Yen Hsing-su

Yen Hsing-su (Chinese: 顏行書; born 8 September 1976), also known as Johnny Yen, is a Taiwanese basketball coach and former basketball player, singer and actor. Since 2017 he has been the assistant coach of the Chinese Taipei men's national basketball team.[1][2] From 2015 to 2017 he coached the Fubon Braves in Taiwan's Super Basketball League.[3]

Yen Hsing-su
Yen at the 2008 Leisure Taiwan Day in Taipei
TaiwanBeer Leopards
PositionChief Operating Officer
League
Personal information
Born (1976-09-08) 8 September 1976
Taipei County (now New Taipei City), Taiwan
NationalityTaiwanese
Listed height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Listed weight163 lb (74 kg)
Career information
High schoolPrivate Nanshan Senior High School (私立南山高級中學), Taipei County, Taiwan
CollegeFu Jen Catholic University
Playing career1995–2010
PositionPoint guard
Career history
In this Chinese name, the family name is Yen.
Yen Hsing-su
Traditional Chinese顏行書
Simplified Chinese颜行书

Nicknamed "The Basketball Genie" (籃球精靈) for his playmaking skills, Yen was a regular of the Chinese Taipei national basketball team from 1997 to 2003. At the 2003 ABC Championship, he led the tournament in assists (4.7 per game), but retired soon afterwards to pursue a career in entertainment. In the years to follow, he led the boy band 183 Club and also starred in many popular TV dramas. He returned to professional basketball in 2007 and permanently retired in 2010. He has played professionally in both Taiwan (Chinese Basketball Alliance) and mainland China (Chinese Basketball Association).

Basketball career

Yen was a high school star back in Private NanShan Senior High School and turned professional in 1995 with the Tera Mars (later Kaohsiung and BCC Mars) in the Chinese Basketball Alliance of Taiwan.[4] As starting point guard, he led the league in assists for the 1997–1998 season and was then ranked among the best and brightest next-generation backcourt players in Taiwan. He was also selected to the Chinese Taipei senior basketball team from 1997 until 2003.

Around the start of the 21st century, however, Yen Hsing-su started to suffer from a succession of knee injuries. In his last appearance on the national team, Yen led the FIBA Asian Championship in assists, signifying his ability to continuously compete at Asia's highest level of basketball if free from injury. Yet, he decided to become a full-time entertainer after completing the first season (2003–2004) of the newly founded Super Basketball League (SBL).[5] This was presumably due to the chronic knee problem and, arguably, the success of his new entertainment career following the airing of My MVP Valentine, a basketball-themed TV drama he starred in while healing the initial knee injury in 2002.

In 2007, Yen returned to basketball when he signed with Yunnan Bulls in the Chinese Basketball Association in mainland China to play in the 2007–2008 season. As a starter, he averaged 8.1 points and 5.2 assists (3rd in the league) in 22 games. After the season, he returned to Taiwan to play for Taiwan Beer in the SBL where he won his only club championship title. In the ensuing 2009–2010 season, Yen once again joined the Chinese professional league to play for the Shanghai Sharks.

Currently, Yen is an assistant coach in Brigham Young University–Hawaii and a sports commentator at FOX Sports Taiwan.

Filmography (TV Dramas)
Year English title Chinese title Role Notes
2002My MVP ValentineMVP情人Duan Chern-feng
2004Snow Angel雪天使Chyi Hsing-feng
The Champion任我遨遊Wu Zhen Kang
2005The Prince Who Turns into a Frog王子變青蛙Hsieh Chuan
2006Legend of Star Apple星蘋果樂園Lu Tien-hao
2020Fly the Jumper違反校規的跳投

Notes and references
  1. "HSING-SU YEN basketball profile". Asia-basket.com. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
  2. "Chinese Taipei - FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers". FIBA. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
  3. Ye Shihong (19 April 2017). "《籃球》富邦勇士大地震 總教練顏行書轉任顧問". China Times (in Chinese). Retrieved 11 July 2020.
  4. The Taiwanese professional league that existed in the 1990s is not to be confused with the Continental Basketball Association of the United States or the Chinese Basketball Association of the People's Republic of China, which are also abbreviated as "CBA".
  5. Yen Hsing-su is among the few players who have played in both the Taiwanese CBA and the SBL.
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