For my CIP I attended FREE basketball club in Kyoto. The group was a mix of Kyoto, Tokyo, and Doshisha students, and girls and guys (though they didn\u2019t mix sexes during scrimmaging), so I was able to meet various people from the area (or distant area since some live further away like Osaka). We meet at one court and alternated who scrimmaged, while the other team sat out. At my home institution I play varsity level basketball, so I wanted to stay in shape and continue practicing even though I was aboard. Unfortunately they didn\u2019t meet as regularly as I\u2019d like, generally two practices a week, but I recognize that it is a club and not a University team; still if you\u2019re looking for something more rigorous, I\u2019d suggest looking elsewhere.<\/p>\n
I was definitely nervous for my first practice. I was almost lost until I saw a girl with basketball gear on, and was to follow her to the gym (I was too nervous to ask for directions; my level of Japanese was that low). The basketball representative I got in contact with introduced to me the girls team, and I did a brief introduction, but they didn\u2019t seem very interested in me at the time, which is understandable because I\u2019m a foreigner and because I\u2019m not very good at Japanese. The actual activity of basketball was fine. I was bigger and stronger than all of them, but they were quick and hustled the entire time. I definitely had to be less physical though and had to tone down my excitement. It\u2019s hard to explain but the girls weren\u2019t as \u201cin it\u201d as the guys were. The guys gave more high-fives, claps on the back or shoulder, hardier exclamations of joy, and generally more aggressive. The girls didn\u2019t have that same energy. I had to adjust, especially when it came to bullet passes. The girls also didn\u2019t have the same fundamentals and basketball IQ I\u2019m used to seeing from girls our age. They didn\u2019t quite understand spacing, when to screen, how to play help defense, how to rotate defense, etc. And most of these girls played in high school too. Having been here a while, I recognize that basketball isn\u2019t as big in their culture as it is in the US, so the talent and interest is also different. But like I said, they had great speed, stamina, and hustle, which is just as important.<\/p>\n
It honestly took almost two months for the girls to be more comfortable with my presence. The guys from the get go were cool with me, just because of my skill, but I wasn\u2019t able to interact with them because of the alternating scrimmage system. We still don\u2019t talk much off the court, my interests just didn\u2019t align with most of these girls\u2019 interests, but we communicated a lot more on the court. There were more \u201cgood jobs,\u201d \u201cnice pass,\u201d \u201cgood shot,\u201d \u201cgomen,\u201d \u201cscreen,\u201d \u201cgood game,\u201d being said, and that was an important step in my mind. While I don\u2019t think I would have been best friends with any of these girls, I think my level of Japanese did hinder my experience, so study because it will save you a bunch of hardships (and watch Slam Dunk or Kuroko no Basket)!<\/p>\n
At the end of the day I can\u2019t judge an entire population based on my interaction\/experience with this basketball club, but I still think I learned a lot about Japanese people and culture.\u00a0 There was some bad and there was some good from this experience, so overall I\u2019m glad I did it.<\/p>\n
Circle (Sports), KCJS 29 (Fall 2017), Sewanee: The University of the South<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For my CIP I attended FREE basketball club in Kyoto. The group was a mix of Kyoto, Tokyo, and Doshisha student … \u7d9a\u304d\u3092\u8aad\u3080