I began playing basketball the summer before 5th grade. Most of my friends at William Land Elementary School such as Bill already started playing when they were in forth grade. I wasn’t really interested playing in school because I just didn’t want to embarrass myself in front of those who already knew something about basketball. Rather I wanted to practice at home and my father installed a hoop at the top of the garage in my backyard. I often practiced dribbling with my right hand in that small cemented patio and played around the world there. (not to mention H-O-R-S-E). My brother, who played basketball with his friends in middle school during lunchtime, and I played one-on-one here. Even though he was two years older than me, I usually won the one-on-one basketball games. Maybe he never played hard against me. My favorite shot was a right hook shot from the far right near what would be the baseline. However it wasn’t anything really difficult because it was closed ranged, from the far right on a small patio. The basket was much lower than normal.

Playing at school was much different than at home. At Phoebe Hearst Elementary School, I played with my friends quite often during lunch time. I thought that my skill was quite decent compared to the age, but they never passed the ball to me. Instead they often forced their shots. In fact, they didn't play basketball right. Such as, when they dribble the ball with one hand, they use the other hand to push back people who guarding them – definitely an offensive foul. There was also a lot of arguing on the court. I never really enjoyed playing here. However, I never played with this group again because none of them followed me to the same middle school.

My interest in basketball was at its lowest when I was at 7th grade at Sutter Middle School. It was because I didn’t really have anyone to play with. I didn’t know many people at all and those who knew me from William Land didn’t really talk to me much. I never even played with people who I play with today such as Tony, Bill, Loi, and Chi. I guess I was just too much of the outsider.

I resumed the next year, playing with the 7th graders, like John Ong. I was the only 8^th who played with them, but no one cared. We kept score and the game’s end coincides with the bell’s ring when lunch ends. I was quite enthusiastic about playing because I skipped lunch practically every day to go straight to basketball. However not everything was okay. The really good players never passed the ball much and just shot the ball a lot. As for me, I didn't want to hog the ball or make bad turnovers, so I usually passed the ball back to someone else. My ball handling skill nor shooting improved at all because I rarely touched the ball. I do manage the get the ball a few times, such as when I steal. That will initiate a fast break. However my lay-up was horrible; it was so difficult for me to make them. It was steal, run real fast, throw the ball up against the backboard, and watch the ball bounce on and off the rim, falling to the floor without scoring. However I ran around a lot, practicing defense and everything that didn’t do with possessing the ball. The flip side to that was that I was assigned to guarding to players who didn't play well. I never guarded the good players like Phat, Jimmy, or Steven; they usually guarded each other. I guarded players who didn’t do much. The worst thing about the whole situation was that teams were selected through the captains process. The captains were the best players and then they selected the rest of the team, so that a maximum of ten players (sometimes 12) were on the court. Unfortunately when the numbers were odd, someone had to sit out for the WHOLE lunch period. I remember John and I being the people who sat out a lot, as we were last picks. I remember that sometimes, I played maybe 3 times a week. I usually spent those times watching them or doing pull-ups on some bars connected to the basketball hoop. In my mind, I always thought that I was better than what they thought I was, because I managed to do some pretty good stuff in my small patio. I could dribble pretty fast and shoot the ball decently. I didn’t get the chance at Sutter!

I didn’t have enormous interest in basketball during freshmen year at Sac High. The 7^th graders were now 8^th graders still in middle school. I had to make new friends all over again. Perhaps the thing defining my social life was that I never hung around with a certain group of friends. The William Land friends were scattered and distant from me now. The Phoebe Hearst friends were friends who I never would see again. The Sutter friends were a grade below me. I could best say that I spent my freshmen year making new friends. After all, to really be interested in basketball you need to have friends to practice with and friends to talk with.

In 10th grade P.E., I chose basketball, the same as Ken Chan. I was easily able to get steals. I remember once I played with "newbies" and getting around 30 steals in one period. The main reason was because I was fast. In fact, I have always placed in the top 5 in the running exercise. Anyway, there were two people in our P.E. class who played basketball for our school. They pretty much hogged the ball all the time. One was tall and long armed black. He could really shoot and dunk. He was also on the 1^st team for the Sacramento region. The other a fast Mexican (mixed) who could drive and shoot the 3. Since there was nothing better to do, I always played defense against them. They usually burned me as they were so experienced. My defense improved a lot through this. It was really great practice. Eventually, every now and then I was able to strip them of the ball.

In 11th grade I became much more interested in playing basketball. My friends and I set up basketball games at Southside Park every then and now, either on Saturday or Sunday afternoons. Quite a lot of people went and there were usually people waiting to play. There were maybe twenty people were on the court at once. Luong Phong, Mario Trujillo, Toua Vang, Kao Vang Saechao, and Sinh Saelee were the undefeated team, coming from Oak Park. Other players were Chris Chu, Mike Tran, Bill Huynh, Tony Pham, Loi Ly, Chi Troung, Soucheun Saechau, Ken Chan, Lok Nim, Simon, Charles, Chun Kim, John Ong, Steven Mac, and Phat Giang. People also brought their own friends and then there were also people who we didn’t know but went to the park. Anyway, I was mainly playing defense all the time, not doing much on the offensive side, because people never really passed to me. The captain system was used. Due to the enormous number of people wanting to play, I was usually left out.

Unlike previous times, someone, Luong, came up to me and said that if he was captain he would pick me over other people because I play great defense and hustle. Those words were really shocking. I already acknowledged myself as simply a decent player who is not good enough to be picked up through the captain process. I never even thought myself as a good player who could compare to those picks before me. The one physical turning point that changed my whole thinking was when Luong made me guard Mario. How was the possible! Mario is always in the top 4 picks and what hope would I have of guarding him! Up to then, I never had such an assignment of guarding a good player. After the game was over, I was really happy. I really stuck to his face and his many of his shots were off. Because I was so close to him, not many people passed to Mario. I fouled him quite a lot and he seemed frustrated at me. However at the end he said I played good defense. I don’t know who won the game but like I said, I was really happy. Before this day, I have never really thought about defense, except in terms of steals. The good players were the only ones who could dribble and shoot the ball well. After this, that idea was shattered. I realized the importance of defense and was intent on making that my specialty. I credit Luong with making me serious about basketball.

My defense still needed a lot of work. I had to switch from being intent from stealing the ball to stopping their dribbling and not giving them an easy shot. However, the worst problem was psychological. I fouled a lot! When I foul, I will inevitably frustrate someone. The problem was that I didn’t want to foul people and make them mad. I usually would really tone down my defense to prevent further anger and frustration. Again Luong helped me out as he kept on saying stuff like "nice foul" or "keep on doing that." Overcoming this problem was just a matter of making fouls and not worrying about it. As time passed I got better at that. These days, Bill always complains to me about fouls like "You better not foul me" and I would reply "I don’t care."

My offensive game was still not developed yet! I neither got the ball much nor scored much. I still remember hitting a 3 pointer that ended a game and a few weird shots, but that was about it. On fast breaks, I usually ran real fast to the hoop, but then suddenly stopped near the hoop and then shoot it. The reason why I did this was because I was paranoid about people blocking me from behind. A few times, I even traveled because I just couldn't stop. In fact, not many people, except Luong and a few others, trusted me with the ball on my hands. As for the run, stop, and shoot, Luong said I should stop that. He said that I was too fast for most people to guard and that I should just drive to the hoop for the lay-up without stopping or any hesitation. I began following his advice but I quite often missed the shot. However, as time flew by, I became more and more proficient at the lay-up. One large problem with my offense was that I never went through the fundamentals. Before I practiced lay-ups I began doing hook shots. Before I practiced shooting right beside the hoop, I began attempting 3 pointers. I just didn’t work on what I should have been working on. These problems could be solved with practice, practice, and more practice. I have still not perfected them. My lay-up on a fast break still occasionally misses. I can hit close shots and 3 pointers, but I can’t hit the shots in between well. Luong helped me out a lot offensively because during practice games, he kept force-feeding me the ball so I could shoot. I admit it helped enormously.

Another problem was my dribbling. It’s not good enough. I can dribble very well with my right. However I didn’t have much handles. I couldn't dribble with my left nor do behind-the-back, crossovers, and spins. I asked advice from Luong who taught me about doing the behind-the-back and dribbling under the leg. Chris taught me about the crossover and doing spins. On my free time out in my patio, I practiced dribbling a lot. I’m still trying to get the moves down so I don’t even have to think about them when I do them and so that I could use them in a real game.

Most of my knowledge about basketball started coming into my head during the summer after high school. However, college was to be much different. During my first year in college, I played basketball infrequently. Everyone else was also occupied with their lives. Usually whenever I wanted to play basketball, I would call Luong to set up a game. However, he was in UOP, which is located in Stockton. People still had the interest for basketball, but I just couldn’t play with them. Luong played in intramural at UOP. Tony, Chris, and Sinh played intramural at Sac State. The following summer I took off to Asia for a long vacation. In fact, I actually played one game of basketball at a park in Hong Kong, but the game wasn’t that good.

I also played basketball in Berkeley. However, the level wasn’t as competitive as Southside. I sometimes balled with my Guam friend, who was very knowledgeable about basketball. However, school life is hectic as there are so many midterms and homework so we didn’t play that much. Near the end of my sophomore year, I began playing with some other people every Wednesday night. It gave me the chance to get back in shape. Normally if I haven’t played for a while, I’d get cramps on both my calves. Getting in shape then was critical because it prepared me for the basketball summer of ’98.

Although I play excellent defense, I never really knew about team defense, where the whole team acts as a defensive net that envelops the whole half-court, until one game. Usually I might get help from one person, but I never really encountered one whole team which is so intent on defense. That is probably the reason why Luong, Kao Vang, Toua, Sinh, and Mario dominated at Southside. Everyone helps each other on defense and everyone plays defense intelligently. Luong had mentioned the importance of defense, as too did my Guam friend from Berkeley, Le Shang Lin. He often said, "Defense is the key!" During one game, I realized how effective team defense was. It was when Luong, Chris, Sinh, and Mario were all on the same team. All these players play serious defense. We were undefeated. It was really great because I play defense a lot, and never before have gotten so much help. We smothered the offense! 

That is pretty much my past. I no longer practice shooting around in the patio in the back. Instead I treat it as a wide-open place to dribble. I can no longer tolerate William Land’s basketball court. The rim is too short and the court is too small. Once I played here, but now I just want to avoid this place. Southside is the best place for me because the court just feel right. It’s size is perfect and it offers a cool shade, especially needed on a hot summer day. There are lights which allows night games, up until 10pm. There are some drawbacks to the court. There is only one court. Also, there are certain spots in the court where trees are too low that 3 pointers will hit nothing but tree. Anyway, people know about this basketball court, and my friends and I congregate over here all the time.

I’m not sure what the future holds for me in basketball. It is getting harder and harder to set up basketball games because people have to do other things. Some people have dropped out of the picture completely as they barely find enough time for sleep. Some have went away, such as to join the army. And worse of all, some have lost the passion for the game. As for me, my passion is still very strong. I am going out practically every evening, missing dinner. Of all my friends, I would say that Chris Chu and Mike Tran has that love of the game as I do because they play practically every day. I’m going to keep this fire going on as long as possible, until I have to retire of age.

Now is the summer of ’98. I'm still very much learning and there's plenty of things I would want to still be able to do. My crossover needs a lot of work, more coordination. My spins are improving. I can do the right to left hand behind-the-back very well. I recently practiced shooting and realized that my shooting improved great folds when I think about the position of my right wrist. I still need to improve the accuracy of my drives by using the backboard more. However, I think I am actually doing fine these days. But I will continue to work harder and to learn more from other people so I can become a Basketball Genius!!! Just kidding. Really!