selected into the Jr. NBA Vietnam All-Stars team – a basketball talent search competition organized by the National Basketball Association (NBA).

After returning from the Jr. NBA Vietnam All-Stars competition, Le Thao Anh was jokingly called “NBA hot girl” by many friends. This “NBA hot girl” is 14 years old this year, not too outstanding in appearance, even quite modest in height compared to her peers, but when talking to her, listening to her burning passion for sports in her excited sharing, you can see that this is a true “hot girl” of sports.

Le Thao Anh (yellow shirt holding the ball) on the stage of the Jr.NBA Vietnam All-Stars talent search competition.

Thao Anh said that she is extremely fond of and is capable of playing many sports well such as soccer, basketball, badminton, table tennis, sepak takraw, chess, etc. As for basketball, she has only been practicing for nearly 2 years, starting from the basketball movement at Ben Thuy Secondary School, then caught the attention of the Nghe An amateur basketball club.

Coach Le Quoc Y - President of Nghe An amateur basketball club shared that as soon as he saw Thao Anh on the basketball court, he recognized her natural talent. However, in order to guide Thao Anh to practice professionally and systematically, at first, the teacher and student had a hard time convincing her family.

“My family was afraid that playing basketball would distract me from my studies. Also, they were afraid that if their daughter played sports, her body would lack femininity, so at first, I had to work very hard to prove that I could both study and play sports well. Gradually, my grandmother and mother agreed and now they have become my most enthusiastic fans!” – Thao Anh happily shared.

Le Thao Anh (far left) took a souvenir photo with Coach Le Quoc Y - President of Nghe An Amateur Basketball Club and children at the Jr.NBA Vietnam All - Stars competition.

Sharing about the happiness of being in the top 15 of the Jr. NBA Vietnam All-Stars competition, Thao Anh recalled: “In early 2016, Mr. Y followed and registered me for the Jr. NBA Vietnam All-Stars. The initial purpose of the two brothers was to participate to gain experience with professional basketball in the US.

In March 2016, the two brothers “packed up” and went to Hanoi to attend the qualifying round. The number of applications nationwide was more than 5,500, which made us quite overwhelmed. On the other hand, I had never had access to such modern training grounds and equipment, everything was beyond my imagination. However, thanks to my efforts and luck, I passed all the qualifying rounds, received free air tickets to Ho Chi Minh City to conquer the top 64, and finally the top 15 in mid-June 2016.”

Le Thao Anh (front row, second from right) in the top 15 of the Jr. NBA Vietnam All-Stars team.

At Jr. NBA Vietnam All-Stars, Le Thao Anh was evaluated by experts as a “phenomenon” of youth basketball in the Central region and even the whole country. Witnessing her technical performances on the field, few people expected that she was a player from the amateur basketball movement of Nghe An - which has no tradition and has not had many achievements on the national basketball map. Thao Anh recalled that when the Organizing Committee announced the Jr. NBA Vietnam All-Stars team, she felt like she was in a dream.

Proud to be the only official representative of the Central region, Le Thao Anh is facing the opportunity to travel with the Jr. NBA teams from Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, China and watch international-class matches organized by the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Watch a clip of Le Thao Anh practicing basketball with her coach and teammates. Source: Facebook Le Quoc Y.

Phuong Chi