For one thing, I’ve learned that Australians happen to be amazing at sports, and that playing and participating in sports is huge part of Australian culture. Whether it be swimming, surfing, rugby, soccer, netball, or cricket, almost every Australian that I have met is involved in sports through their school, community, or other venue. There is a huge emphasis placed on participating in sports and excelling. While sports are important in America, I just don’t think there is as much participation and enthusiasm as there is here in Australia. For instance, a lot of people played sports in my high school, but I never did. I played one year each of soccer, basketball, and softball, and I took tennis lessons for several years, but I never competed or felt the pressure to excel; I mostly did it for fun. Australians play sports for leisure too, but the prevalence of athletes everywhere I go is extremely noticeable. Walking on campus throughout the day, I’d see rugby clubs running drills, the tennis courts were always packed, and there would be inter-collegiate games occurring on a weekly basis. I also especially noticed how the community and schools support youth sport and competition. With mandatory swimming lessons in every school and a strong community-organized Nippers program in almost every beach town, it’s amazing to see how much sports are involved in Australian youth lives. The programs here are way better than the dodgeball tournaments I had to endure growing up, which were about as sporty as our school got in physical education classes.
In a broad sense, I’ve also noticed how much more of an influence England has on ways of life in Australia as opposed to the amount of influence (or lack of influence) in the United States. While both countries descended from England, they differ immensely because Australia is still a commonwealth of England whereas America is not. The influences run deep into sports life in Australia. The big sports here are rugby, cricket, and soccer, while in America they are basketball, baseball, and American football. People in America barely follow rugby, cricket, and soccer, yet there are diehard fans here in Australia. I’ll be willing to bet that if you were to drop an Australian into the crowd at the Superbowl, they would be scratching their heads and wondering what was going on. The same is how I felt when I went to my first rugby game, and to be honest, I’m still really confused about how the game is played.
Another big overall theme in sports here, both professional and community-based, is how people are treated according to race. For instance, the Wallabies in the mid 1960’s refused to play against the South African Springboks because of the country’s poor treatment towards Blacks. However, I find that kind of interesting when Aboriginal men and women are constantly being scrutinized and discriminated against in everyday life and in the world of sport. In fact, Aboriginal rights and livelihoods were a constant battle in Australian sports history, with crowds shouting racial slurs at Aboriginal players in ruby games. We even went on a field trip to watch an “Aboriginal” rugby league, which turned out to be mixed with different races anyway. What I never understood is why Aboriginal people needed their own separate rugby league in the first place. In fact, a lot of Aboriginal rugby players happen to be better than white Australian players and bring a lot of excitement to the game, so it’s sad that they would be discriminated against.
The last important thing I noticed concerns Australian youth sports. Healthy competition is emphasized and encouraged, but sometimes youth sports can be scarily violent as opposed to American youth sports. The Nippers are a classic example of healthy competition in Australian youth sport, and American parents and communities can definitely learn a thing or two from this program. The entire club is organized and planned by the community, and is completely run by parent volunteers. Those parents who don’t volunteer will most likely show up and cheer their children on, supporting them through every drill. I’ve never seen parents more friendly towards each other and others’ kids, and it really was a friendly sporting atmosphere. I feel as if every child could learn a lot by running races and competitive drills while being surrounded by community members and family friends in a supportive environment. However, at the youth rugby game, I was almost scared to watch the children play. They were aggressive towards each other and I was shocked that the league allowed tackling. In American youth sports, coaches are VERY careful about how the children play and interact with each other, because it becomes a huge deal if a kid gets hurt while in a game. In Australia, I almost feel as though they encourage the children to not hold back, and in a way this might help with anger issues and emotional problems off the pitch.
In the end, I have thoroughly enjoyed learning about Australia and it’s wonderful world of sports. I was constantly impressed on every field trip by the athletic prowess and skill that everyone displayed, including the children, and it helped me learn more about my own country in regards to sports on a professional, community, and school level. While I myself am not the best athlete, I still love being a spectator, and it was extremely interesting to learn about a sport culture that is so different from what I am used to. I love everything about Australian sports, from how the girls have a huge sporting network that they can have pretty much to themselves (netball) to how diehard some fans get at rugby games, which is a sport that was especially unfamiliar to me. When I go back to America, I’m definitely going to try to keep up with Australian sports and teach my friends all about it.
Thank you so much for a great semester!
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