It was that kind of a morning on July 26 when both Yao Ming and Wang Zhizhi showed up in the backyard of the National Sports Bureau, while on the other side of the globe, the Chinese national team was struggling painfully in Spain.

Wang Zhizhi was to go to the hospital for further medical inspection, and Yao Ming was to go the stadium for his training. They were both busy for their own reasons, but the reasons were closely related. Wang ZhiZhi’s medical inspection results had been released. At least 4 weeks of rest would be required for Wang. All of a sudden, the highly anticipated hope of a Yao-Wang combination at the World Championships for all Chinese basketball fans had evaporated, and the hope of the Chinese national team once again was loaded on to Yao Ming’s shoulders.

In Sydney (the 2000 Olympics), he did enjoy himself and had a great time then. In the last few days of the Olympics when there were no games, he just went to watch some movies, played pool, exchanged souvenir badges/pins with athletes of other countries, or went shopping with the limited personal allowances/subsidy he was granted. It was easy and full of leisure.

Two years later during the World Championships in Indianapolis, Yao Ming could no longer have such leisurely and carefree time. Each game turned into a challenge, and Yao Ming could only try to find in those challenges pleasures that were hard to get.

After entering the NBA, on numerous occasions U.S. reporters had repeatedly asked Yao Ming the same question: “Which one do you crave for more? The World Championship or the NBA Championship?” Having responded to this question so many times, now his answer has been pretty sarcastic: “You mean the Olympic championship? It is going to be really, really tough.”

Yao Ming was still not the “absolute” leader of the national team back then in Indianapolis in 2002. Therefore, after those heavy defeats in Indianapolis, he could only vent out his anguish and frustration by pounding on a table, or pouring bottles of mineral water fiercely all over his head so that people could not really distinguish between the water or tears on his face.

Then came 2004. He stood out from the team and claimed, “I am a wolf!!” At that time, he was reading a book called The Wolf Totem. Yao Ming was sort of impressed with the teamwork and demeanor of a wolf pack. He had reiterated this in multiple occasions. “A basketball team is very much like a wolf pack. There should be a very clear-cut division of labor, and everyone has his own role and gives his best and all to compete. They should not care too much about personal loss, but just tumble and fight for victory.” At that time, he had become the absolute leader on his team, and he carried the Chinese national team on his shoulders to enter the Final 8 in the Olympics.

So now it’s 2006. Yao Ming originally thought it could be relatively easy this time around. At least in the beginning he really thought so. The news of the imminent return and reinstatement of Wang Zhizhi had at one point elated him.

The Houston Rockets were battered in the 2006 season, but Yao Ming often thought of Wang Zhizhi’s return to China. Somehow Yao Ming knew of the exact dates of Wang Zhizhi’s return to China. On April 9, after a match in Sacramento, Yao Ming suddenly whispered into the ears of Chinese reporters: “Wang Zhizhi will return soon.”

Then 2 days later, Yao Ming broke his foot in Utah, and everything originally planned was completely disrupted.

So on this morning of July 26, not even 9 o’clock, Yao Ming had already shown up on the basketball court of National Sports Bureau. Since coming back to Beijing on July 1st, Yao Ming had spent almost every single day on the basketball court. Of course, now it’s a little bit different. He had monopolized the 2 basketball courts there since the national team went abroad on the road for their second European tour (of exhibition games and tournaments. But now, since the Chinese women’s national team had returned to Beijing, the basketball stadium had become more lively. Other than the heavy “huff and puff” of Yao Ming, the court is now mingled with the laughter and singing of the young girls from the women’s national team. Not sure if it’s the reason, but Yao Ming looks like he is in a better mood.

Yet, the training has not changed or been deferred. Yao Ming still trained from 9:00am to 2:00pm in the afternoon without much break in between. He stayed on the basketball court for almost 2 hours, and then went into the gymnasium with Anthony Falsone, his personal trainer. There was no one in the gymnasium other than the two of them. Without turning on the light, Yao Ming started again huffing and puffing on his weightlifting and other strength exercises with lights beaming through the windows of the gymnasium.

When Yao Ming came out of the gymnasium, his second jersey was already all wet with sweat from neck to waist. Yao Ming looked liked he was in a good mood, cracked a few jokes with his friends, and then returned to the basketball court.

Yao Ming had stated clearly that he had almost completed his rehabilitation. At least he can start playing more physical in team practices. The doctors had previously pledged that Yao Ming must not start playing physical before August 1st, but it seems now Yao Ming had rehabilitated himself ahead of schedule.

Yao Ming explained that the reason that he can’t start playing physical now is simple: it’s because the national team is currently out on the road in Europe. If they had been in China, he could have started team practices together with them. If he can resume his team practice, then he doesn’t see a big issue of playing against the U.S. national team in Guangzhou on August 7th. But he emphasized that even he doesn’t see much problem in playing. He sees himself playing big minutes in that game.

So from rehabilitating on his own to rejoining the team practice, Yao Ming has taken a further step in the challenge of this 2006 summer.

But at this moment, Wang Zhizhi is injured, as is Liu Wei and Wang Shipeng. Li Nan is still recuperating from his surgery. So compared with 2004, the national team led by Yao Ming seemed more depleted and emaciated.

In any event, Yao Ming is ready. Ever since the start of Houston’s 2005-06 regular season, he has known (and psychologically prepared) that he needs to carry the Chinese national team on his shoulders once again in this summer in Japan.

Yao Ming often recalled his sudden eruption in the second half of the previous NBA season, and he immediately associated it with the national team. He said what he had gone through with the Houston Rockets will be advantageous to him in the future on the national team. It was during that period it had helped him to understand how to become a leader, in particularly, a leader for a weak team.

He said “Although I had acted as a leader before, it was so much different. The competition in the NBA is so much intense. I’m not saying the competition comes from my teammates, but it comes from our opponents. When I was at the Shanghai Sharks, being a leader was simple, because at that time, our only competition was Bayi Rockets. All I needed to do at that time was actually simple: just scored and grabbed rebounds. So my experience as a leader under intense competition is not yet sufficient. There were a couple of matches during the CBA Finals, or in the Athens Olympics. But then, I was sometimes good in some matches, and then at other times, not so good (a leader).”

He continued: “So all these training (and experience of last season with the Houston Rockets) will be very helpful for me in the World Championship. All the participating teams in the World Championship are very strong. We must strive to lead in every game, but then it will be almost impossible to maintain those leads. A 10-point lead could just evaporate in a wink of the eyes. In reality most of the time, we will be playing a catch-up game. Moreover, we must admit we are a relatively weak team. Therefore, as far as I am concerned, I have to learn to become a better leader for a weak team. Even if our team is not to be considered weak, we are just on par with very few teams (in the World Championship). I must start to understand and learn how to lead such team to win.”

So Yao Ming’s train of thought has just keep going back and forth. He is doing serious thinking (about his role and his team) and he is reserving his energy.