Xinhua News Agency, Hohhot, January 11 (reporter Wang Chunyan, Wei Yuyu) since the president of the new Inner Mongolia Basketball Association in October 2018, when the former “mobile Great Wall” Battel appeared in front of Inner Mongolia media again, still not used to being called “chairman BA”. “Don’t call the chairman, don’t get used to it, just call me bus.”
“The WCBA All-Star Game will be held in Hohhot at the end of this month. This time I will come back to do some preliminary work.” Bartel said that this should be regarded as the first big action since the establishment of the Inner Mongolia Basketball Association.
When talking about being elected as the chairman of Inner Mongolia Basketball Association, Battel said frankly that the original idea was “rejection”. “At first I was very resistant, because everyone had high expectations of me, afraid that I could not do well. Although there have been some achievements before, it is already the past and has become history.”
“In the past I am, one person was not hungry when he was full and the whole family was not hungry”. Just play basketball on the court alone.” Bartel joked, “Now the whole team, even the whole region, I have to work hard for it. This is two concepts for playing on the court. But later I saw that there were so many social people paying attention to Inner Mongolia basketball, and the local government’s support also increased my confidence. I am willing to try and do my best, save everyone together and do this well.”
“Basketball in Inner Mongolia is actually a blank sheet of paper. We can’t act too hastily or rush for quick success and instant benefits. We will do the basic work step by step and do solid work in all aspects, this will be of great help to the future development of Inner Mongolia basketball.” Bartel said.
The 2019 Basketball World Cup will be held in China. Battel also hopes to use this opportunity to drive the basketball market in Inner Mongolia. “I hope that some warm-up matches of strong teams (Basketball World Cup) can be held in Inner Mongolia, two to three games, in order to attract the attention of the majority of fans.”
In addition, the focus of Inner Mongolia Basketball Association in 2019 will also be on basketball training in medium and large institutions.
“We will also enter medium and large institutions more this summer. In addition, there will be training for coaches and referees. Of course, there will also be some programs for children in primary schools. These trainings, the event will take place slowly this year.” Bartel said.
Bartel is very cautious about the future development of Inner Mongolia basketball, and he also admits that a professional team will not appear so soon. “You can’t set up a team immediately just because I came back. This is not the yangge group in the village. It’s not that kind of thing, not that simple, you need to have all the conditions. You can’t be confused, you can’t be anxious for success, and you can’t be eager for quick success.”
But Bartel can’t wait to introduce advanced basketball concepts and methods to children in Inner Mongolia who like basketball. “In summer, we will do youth training camp, with a large range and high specifications. We want Inner Mongolia children to learn more about the Chinese Basketball Association and the American League (NBA) the latest ideas and methods of basketball.”
For the youth training camp, battle hopes that more children can see him and his team doing this work and be able to “look at them”.
“In fact, many children still have great potential, but they haven’t seen us yet. Now we have to put our energy into this place so that they can see us, I hope that we can” look at each other “as soon as possible so that these children can sweat and exercise in the stadium while studying.” Bartel said.