Andrea Dalton
NCAA Guest Blogger
The twelve hour time change is definitely taking a toll. I didn’t realize how tired I was until I had to be up for breakfast at 8:00am.
After eating a hearty breakfast of peanut butter and jelly and pork sausage (yes, I realize how uncultured this breakfast sounds) we gathered in the lecture hall and listened to keynote speakers discuss sports as a sustainable ground for development. After the speakers presented, we had the opportunity to break out into our groups and discuss this topic with other countries.
I prefer listening in these groups, not so much because I don’t have anything to contribute, but I am so intrigued to see how other countries view athletics within their communities. After listening to representatives from South Africa and Israel, I completely realized how incredibly fortunate athletes in the United States are because of the opportunities presented to us.
I think a lot of athletes take advantage of the system; we sometimes believe it is our right instead of our privilege to be university athletes. In some Asian countries, students are not even introduced to sports until the age of 14.
The United States is almost virtually the only country in the world that has university-sponsored athletics. Lucky is an understatement. I like to think that we are blessed for having so many choices and opportunities.
Once the forum was complete for the day, we were shuttled to a Chinese museum of artifacts and treasures. We just so happened to pick the busiest day of the year, so we weren’t able to see much. But it was nice to see a tiny part of their traditional history up close.
If today is any indication of how the rest of the week will play out, I am confident that I will be taking a lot away from this experience!
