体坛英语新闻：Yao Ming says cooperation with school sports can nurture basketball talent

BEIJING, May 19 (Xinhua) -- President of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) Yao Ming said on Tuesday that he hoped his association's cooperation with Chinese school sports governing bodies will nurture more basketball talent in the country.

The CBA signed a reciprocal cooperation agreement with the Federation of University of China (FUSC) and China School Sports Federation (CSSF) on Tuesday.

"The first item of our agreement is about coach training. I hope we can accomplish something in this area," said Yao.

"Maybe we pay more attention to the development of players, but how do they become players? They should be trained by coaches. So the development of coaches is our top priority," said Yao Ming.

The vice president of the FUSC Shen Zhen said the CBA, with its expertise, can help train the university basketball coaches.

"We all are aware of the deficiencies of the coaches in our system. We earnestly need to set up a coach training system," he said.

The CBA will join efforts with the Chinese school sports governing bodies to build a big database for basketball, which Yao said will help to spot more talent.

"It can allow us to trace and follow the growth of players over a long period of time, and it will also enable us to know their past and predict their future development," he said.

Yao added that the Chinese school sports can lay a solid foundation for Chinese basketball to develop.

"We have a firm belief that the cooperation with the schools sports will serve that purpose," he said.