sports

I played basketball today for the first time since elementary school. I was asked by the head of the foreign language department and although I argued that I was awful at basketball, he responded, "We know all Americans are good at basketball". So I was pretty much obliged. He'll probably be a good contact to have down the road in any event.

So I went down to the old campus at 4:00 to meet the other players and maybe try to practice a bit before the game began at 4:30. I had watched countless numbers of basketball games and played that arcade game where you have to shoot the ball into a moving hoop, so I wasn't clueless as how to play. When it comes to sports I'm not a klutz either, really, though I wouldn't call myself an athlete, per se.

Anyway while I was standing looking for where the game was taking place, a few students came up to me and introduced themselves to me and I asked them where the basketball courts were. One of the students I met named "Yi" insisted on leading me to the courts and ensuring I got there safely, despite the fact that they were in eyeshot of where I was standing, but thanks a lot, Yi!

The game was the English department versus the PE department, rumored (well, not really rumored actually) to be the best team at the university. I hadn't expected to do well, and honestly I was quite worried about the game itself, but I went with a positive attitude and "had a try". We got seriously pwned and I'm not even sure the score at the end of the game, but I was satisfied that I scored a total of FOUR points (considering it'd been 15 years) and managed to finally get into a decent rhythm at the end of the game. There's another game on Friday I've been asked to participate in, as well as a speaking competition which I'm looking forward to for non-English majors. I like the speaking competitions for some reason.

Speaking generally about sports in China, the most popular ones are definitely basketball and ping pong, probably followed closely by badminton, volleyball, and soccer. There are moves to make American sports more popular in China, including interestingly enough women's ice hockey, but as this article indicates, it's not doing to well. Tennis is quite unpopular despite the similarity to the rest of the raquet sports, as are the rest of the dumb raquet games like squash and racquetball, the latter two both of which require you to be White and a member of a country club to play.

I've played soccer and ping pong with many of my students, some regulary, others not as frequently, but each time it's a great stress relief for the students. In all they take a total of 13 or 14 classes, a total of 26-28 classroom hours and many of them obviously need an outlet. The guys are the only ones to play basketball or soccer (at least that I have seen, though I'm sure girls play basketball quite well and quite often), where as guys and girls both play ping pong, badminton, and volleyball. I haven't heard sports referred to as specifically female or male, which is good considering I doubt China has ever experienced a Title-9 movement.

The English department has to win at least two games to advance to the next round of the tournament and so far we're 0-2. But there are a total of eight games, and according to Jackie, the self-described "fire output" of the team and a member of the "iron triangle" (including Jackie, James Liu, and a six-foot guard named Wang), there are worse teams than ours is and we have a good chance of winning at least two. Jackie's actually a very nice 25 year old from Xi'an who has an uncanny knowledge of Western culture and speaks nearly perfect idiomatic English. I had forgotten about him since I only met him a few times last semester, but I'll be getting in touch with him more now that I have his number. I'll post what happens this Friday at 4:30...

Picture 1: one of our players enjoys a festive pre-game cigarette

Picture 2: the players before the game

Picture 3: during the game