Former NBA star Scottie Pippen, who is a goodwill ambassador for the 21st Summer Deaflympics to be held in Taipei later this year, acted as a one-day coach yesterday for Taiwan’s Deaflympics basketball team and shared his experiences with high school basketball champions Song Shan Senior High School.
Greeting several hundred fans with a warm smile, Pippen said he was pleased to visit Taiwan for the second time in a year. The former US Olympic “Dream Team” player demonstrated his two-time Olympic gold-medalist skills in a session with Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin and Taiwan’s Deaflypics team, instructing them on shooting techniques.
Noting that teamwork is the key to victory, Pippen said that to him basketball is very special and that he admired the hearing impaired players for the great courage they showed in taking up the game.
PHOTO: AP
“Basketball teaches you a lot about sharing and giving. When you play between these lines, it’s a team game,” the former NBA superstar said.
Hau said that he was a big fan of Pippen who, with teammate Michael Jordan, helped the Chicago Bulls win six NBA championships in the 1990s.
“We hope that Pippen’s high profile will help promote the 2009 Deaflympics in Taipei and that his team spirit will spread to all the players,” Hau said.
Pippen, who arrived in Taiwan on Friday, watched some games between the Deaflympic team, Song Shan Senior High School and a charity team from the EeLin Modeling Agency.
He will shoot a TV commercial to promote the Deaflympics and appear at an SBL game at the Sinjhuang Gymnasium before leaving tomorrow.
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