Recently, NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama visited the Shaolin Temple in China to experience the awe-inspiring charm of the thousand-year-old martial arts culture. He not only donned a monk's robe and practiced Shaolin Quan but also interacted with young monks, immersing himself in the lifestyle of integrating Zen and martial arts. Reports say that Wembanyama just returned to the United States from China and participated in two podcast shows without much rest. When facing comedy star Kevin Hart, basketball legend LeBron James and football legend Tom Brady, Wembanyama happily talked about his ten-day trip to the Shaolin Temple in China.
During this cultural trip, Wembanyama said, "I am deeply impressed by Chinese Kung Fu. The focus and strength of Shaolin culture are in line with the spirit of basketball." "They said a lot of Chinese to me, but I didn't quite understand." Wembanyama, who shaved his head specially for this trip, said humorously in the program, "This is a great experience. My daily task is to learn Kung Fu. My goal for this trip is to expose my body to things I'm not used to and improve my flexibility and strength." During his stay at the Shaolin Temple, the 21-year-old NBA star, who is over 2.2 meters tall, was still under the management of his personal trainer in terms of training and diet. Reports say that although the Shaolin Temple where Wembanyama was staying is a "vegetarian Buddhist temple" and his diet there was limited to rice noodles and zucchini, to avoid losing too much weight, he would occasionally leave the temple to have some meat.
The 2-meter-tall "French monster" humbly studied in the ancient halls of the Shaolin Temple, perfectly demonstrating the cross-border integration of sports and traditional culture. Wembanyama said, "This was my own choice. I went there for several reasons. Besides spiritual cultivation, I also wanted to train and prepare physically. At the Shaolin Temple, I practiced with the Shaolin monks, completing various trainings as much as possible and trying things I had never encountered before. By enhancing my physical capabilities, I expanded my athletic possibilities and range."
