1. Yao Ming By Alec Syvrud

2. info Yao Ming is the child of Fang Fengdi and Yao Zhiyuan. At age ten he was 5 foot 5 inches and was predicted by sports doctors to be 7 foot 3.

3. Young Yao As a child Yao Ming wasn’t really interested in basketball, even though both his parents were professional players. He was more interested in books and military history.

4. Baskteball But in 9 th grade at 6 foot 10 inches he finally decided to play basketball. He was signed to the youth league team the, Shanghai Sharks and soon became their star player.

5. Joining the NBA Now 7 foot 5 inches Yao decided to join the NBA draft. He was drafted as the first round pick by the Houston Rockets. Making him the first international player ever to be selected first overall without having previously played any U.S college basketball.

6. Critics Most Commentators said Yao would fail in the NBA. One person said he would be surprised if Yao scored 19 points total his rookie season. During one game Shaq said, “Tell Yao Ming, Ching chong-yang-wah-ah-soh.” Yao blocked shaq twice during this game. He had a total of 6 blocks.

7. Rookie year Yao finished his rookie season proving many people wrong, averaging 13 points and 8 rebounds per game.

8. Achievments 8 time NBA all star 2 time NBA second team Sponsorships from McDonald's, Reebok, Coke, and Visa

9. Injury's: Even though Yao has had a very successful career he has been plagued by injuries. He has had several different types of surgery on his foot and has missed over 200 games.

10. The End Bibliography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yao_ming#Injury -plagued_seasons_.282005.E2.80.932010.29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yao_ming#Injury -plagued_seasons_.282005.E2.80.932010.29 http://www.notablebiographies.com/news/Sh -Z/Yao-Ming.html http://www.notablebiographies.com/news/Sh -Z/Yao-Ming.html http://bleacherreport.com/articles/430351- yao-ming-and-nine-other-players-with- careers-shortened-by-injury http://bleacherreport.com/articles/430351- yao-ming-and-nine-other-players-with- careers-shortened-by-injury