During the fall semester 2009 my father, Duane Moses, accepted a position at Missouri State University’s College of International Business, campus in Dalian, China. When he first talked to me about this, I was concerned about missing my friends, playing soccer and training with Cory Carr at Integrity. However, it has turned out to be an eye opening and really enjoyable experience.

Upon arrival in Dalian, one of the first things on my checklist was to find a place to play soccer. The day that we got settled into our apartment, my dad went to organize his new office, and I started walking around looking for soccer fields. As I was walking through the college grounds I noticed a soccer field that some of the college kids were playing on. The next day I went with my stuff to go play. As I walked through the main gate, this elder Chinese man that was sitting there stood up and started yelling at me in Chinese. I had no idea what he was saying and to be honest I was kind of scared, but I understood he didn’t want me playing there! The next day I went with my dad and a Chinese LNU – MSU staff member from the campus to translate for us. We were told that foreigners had to go through another gate…go figure. As we were walking to the other gate we met a Russian student (Badada) and luckily he spoke some English. He showed us where the gate was and said sometimes it would be locked and we would have to hop the fence to get in. However, as I was playing soccer, I notice that the older guy at the main gate was setting in a lawn chair enjoying watching us play, he didn’t hate us; we just couldn’t go through HIS gate!

Being able to play soccer everyday has been great because, first I love to play and second, because I’ve gotten to meet a lot of people. The first week I met and played with guys from Russia, Japan, Korea, England and China. Most of the guys are students at universities nearby, but a few are adults that come to the fields to play. Some of players speak a little English, which has helped me get to know them better. Generally, the games start around 3:00 pm and if you are late you won’t get on a team. We usually play side to side on each half of the field. Since there are so many guys that want to play we usually have 10 or 11 players per team. The games usually last until it gets dark and if anyone has to leave early there are guys waiting on the sideline for the chance to play. Needless to say I usually get there early so I get to play. The games are mostly all about skill and beating players rather than the physical part of the game. The games are really a lot of fun and there’s no pressure, if you mess up its ok.

Most days after our pickup games I usually go to the gym. My dad and I found a really nice gym (Whytewolf) about a 15 minute walk from the fields and about a 5 minute walk from our apartment. They have free weights, machines, treadmills and spin and dance classes. My dad and I have met a lot of people at the gym (we sort of standout…since there aren’t too many foreigners) and sometimes the Chinese want to practice their English. We often have dinner after we workout with the people we’ve meet at the gym.

While playing at the fields, I met some of the LNU-MSU college club team members. Since I’m taking classes at the LNU – MSU campus (12 Credit hours, but they don’t count toward college credit since I’m only in 8th grade) I was eligible to try out for the team and I was fortunate enough to get selected. Our team is the LNU – MSU College of International Business – International team. This means that everyone on the team has to be an International student (non-Chinese). We are made up of twelve Korean’s, one Russian, one Senegalese and one American!

After making the team, we had a group meeting about jerseys and numbers. Our team is a college club team but we don’t get any sponsorship from the university. Since none of the college club teams get sponsorship, teams select professional team jerseys. We chose Real Madrid jerseys, shorts, and socks and the total cost with numbers and names was $12.00. I guess since most jerseys are made in China they are really cheap here.

About a week after our group meeting we started our training sessions. When I heard about the training I thought it would be like training with my SSC club team. However, I soon learned that the training level is not nearly as intense as my club training at home. The good news though is that many of my teammates play every evening so we get to play together during pickup games at the fields.

Our first game was away at Dongbei University of Finance & Economics. They have a really nice stadium and grass field about a 20 minute taxi ride from our campus. Since most of their team was Korean, the pre-game ritual was very different than in the U.S. Both teams met at the center of the field and each player introduced himself. We then bowed, Korean style, and shook hands. During the game each team was very respectful of the opposing players. If there was a foul each player stood, bowed to each other and the one committing the foul apologized to the other player. Of course, being the only America out there, this was all brand new to me and really different than the way I am used to playing in MRL games. I felt very fortunate to get to start the match and played the whole game, at center mid. We won the match 4-3 and we were all really excited as this was our first win. I scored on a free kick that I’m going to say was the upper ninety, but it may have helped that the keeper was really short J and I had one assist. I was really happy to get to play as much as I did since I’m the youngest player on our team. After the game, in the evening we meet for our team dinner. I found out later that this is something that we do after each of our matches.

This game was a great experience and showed me that play can be intense but respectful. The style of play in this match was not very physically, most of the player’s relied on skill and touch. However, the overall speed of played seemed a little slow to me and both teams were not very well organized.

Our next big match we had was with the campus down the road from us, Dalian Maritime College of Transportation & Logistics Engineering. This team is somewhat of a rival. This game was different than our first match as we were not playing against Koreans we were playing against mostly Chinese. We played really well the first half and we were up 1-0 at half time. I scored the goal and it was probably the best goal I’ve ever scored in my life. I was out about 23 yards and really smacked it, and it found the top left corner. However, the second half turned into a disaster. Three of our players had to leave to go take an exam (yes, they give Saturday exams in China) and we let in 5 goals the second half. I didn’t think we played very well the second half, but no excuses; we really failed to come out and play hard.

The style of play in this match was less respectful than our first match; we didn’t apologize if we fouled a player. But the level of play was about the same. Most players relied on their touch and skill and not physical play. A lot of the players dribble more than what I see in our games back home and they tend to rely on change of pace to beat players. Really, the Chinese team and the Korean team both played similar styles.

I had to miss our next match as we traveled that weekend to Beijing. I guess seeing the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square were worth missing a match for, but I sure wanted to play in the game.

We had to cancel a couple of games because of the weather so our last games were the end of the season tournament. In the tournament we won one game, tied two and lost two. We ended up in fourth place, not as good as we hoped but we are a really young team compared to some of the other college club teams.

This experience of being able to play with different cultures from around the world has been amazing. I’ve met so many people from numerous countries and made some really good friends. One of the biggest impacts that this experience has shown me is how many opportunities that we have back home. I’ve played with a few players that I think could make really good DII college teams and one player, from Japan, that I’m sure could play at most any DI program. However, most of these players will never get a chance to play beyond some recreational league or college club team league. The other thing this experience has shown me is how much I really miss playing with my SSC club soccer teammates. I will be really sad to leave Dalian, China, but I will be even more excited to come home to Springfield and start club soccer again.

Dallas

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