Reconnecting with Ma Ming

Ma Ming would’ve played for the Ateneo men’s basketball team in the UAAP in the late 1990s except he couldn’t pass the math exam. His older brother Ma Jian, a 1992 Olympian, was close to playing in the NBA but never made it. In 1996, Ma Jian suited up for Hapee in the PBL and was a fan favorite. In 2003, he was back in Manila to play for Jilin in the PBA Invitationals. When college scouts found out Ma Jian had a 6-6 younger brother in China, they invited Ma Ming to come over.

Ma Ming, now 50, didn’t speak a word of English when he flew in but he enrolled in language class and slowly, became proficient. Ateneo took an interest in Ma Ming and he suited up for the Blue Eagles in exhibitions in Cebu and Bacolod, looking ready to join the varsity. Then came his math waterloo. Ma Ming returned to Beijing, played in the Chinese league and joined the Liaoning club front office in 2002. He later moved to Nike China Sports Marketing as senior manager then was involved in sports development working with the Chinese Students Sports Federation. In 2016, Ma Ming established his own company to focus on consulting services, sports education and training, business support, sports venue operations, sports tourism, sports agency, sports rehabilitation and medical information and providing opportunities for athletes to make a career out of sports. He relocated to Los Angeles with his wife and daughter and this year, set up the North American Sports Industry Association (NASIA) to push his agenda further.

At NASIA where he is chairman/CEO, Ma Ming is backed up by a group of senior advisers including Wasserman Sports Management’s Tony Ronzone, Alex Carmichael, Daniel Prince, Jack Li, Umberto Righetti, Liu Jianhong and Michael Cui. Ma Ming was recently in Manila and would’ve stayed longer if not for his father Ma Deichai passing away a few days ago. During his visit, Ma Ming paid a courtesy call on POC president Mayor Bambol Tolentino and met with Philippine Amateur Baseball Association president Chito Loyzaga who was Ma Jian’s close friend.

Former Intramuros administrator and Ateneo alumnus JunJun Capistrano recalled that Ma Ming was a fast learner. “He stayed at our home for a month back then and while he learned how to speak English, we didn’t realize he never had lessons in math,” said Capistrano. Ma Ming is now known as Martin Ma and making waves in the sports world as a mover and shaker.

“Our goal is to help young athletes achieve their dreams,” said Ma Ming. “We’ve done sports clinics in Southern California, we’ve facilitated US scholarships for Malaysian and other Asian athletes, we’ve just accompanied the University of California at Irvine team to the Jones Cup, we’re building sports bridges between China and the rest of the world. We recognize the talent in baseball in Taiwan, Japan and Korea and we want to expose that talent to the world. Since we’re based in LA, we’ll be involved with the 2026 FIFA World Cup and 2028 Olympics. We’re about all sports and we want to develop better athletes especially among the youth by giving them the opportunity to learn from the best coaches and trainers in the world.” Those who wish to contact Ma Ming may send an email to [email protected].