Andrea Dalton
NCAA Guest Blogger
Having jet lag setting in, I found waking up extremely difficult—like, hitting-the-snooze-6-times-before-my-Monday-8am-class hard. Nevertheless, I got up and met Lori, Delise, and Travis for breakfast.
What’s on the menu? Raw fish, noodles, dried fruit and vegetables and tofu.
Thankfully I found a relatively American-friendly station and made myself a peanut butter and jelly (as you can tell, I can’t get over the whole food thing–typical American.)
I was, however, excited to get the day started. After we ate, we attended the opening ceremony.
Our idea of a fantastic athlete is Lebron James, Hines Ward, Maya Moore, and Michael Phelps. After seeing the students from Taiwan’s University of Sport and Physical Education, I think my perceptions might change a tad.
The incredible performances these students put on and the ways they used their bodies was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Truly remarkable.
If allowed, I’ll send the video I took. You have to see it to believe it.
The keynote speakers spoke on leadership as a platform for sustainable development and we had the opportunity to workshop after their presentations. It was an eye-opening experience.
Hearing how few countries have the opportunity to actually compete in sports and how little their governments run their initiatives is mind-blowing. Some Asian countries are only exposed to sports in school at the age of 14.
As Americans, I think we sometimes take advantage of our own system. We don’t realize how privileged we are to have so many opportunities to play multiple sports at such a young age.
We ended our evening with a welcome dinner at an offsite location. There we enjoyed a 12 course meal (I was bound to find something I like.) It was a great way to end our first actual day of forum!
