|
Letter from Boston
Friday Soccer
By MASAKO YAMADA
|
|
金曜日のサッカー
晴れた金曜日の午後、雅子さんのクラスの学生たちは、運動着に着替えてサッカーをしに公園に繰り出します。メンバーは少人数で、ゴールキーパーや審判もいませんが、いろいろな国籍の学生が、言葉の壁を超えてサッカーを楽しみます。
|
On sunny Friday afternoons, after the final class of the week is over, some
members of my class change straight into their scruffy athletic gear. I
don't know who started it, but Friday afternoon is now the regular time
for impromptu soccer. All of the students in my class are invited.
Usually it's just the same group of guys who actually show up, but the
invitation is extended to all via e-mail.
About a third of the students
participate. That means the soccer teams consist of only about four
people each. Obviously, with so few people the soccer field and rules do
not follow official standards. For instance, there are no goalies and no
referees. The players don't even play regular positions. However, the ball,
at least, is a real soccer ball. It is a communal ball bought with the
dues that some resourceful person collected from the students.
I
don't think any of the students in the other classes know about our soccer
"event" because it is so loosely organized. It might be a more
established event if the whole physics department were involved, but it's
nice that we new students have this casual opportunity to get together,
mingle, and work off the stress of the long week. The fact that most of
us are taking the same classes and facing similar trials as first-year
grad students makes us feel a bit different from the others. I realize that I
see some of my classmates almost all day every day. We go to classes, lunch,
study groups, and Saturday night parties together.
There isn't an easily
accessible BU field, so the soccer events are played at a park called
the Fens, located next to the Museum of Fine Arts about a 15 minute walk
from the science center. Since the Fens is more of a park to "hang out in"
than a serious sports park, there are no clearly marked soccer fields.
There are only a couple of tennis courts, basketball courts, and a baseball
diamond. Nevertheless, the guys set up goals with mounds of bags and
clothes and start playing away.
Last week, however, the students played
on a field with real goals near Harvard University. That was because we had
the day off and wanted to take a real break. To get to this field
required a short bus trip, which added a kind of "field trip" excitement.
But fun is our motto, not competition.
I was delighted when I
went, as the unofficial photographer of the event, to the first game of the
season. All of us walked over to the Fens together. We all chatted in little
groups as we walked, but then we got a little lost. None of us knew
where we were really going. Our group must have looked a little strange
since we were acting childish. But the weather was beautiful, and our
excitement was obvious. After the game, some of us went into a nearby
convenience store for a drink.
Sometimes a large enough group can't get
together and the casual soccer day is, very casually, canceled. But it's
getting colder out, and I think everybody knows that once the snow starts
covering the ground, we're going to be stuck indoors for months. This is
an incentive to absorb as much sunshine as possible while we still
can.
This is also one of the few physics get-togethers I've gone to in
which students of all nationalities can truly participate on an equal
basis. Study groups, weekend parties, and colloquia are all affected
by the language barrier, since over 75 percent of the students in my
class come from foreign countries. Sports really does seem to transcend
language and serve as a means to break the ice. It may sound like a
cliche, but to see this truth in action, you only need to come to our
Friday Afternoon Soccer.
Shukan ST: Nov. 8, 1996
(C) All rights reserved
|