Final Blog Reflecting on my Experiences and Learning

As the end of the semester is coming to a close, I cannot believe how fast this semester has flown by. I remember the day before I left how excited I was to come study abroad in Australia for 4.5 months, but I thought that it was an extremely long time. Now with only a little over a month to go, the time needs to slow down because I do not want to leave this amazing country. When I arrived I learned about the class, Sport and Learning in Australian Culture, and thought it would be an amazing way to learn about Australian sports and culture. All I can say now, is that I am so glad I took this class and would recommend it to anyone studying abroad at the University of Sydney. I am a huge sports fanatic, and by learning about different sports that I never knew about in another country definitely added to my study abroad experience. I find myself telling not only other Americans back home about what I have learned, but Australians in Sydney about sports (like they would not already know what rugby is!). To learn about the passion, love of the game, and see Australians obsession with sports was amazing and is commendable. I thought it would be hard being away from American sports for so long, but this class made me get over it real quick! I have learned to love rugby and have even started growing a liking for footy!

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the field trips the class went on. It provided me with an overview of not only sports, but Australian culture as well. I would have never picked certain things up like Australians love and dedication to sports by just walking around Sydney. By having different lecturers explain to me about the history of Australian sports and why they are so important to the culture really put things into perspective. I have realized how much sports have played a huge role in the history of Australia, but would never have known why without this class. Thank you so much for this experience!

My favorite field trip was probably the Nippers field trip. I loved this field trip because I noticed that the people who run Nippers and are in charge are strictly volunteers who do it not only because they have community spirit, but also did Nippers as a young child and want to give back to others. There were no coaches or teachers telling these children what to do, rather the unpaid volunteers who encouraged the children to participate. This event taught me a lot about the importance and nature of children’s sports in Australia just by watching the Nippers for a short amount of time. Since Australia is surrounded by ocean and the majority of the people live on the coast, I learned that it is really important for all kids to learn how to swim and be comfortable with the ocean. I was very impressed by the behavior and attitude of the parents and volunteers involved with Nippers because none of the parents were screaming at their kids to win, rather they were encouraging them to try their best. All of the parents and volunteers also got along with one another, which shows the community spirit and passion for the program. This event taught me a lot about children’s sports in Australia and the importance of education and experience with the ocean. The part of Nippers that I thought was distinctively Australian was the community spirit and the way everyone got along. It did not matter what the race, gender, background, or religion of these people because they are all one community who have passion for Australia and their beaches. Being exposed to this sport and understanding Australian culture allowed me to experience Nippers through an American viewpoint. The volunteerism and community spirit that is involved with Nippers made me wish that America had something just like this program. The mental and physical growth that comes out of this program benefits not only the participants, but everyone else as well.

I also really enjoyed the day that we got to play cricket in class. Even though all of us probably made a fool of ourselves out on the oval, it taught me a lot about the game. By playing cricket, it gave me an appreciation of the sport and let me realize how hard the game actually is to play. Even though it can be a bit boring to watch and hard to understand, by getting out in the fresh air and playing cricket for the first time was a memorable experience for me not only in this class, but in Australia as well.

Even though many of the Australian sports may be similar to American sports, there are many differences to the popularity of sports in Australia. For example, not many people play rugby, footy, or even cricket in the United States because it is not very popular or even heard of. The way children are brought up early in their lives to hopefully one day get at the professional level is not very prevalent in the states either. While many children hope to one day achieve this goal, it is not a huge deal like it is in Australia. By having sports outside of school settings lets the children form physical education experiences and social bonds. Australians realize that regardless of the gender, age, race, and nationality of the youth, being exposed to sports help in the development of human beings and contribute to a healthier nation.

By having to write a blog for this class let me reflect on all of the experiences that I have had and will give me something to look back on for the rest of my life. I believe that by having to sit down each week and write a blog about a sporting event that I went to that week let me analyze Australian sports and culture more than I would have without having to write in this blog. With the semester ending, all I can say is that I have had an amazing time in Australia and with this class. I am going to be extremely sad when I have to depart, but will have to bring all of the experiences and memories with me back to the United States to share with all of my family and friends. Thank you Steve, John, and Christina for this amazing experience and for the class discussions!

Australian Football League Game (AFL): Sydney Swans (Week 12)

On Sunday, the class went on a field trip to an Australian Football League (AFL) game. The AFL is the most attended sporting league in Australia and one of the two most watched sports in Australia. I found this very surprising, because I always though that rugby would be more popular than Australian football. In the United States, all you hear about from other countries like Australia is about their rugby, and not the AFL. I did not know AFL even existed until I came to Australia.

The game was played at the Sydney Cricket Ground, where the Sydney Swans played against the Hawthorn Hawks (Hawthorn is in Tasmania). I had to take two buses to get to the stadium, but upon getting there, I noticed how nice the stadium looked from the outside. Right when I got off of the bus, there was a huge sign that said, "Sydney Cricket Ground Members' Entrance." We learned in class that to become a member of the Sydney Cricket Ground, there is a 30 year waiting list. Parents put their children on the waiting list right when they are born so when they grow up they can have a chance at rooting for their teams in the Members' Pavilion. The outside of the Member's Club and the inside was super nice and reminded me of the Victorian Era. I could picture the stadium back in the day when women wore their long dresses with their long gloves and umbrellas, and the men wore suits to go watch the sporting events . The rest of the stadium was really nice too, but the Members' Pavilion stuck out like a sore thumb.

I learned about "footy" in class, but it all made much more sense when I entered the stadium. The main difference between rugby and footy is that in footy, the playing field is a huge circle. There are also four goal posts sticking out of the ground on either end of the circle, which is the way that the teams score their points. Here is what the stadium looked like, and the four posts sticking up out of the ground:

Before the game, both of the teams had these huge blow-up banners that said something on the front of them. When the announcer said the team names, the entire team ran through the banner and tore off the bottom portion of it. I thought it was really cool how this is a tradition in AFL because each game, the team could put a new saying or something new on the banner. It also got the crowd pumped up for the game and ready to cheer on their team!

I noticed right when the game started, that the stadium was pretty full, but there was only about 33,100 people who attended the game. I compared this to American football, where anywhere between 60,000 and 100,000 people attend NFL games on a weekly basis. For footy to be Australia's most popular sport, and only have half of what Americans have was interesting to compare. I realize that America has a bigger population than Australia does, but I still would have thought that more people would support their local teams.

The game consists of four, 30 minute quarters, totaling 120 minutes of play. To start the game, the center referee took the football and threw it as hard as he could on the ground, making the football fly high into the air. This makes it fair for either team to jump up and grab the ball first. There are two teams who play at a time with 22 players (18 on the field and 4 interchanges) at a time. The main difference that I noticed right away between rugby and footy was that there was more players on the field (44 total) and that the men playing footy were a lot taller and slimmer than the rugby players. When I went to the NRL game, the men were all more stalky and their legs were huge, while the football players were all really tall. The main similarity I found was that both sports wore really short shorts!

The goal of the game is to score points by kicking the ball through the other team's goal posts. Since there are four goal posts, the way to score the most points is to kick it through the center of the four goal posts, in which your team earns 6 points. These goal posts are taller than the outside goal posts. If a team kicks it outside of the middle goal posts but between the outside goal posts, they earn 1 point, called a behind. A goal is judged by the umpires, which show if it went through by pointing both index fingers in front of him and then waving two flags above his or her head to indicate the score to the other goal umpire. A behind is signaled by pointing one finger, and waving one flag.

 Ball being scored for 6 points:

During the game, the players are allowed to position themselves anywhere on the field and use any part of their bodies to move the ball down the field. The main method that I saw though was kicking the ball down the field to another player, or handballing the ball which involved punching the ball to a player close by. If a player is running full force down the field, they must bounce the ball on the ground and not just hold onto it, like in American football.

I learned after about a quarter that there is a mark around the goal posts on both sides that when a player on the same team kicks a ball to another player in the area that is marked, they get a free kick in the place they catch it in. If a player kicks the ball to the player in the area that is marked but they drop it, there is no free kick awarded to that player. This was the way that most of the points were scored in the game. The player on the opposite time has a chance to block the ball, but they have to stand a certain distance back from the ball in order to block it. I never saw a player block the other teams ball though, which shows how hard it is to do it.

The players are allowed to tackle the other team, but by pushing an opponent in the back or doing other dangerous physical contact allows the other team a free kick. The purpose of tackling is to try and get the player to fumble the ball, or let another player jump on top of the opponent to steal the ball from them. There was not as much physical tackling compared to rugby, but some of the players still got hit pretty hard. The entire game, each player was paired with another player who was their mark for the entire game.

I also noticed that both teams had a huge cheering section for the dedicated fans. Each time their team scored points, they would wave their flags and cheer extremely loud. This got me pumped up because it reminded me of back in the United States how people have huge team spirit for their teams. People in Australia may have team spirit, but they do not show it as much as Americans do.

I liked footy a lot, but I think I like the sport of rugby more. The AFL game was extremely long, which lasted about 2.5 hours. It was a lot easier catching on to the AFL game and understanding the rules, but I feel like after a while things were very repetitive. I also noticed that in AFL, there is a lot more scoring than in rugby because it is a lot easier to score by just having to kick the ball through the goal posts instead of running the wall down the field into the end zone. 

At the end of the game, both teams greeted one another and shook hands, which showed their good sportsmanship.

The game was pretty close the first half, but the second half the Sydney Swans got blown out. Even though the Sydney Swans lost 106 to 60, I still enjoyed the game tremendously.

I am so glad I got the opportunity to take this sports class, and get to experience all of the sporting events in Australia. Even though the class ended last night, I will still continue watching different sports in Australia and maybe even go to another rugby or AFL game now that I know most of the rules!

First Time Playing Cricket (Week 11)

On Monday in class, Christina taught us about the game of cricket and how it is such an important sport not only in Australia, but also the rest of the world. She explained to us the basic rules, and how to hit the ball with the flat part of the bat. She also told the class about the sticks behind the batter and if the batter touches the sticks, they are automatically out. After learning about the game, we got a chance to play!

The class formed little groups of about 5-6 people, and practiced first hitting the ball off of a tee. Once the person hit the ball off of the tee, the outfielder retrieving it had to try and hit the tee for a turn at bat. When it was my turn, I was not expecting the bat to be as heavy as it was. We played with a squishy rubber ball and a plastic bat, but we learned that in professional cricket, they play with a super hard leather ball and wooden bat.

We also practiced pitching the ball in the windmill position. I caught on pretty quickly and was able to throw the ball a lot harder than I thought. Everyone was making fools of themselves because there were a  group of Australians practicing rugby nearby, and I could tell they were all thinking, "What are these Americans doing?!" 

Overall, I had a really fun time practicing how to hit and throw the cricket ball. Learning a new sport that I never knew about adds to my study abroad experience in Australia. I guess when I go back home I will have to bring back the game of cricket and teach all of my friends!

Frisbee Tournament in Bathurst (Week 10)

This past weekend from May 6th-8th, there was a frisbee tournament in Bathurst that I went to. My roommate Adam is on the frisbee team at the University of Sydney, and asked me if I wanted to come watch him. Since I have played frisbee before, he told me to come in case they needed more players and I could join in and play. The tournament was played one these two huge grass fields, one game next to the other. The games went all Saturday and Sunday, and the winners got these little plastic trophies.

Most of the players on the team are Australian, and by watching them, I noticed that they had a different  strategy to the game than what I have played in America. The way that they told the players to set up run after the other players made no sense to me, but maybe because I have never practiced with them before. They thought by clumping together and then dispersing randomly would work the best to distract the opponents. Some of the time it worked, but mostly everyone ran into each other. 

On Saturday, I watched the games, but on Sunday, they let me play a game with them. The entire game, the Australians were yelling plays at me, which I could not understand not only because I have not practiced with them, but their accent was extremely thick! I came to realize though that no matter where you play the game of frisbee, the rules will always be the same. It was extremely hard to breathe outside because of the altitude, but I had such a fun time playing frisbee in Australia! I scored a few points for the team, even though I did not catch on the Australian's lingo. We did not end up winning the tournament, but overall I had a very fun time at the tournament. I may even join the team back in Sydney and hopefully play in the coming weeks while I am still here studying abroad!

Netball in Sydney (Week 9)

Since I will be in Bathurst this weekend at a frisbee tournament, I decided to go with my Australian friend to her Netball game on Thursday, May 5th. She drove me there, so I am not exactly sure where it was but it was pretty far away. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so I could not take pictures.

When we arrived, I noticed all of the girls were wearing skirts to play netball. I found this to be very interesting since they were running around and jumping up and down the entire game. In America, the only sport that girls wear skirts in a contact game is field hockey. Her team started to warm up for a bit, and then the game started! I sat on a grass hill the entire game watching these Australian girls play the game of netball. It was very frustrating watching because although it reminded me a lot like basketball, it was very different. The reason why I was frustrated was because none of these girls were allowed to swat the ball out of the other girl's hands when she was shooting. Everything seemed to be very slow paced, and I did not understand why there were set positions. It seemed very difficult to shoot the ball though without a backboard, which is why the score to the game was so low. I was expecting the scores to be around 60 or 70 points, but it ended up being around 25 points!

Since there are only seven players that play at a time, I feel like if you have a team that is very tall, it adds a huge advantage. My friend's team was very small, so when the ball was up in the air, the other team had a better advantage to snag it before her team got to it. We have learned all semester that Australian's love their sports and are super competitive, which is what I saw in this netball game. The girls were screaming at one another if one of them missed a basket or did not get to the ball fast enough. I thought it was quite funny because it was only a league that was meant to be played for fun!

I am glad I got to watch the game of netball being played in action. I told my friend next week if she needed more players, I would love to join and try to play the game!