17-year-old Tibetan girl Cigla is a freshman at Nagqu No.2 Senior High School in Lhasa, which sits 3,650 meters above sea level. She now plays point guard for the school's 12-member female basketball team.
"Practice makes perfect. You get used to the altitude when you love the sport and train hard enough," said the potential basketball star, who has been crazy about the sport since taking it up three years ago.
With outstanding speed and accurate passes, she never fails to shine on the basketball court, even when she competes against the boys. Though she is a freshman in high school, Cigla already has a clear picture of her future—entering a sports college to study basketball. In the eyes of Cigla, who comes from a poor herder's (牧民的) family in northern Tibet, studying in Lhasa, the most developed city in this area, has made it much easier for her to realize her basketball dream.
With an average altitude of over 4,500 meters, Nagqu is among the most uninhabitable places in Tibet. Low-oxygen environments and extreme weather have long influenced the health of Nagqu students, hampering the development of primary education in the area.
Like Cigla, many students at the school are from poor farmers' and herders' families. Dawa Droma, a senior student also on the school's female basketball team, recalled, "I had never touched a basketball before that game but joined the class team anyway. When I scored and heard my classmates cheer for me, I couldn't feel more proud. That's how I fell in love with basketball and never looked back". Reflecting on the influence of basketball on her life, Dawa Droma said the sport had helped her get fit and build up confidence over the years. "Meeting players from different schools has certainly made me a more outgoing person." she said.
