Over the past five months, I have
been immersed into Australian culture. Luckily, thanks to my sports class, I
had the opportunity to experience Australian sport and how it has shaped their
culture. Throughout these five months, I have learned to appreciate the
Australian culture through sport experiences. I am going to reflect back on all
of the field trips I attended, and what it taught me about Australian culture.
My first field trip was the
Maroubra Nippers. I was fascinated by the dedication and strength that the
young Australian’s possessed. The amount of support and encouragement from
their other teammates and surrounding parents was awesome to see. This reminded
me a lot of sport back at home because when I was younger, I remember the
amount of love and support I got from my family and friends when I was
performing. It seems that in America, this changes as age increases. When kids
are younger, it doesn’t matter who wins (well, for most people). But when you
get older, there is an extreme pressure upon the kids to win and that being the
best constitutes as being a winner. I have learned the Australians may show
some competition, but sport is not so heavily forced and pressured upon their
children, which is great!
Throughout the five months, I
attended three rugby games. The first was the rugby league where the Rabbitohs
played the Tigers. This was particular interesting because it reminded me of a
game from back in America. There was a stadium with food and beers, which makes
it a comforting place to be. I noticed a lot of groups and families- showing
that it was exciting to watch the game with your friends and loved ones. This
also reminds me of going to sports games back at home. When I do it is usually
a big group of friends going where we all enjoy each other’s company and
watching something exciting.
The second rugby game that I
attended was rugby union at the Sydney University Oval. This game was very
different from rugby league. There was a row of special members that got food
and endless glasses of wine. The crowd was very tamed and not so into it as the
audience was at the rugby league game, it seemed more professional and not so
casual. This seemed a bit odd to me considering the first rugby game I went too
people were very loud and obnoxious, rooting for their teams. And at this
match, it seemed very business-y to me.
The third rugby game I went to was
to see the La Perouse youth team play on the Yarra Oval. Now this game reminded
me of back home in an instant! The snack bars, the immense groups of families
wrapped up in blankets, sitting in their portable chairs, it all reminded me of
youth sport back at home. What surprised me was how into the game the parents
were; cursing, screaming, yelling, it was very comical! I enjoyed observing the
sense of community the parents displayed with each other. This reminded me back
at home because I remember when I played soccer as a kid, my parents were
really good friends with all of my players parents so when I had a game, they
were all cheering for all of us. Games like this seem very comfortable and casual;
you get the real feel for a youth sports game with the sense of encouragement
and support from everyone around you.
My last and final field trip was at
the Sydney Olympic Park to see Australia’s wheelchair rugby team playing
against Japan. Although I did not get to experience the whole game due to
travelling issues, I was lucky enough to get a full lecture on the sport. After
this I was very surprised at the determination within these particular athletes.
Despite their disadvantages, they have found a way to take advantage of this
and be the best they can be, which is very admirable to me. This has encouraged
me to research sports involving disables athletes and try to support them
because as the lecture mentioned, they do not receive very much financial
support, which I think is ridiculous. This has led me to want to take an active
role in doing what I can to raise money for sports teams like this.
Overall, this semester has been an
amazing one that I will never forget. I am very thankful that I got the
opportunity to come to Australia and take this course because it has widened my
perspective of the Australian culture in respect to sports. I have had so much
fun experiencing all of the sporting events with my friends in this class and
it has made me appreciate the sporting culture of Australia. It has also made
me enjoy sports more in general so when I go home back to America, I will
definitely be more into watching the games on television as well as going to as
many sports events as I can. I have
gotten to realize that sport is a big part of any culture and I feel like I
could enjoy sports more by appreciating the culture aspect of it. By comparing
Australian sport to American sport over the past five months, I definitely
enjoy Australian sport more, but maybe that is because I never really gave
American sport a chance. It will be exciting to see what I can discover about
American sport and be able to draw more comparisons between the two countries,
and maybe to other countries as well. I am very happy that I took this class.
My experience abroad would have not been so exciting if I didn’t have the
chance to experience this aspect of Australian culture. This has definitely been
a blessing and I have taken everything I have learned to heart.
