Dribbling, emergency stops, shooting – 74-year-old Ke Wenhui, wearing the red jersey of the “Qunyou” team No. 20, is flowing smoothly on the basketball court.
On the afternoon of Saturday (December 27), a unique basketball friendly match broke out at the Singapore Basketball Center. The two teams were the local veteran Tonghuai team and the Qunyou team formed by a group of basketball enthusiasts in 2004. A group of middle-aged men who are over 50 years old are like young men showing their youth on the basketball court. They are agile and energetic, and the eldest among them is Ke Wenhui.
This five-person friendly match is the finale of the all-day basketball invitational tournament that celebrates the 100th anniversary of basketball in Singapore and the 60th anniversary of Singapore’s independence. The all-day invitational tournament is hosted by the Wulu Club, co-organized by the Singapore Basketball Association, and supported by many organizations.
The history of Wulu Club can be traced back to 120 years ago. The late Wu Zaixing, the first permanent honorary president of the Basketball Association, who was known as “Singapore Mr. Basketball”, was a sworn member of the club.
After the game, Ke Wenhui sat on the bench for an interview with Lianhe Zaobao. While wiping his sweat, he jokingly said: “At our age, apart from playing mahjong, we generally have few opportunities to get together.” Since he doesn’t play mahjong, he insists on playing basketball to get together with his teammates.
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“The most important thing about playing basketball is that you can meet more friends who love basketball through the game.”
Ke Wenhui, who had worked for the Port of Singapore Authority for nearly 20 years at the time, started playing basketball when he was 12 years old when he was attending Tehran Secondary School. He joined the Qunyou Basketball Club when he was 58 years old. He went to the basketball court near Block 303 Jurong East every week regardless of rain or shine, and competed with more than 30 golfers on his skills.
When he was young, he and his friends regarded basketball as the best “free entertainment activity.” As he gets older this year, he avoids violent collisions when playing. He also limits himself to playing three times every time he goes to play. Each game should not exceed 10 minutes, and he must leave enough rest time in between.。
Reporters found many golfers like Ke Wenhui on the court who have been playing basketball since childhood. For example, Ang Dusheng (73 years old), who represents the Singapore Institute of Surveyors team, and Li Yiofeng (76 years old), who represents the “Ocean Basketball Team”, have been classmates of Holy Innocents Secondary School since 1966. They got to know each other because of basketball, and their friendship has been maintained through basketball to this day.
In this basketball invitational tournament, Hong Dusheng provided support to the organizer; and although Li Yuefeng was unable to continue playing due to knee surgery, he still made a special trip to the scene to cheer for the team and old friends.
Elderly people must play basketball according to their physical condition
Zhang Jinfeng (65 years old), who belongs to the same team as Ke Wenhui and is a former national basketball player, said in an interview that older people should play basketball based on their personal physical condition and generally “stop at the slightest”.
Zhang Jinfeng represented Singapore in the war between 1978 and 1989, during which he received systematic training in preventing sports injuries. He suggested that seniors who are keen on playing basketball should develop the habit of running, brisk walking or swimming two or three times a week according to their respective conditions.
He reminded the elderly that in addition to doing targeted strength training such as squats before the competition, they must also ensure that they get enough sleep the night before and replenish adequate nutrition, otherwise they are more likely to be injured.
He also suggested that seniors who intend to participate in basketball games should avoid violent collisions as much as possible during the game and choose to compete with golfers of similar age. “Although the 60-year-old and the 50-year-old can fight together, sometimes I will not be able to do what I want.”
Wang Hongyu, general manager of Wulu Club, said in an interview that this invitational tournament attracted about 230 basketball enthusiasts of different ages, divided into more than 20 teams for three-person matches; the final friendly match was mainly participated by middle-aged and elderly players over 50 years old.
She said: “Senior citizens are a kind of asset that can pass on the basketball spirit from generation to generation and promote the development of basketball in the local area.”
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