Am I a Chloe..or Am I a Chlue?

Near the end of last school year, my school held a Sports Banquet. It was pretty much to celebrate all the kids in 7th and 8th grade who participated in a competitive sport. (People who just did PE were not celebrated). I participated in sports for all three seasons of the school year: I did Cross Country, Basketball, and then Track and Field, so I was invited even though my parents had to pay for it!  :)

Sports Banquet

The school's athletic department provided all the athletes and their families with a pretty good sit down meal. (I checked before accepting the invitation). We had barbecue chicken, or steak, with chili and cookies...and other stuff) While we ate our dinner the athletic department played a slideshow of  the athletes in different sports. They would announce something like, "Fall Sports, Boys and Girls Cross Country!", show the slideshow, and then give out the awards to the outstanding athletes in that sport.

For cross country, they showed a picture of me running, which was not very flattering. Surprisingly, I got a "Most Inspirational" award for Cross Country, which probably means I tried hard, but wasn't very good.

For basketball, I ended up getting an award for Most Outstanding Player. As I walked up there to receive my award my coach whispered "Give it back once you're done taking pictures, because they spelled your name wrong." So I took a picture with the award where my name was spelled wrong. It was spelled Chololoulo, or something like that. (They didn't even spell my last name wrong...which is a surprise). I gave the award back and the Athletic Department apologized.

I swear they cut off the plaque because my name was spelled wrong.

Just before school ended for summer vacation, I went to pick up my corrected award plaque from the Athletic Department. It took the department maybe 10 minutes to find it, but once I got it, I took it home. I looked at my plaque and there it was: MY NAME WAS SPELLED WRONG.  AGAIN! This time it was spelled "Chlue". I don't know why it's so hard to spell Chloe. :) Maybe because I'm Asian, they were expecting a Choe or Chue. Whatever. But I didn't want to trouble them anymore so I just brought the award home and took a picture of it for a sourvenir. It's kind of funny.

I'm the most outstanding Chlue Hsu!

Sadly they took back the first misspelled plaque. Otherwise I would have put up a picture of that one too!

If Jeremy Lin can make it in the NBA . . .

I'm in the middle of my school midterms, which is why I haven't been thinking about blogging much. However, this last couple of weeks, a lot of news came out about Jeremy Lin, the Chinese American dude who graduated from Harvard, and now plays for the New York Knicks. My sister and I already follow Jeremy Lin and his funny Youtube videos with KevJumba and Nigahiga.

Last week, my dad keeps making me watch clips of Jeremy Lin playing point guard for the New York Knicks. I can't help but think that maybe there is athletic potential in all of us Asian kids after all.

I've been playing in an Asian League basketball team since 2nd grade.  We had a very lame name for our team: "The Shooting Angels".

Me in third grade with the Shooting Angels

When we were kids, we didn't mind so much, but in 6th grade, we started feeling a bit embarrassed by the name.  My teammates were saying that they don't want to wear our team shirts to go out because of the name.  So we finally changed our name to the Magic.  Still lame, but better.  Apparently, the Asian leagues have the funniest team names: the QD's, Below the Rim, Happy Shoyu, Hoops a Daisies, Hollywood Dragonettes, Mustang Rainbows, Kukui Nuts, and many more. It's kind of quaint and nice, as long as you don't have to wear those names on your shirts.

In the Asian league, we play over thirty games a year.  We play all over Los Angeles County, Orange County, and even in Las Vegas.  We are drilled on the fundamentals, and we develop great friendships with our teammates whom we've been together with since 2nd grade or even younger. My team doesn't exclude girls who are not so good at playing. We know each other's strengths and weaknesses, and we encourage each other during games.  I started off shooting at the wrong basket, but now I am the point guard for my team (mainly because I'm short but fast). We've had some good seasons (we were last season's champs), and some bad ones (We're in the midst of a losing season right now). On my part, I also play with kids from my local parks and recreation center perhaps another ten to fifteen more games a year.

In middle school this year, I joined the school basketball team.  Because my school is mostly non-Asian,  I think most of the school coaches and students assume that this short scrawny Asian girl  doesn't play sports. But, when I signed up for basketball this season, I find myself to be one of the more experienced players on the team.  While we've been losing quite a few games, I know that I help keep the team competitive. When we play against other schools, I'm pleasantly surprised that I run into players from the other Asian league teams I've played against before.  We're happy to see each other.

If we all keep playing, and schools and teams give us a chance instead of assuming that Asian kids can't play sports, maybe there will be more Asian boys and girls playing ball in college, and in professional teams too. Go, Jeremy Lin!