中國中學籃球教練到美國大學“學藝”

SALT LAKE CITY — About 15 coaches filed onto the mezzanine-like balcony overlooking a basketball practice court. They wore warm-up apparel and sneakers. As the Utes men’s team began its practice, some took notes in small Moleskine notebooks; others consulted printouts of set plays.

鹽湖城——大約15名教練一個接一個地走到這個像包廂似的，能俯瞰一個籃球訓練場的陽臺上。他們穿著熱身服裝和運動鞋。隨著猶特人(Utes)男籃隊開始訓練，一些人在小巧的Moleskine筆記本上做起了筆記，其他人則在查看打印出來的固定戰(zhàn)術。

It was late September, so several assistant coaches were on the road recruiting, and the practice itself was focused on getting players into shape and integrating new faces as opposed to game-planning any opponents.

正值9月末，因此多名助理教練正在各地招兵買馬，訓練本身的重點是讓球員進入狀態(tài)，并讓新成員融入球隊，而不是制定針對任何對手的對策。

But it was still a big-time college basketball practice, so at times, it got intense. Utah Coach Larry Krystkowiak stopped one drill and, in a not-angry-just-disappointed tone, told his team, “You guys are just full of it today; everybody’s got something to say.”

但這依然是一場一流的大學籃球訓練，因此有時候會變得很激烈。猶他大學的教練拉里·克里斯特科維亞克(Larry Krystkowiak)叫停了一次練習，用不是生氣僅僅是失望的語氣對球隊說，“你們這些家伙今天廢話太多了;每個人都想發(fā)表點意見。”

The observing coaches did not know exactly what Krystkowiak said, but they understood the coach’s frustration and determination. And they took note. They were among the best junior high and high school basketball coaches in China, brought to Utah’s gorgeous campus in a partnership between their government and the Pacific-12 Conference and the University of Utah.

在一旁觀察的教練們不知道克里斯特科維亞克具體說了什么，但他們明白他的失望和決心。他們做了筆記。他們屬于中國最好的初高中籃球教練。因為中國政府與太平洋十二校聯盟(Pacific-12 Conference)和猶他大學(University of Utah)的伙伴關系，他們來到了猶他大學美麗的校園。

This is no longer Ping-Pong diplomacy.

這不再是乒乓外交。

“The coaches — they are very passionate when they train their players,” said Sun Fengleng, who coaches in Jilin, a province in China’s northeast. “He is really good with the players, trains them well.”

“那些教練，他們在訓練球員時非常有激情，”在中國東北省份吉林當教練的孫峰棱(音)說。“他真的很擅長和球員相處，把他們訓練得很好。”

Sun added, “I want to learn the attitude and bring it back.”

孫峰棱接著說，“我想學習這種態(tài)度，并把它帶回去。”

Krystkowiak, a onetime N.B.A. power forward who has led the Utes to the N.C.A.A. tournament the past two seasons, seemed to endorse Sun’s takeaway.

過去兩個賽季，曾是NBA大前鋒的克里斯特科維亞克帶領猶特人隊沖進美國全國大學生體育協會(NCAA)聯賽。他似乎認可孫峰棱的理解。

“If they want to improve at basketball,” he said, “it’s not always the place to be polite.”

“如果他們想提升籃球水平，”他說，“不能總是在場上溫文爾雅。”

The Chinese government hopes many more coaches will learn that lesson. Nearly 100 Chinese junior high and high school coaches in the sports of men’s and women’s basketball, track and field, swimming and cheerleading were sent to Utah, and roughly the same number of Chinese college coaches went to Arizona State, which is also in the Pac-12.

中國政府希望能有更多的教練學習到這樣的經驗。近100名中國初高中男子和女子籃球、田徑、游泳和拉拉隊教練被送到猶他大學，和被送去亞利桑那州立大學(Arizona State University)的中國高校教練人數大致相當。該校也是太平洋十二校聯盟的成員。

The coaches observed practices and weight-room sessions. They got some time on the court themselves with Utah coaches. They participated in talks on injury rehabilitation and conducted film-room sessions. They even got to see the final bit of this year’s football game against Brigham Young, known locally as the Holy War.

這些教練會觀察球場訓練和健身房環(huán)節(jié)，還有機會親自和猶他大學的教練一起上場。他們參加損傷康復講座，并舉行了比賽錄像室環(huán)節(jié)，甚至還觀看了今年對陣楊百翰大學(Brigham Young University)的橄欖球決賽。這場比賽在當地被稱作圣戰(zhàn)。

Indeed, it is partly America’s fairly unusual model of competitive athletics enshrined in educational institutions that the coaches have come to study, said Kyle Brennan, Utah’s deputy athletic director.

猶他大學的副體育主管凱爾·布倫南(Kyle Brennan)說，在一定程度上，這些教練來學習的是美國非常與眾不同的競技體育模式，這種模式在美國的教育機構中得到了保護。

“Coaches are coaches,” he said with a chuckle. “Giving them a compliance class, they want to push the boundaries. ‘Why can’t I recruit a kid from another school?’ Well, these are the rules we’ve got.”

“教練就是教練，”他輕輕地笑著說。“給他們上一節(jié)合規(guī)課，他們就想挑戰(zhàn)限制。‘我為什么不能去另一所學校招人?’好吧，這些都是我們要遵守的規(guī)則。”

The program is financed by the Chinese Scholarship Council and organized by Federation University Sports China — a sort of state-sponsored Chinese N.C.A.A. that saw the coaches’ trips as much more than relaxed junkets.

該項目由中國國家留學基金管理委員會出資，中國大學生體育協會組織。后者類似于中國的NCAA，由政府資助。該機構認為這些教練的美國之旅遠遠不只是輕松的公費旅游。

“China’s interested in making sure that they come back, and this isn’t just a sightseeing tour,” Brennan said. “They want them to learn something.”

“中國有意確保他們回國，這不單單是一次觀光旅游，”布倫南說。“他們想讓他們學到東西。”

Their three-month residency in Utah, near mountains whose peaks were already snow-capped, was one of several signs of the Pac-12’s interest in claiming dominion over the Pacific Rim.

他們在附近的山頂已被白雪覆蓋的猶他大學進行為期三個月的訪學，是表明太平洋十二校聯盟有意在環(huán)太平洋地區(qū)占據主導地位的幾個跡象之一。

This college football season opened with Cal’s 51-31 victory over Hawaii in Sydney, Australia. On Friday night in Shanghai, Stanford scored an 80-70 victory over Harvard in men’s basketball — the second game in a series of Pac-12 contests held in China. Washington beat Texas there last year in the first regular-season game in China, and the series will continue next year, the conference announced Friday, with U.C.L.A. facing Georgia Tech.

這個高校橄欖球賽季以加州大學在澳大利亞悉尼51比31大勝夏威夷的比賽拉開帷幕。周五晚上在上海，斯坦福在男子籃球賽中80比70打敗哈佛。這是在中國舉辦的一系列太平洋十二校聯盟賽事中的第二場比賽。去年在上海，華盛頓在中國的第一場常規(guī)賽中戰(zhàn)勝德克薩斯。太平洋十二校聯盟周五宣布，這一系列賽事將持續(xù)到明年，加大洛杉磯分校(UCLA)將迎戰(zhàn)佐治亞理工(Georgia Tech)。

The games are part of the Pac-12 Globalization Initiative. Larry Scott, the Pac-12 commissioner, said that the initiative sprung out of meetings he held with the conference’s presidents in 2009, his first year on the job.

這些比賽是太平洋十二校聯盟全球化計劃(Pac-12 Globalization Initiative)的一部分。太平洋十二校聯盟總干事拉里·斯科特(Larry Scott)表示，該計劃起源于2009年，也就是他上任第一年與成員學校的校長舉行的一系列會議。

“I posited, given the global focus of our universities and given that athletics is meant to act as the front porch, does it make sense for us to pursue international conference athletics activities to help promote the broader agenda the universities have?” Scott said. “And there was a resounding yes.”

“我提出假設，考慮到我們大學的全球視角，并且因為體育運動本來就是我們的門面，那么我們是否可以在國際舞臺上展開體育活動，以幫助推廣各所大學現有的更廣泛議程?”斯科特說。“答案是響亮的‘可以’。”

From Washington to Cal to Stanford to Utah and beyond, many Pac-12 members have large numbers of Chinese students, as well as extensive relationships in China. Scott noted that several Washington officials went along to last year’s Huskies-Longhorns basketball game to further an initiative between the university and Tsinghua University in Beijing.

從華盛頓到加大到斯坦福到猶他大學再到其他學校，太平洋十二校聯盟的很多成員學校都有大量中國學生，并與中國有著廣泛的淵源。斯科特指出，去年，為了推動與北京的清華大學的一個項目，華盛頓大學的幾名官員親臨該校哈士奇隊(Huskies)與德克薩斯大學長角牛隊(Longhorns)的籃球比賽現場。

“We are making progress in terms of building the brand and exposure for the Pac-12,” Scott added. “That leads to very specific opportunities for our universities.”

“就打造太平洋十二校聯盟的品牌和增加曝光度而言，我們正在不斷進步，”斯科特接著說。“這給我們的大學帶來了非常明確的機遇。”

Nearly 40 percent of the University of Utah’s foreign students are Chinese, and the state’s former governor Jon Huntsman, for whose father the Utes’ basketball arena is named, was the American ambassador to China. At a ceremony welcoming the coaches to Salt Lake City, Huntsman spoke to them in fluent Mandarin.

猶他大學近40%的外國留學生是中國人，該州前州長洪博培(Jon Huntsman)曾是美國駐華大使。猶特人隊的籃球館便是以洪博培父親的名字命名的。在歡迎中國教練來到鹽湖城的儀式上，洪博培用流利的普通話向他們發(fā)表了講話。

“We’re interested in recruiting top Chinese students,” said Michael L. Hardman, who runs the university’s Office for Global Engagement.

“我們有意招收頂尖的中國學生，”該校全球事務辦公室(Office for Global Engagement)負責人邁克爾·L·哈德曼(Michael L. Hardman)說。

Chris Hill, Utah’s athletic director, said that when the idea for the residencies for Chinese coaches was first raised among Pac-12 members, about four raised their hands.

猶他大學體育主管克里斯·希爾(Chris Hill)表示，第一次在太平洋十二校聯盟成員中提出讓中國教練來訪學的主意時，大約有四個人舉手贊成。

“I think other people were afraid of the challenge, and your coaches have to be cooperative,” Hill said, “and I think some of the others felt, ‘Do we need to be the first ones to do this?’”

“我想其他人是害怕這項挑戰(zhàn)，而且你的教練必須要配合才行，”希爾說。“我覺得其他一些人的想法是，‘我們有必要成為第一個吃螃蟹的人嗎?’”

To that end, athletics staff members received cultural training and, in turn, insisted that the visiting coaches abide by certain rules so as not to get in the way of the Utah coaches’ primary jobs — training their teams.

為了那個目標，負責體育事務的工作人員接受了文化培訓，并反過來堅持要求到訪的教練遵守特定的規(guī)則，不要妨礙猶他大學教練的主要工作，即訓練他們的球隊。

“We had to work hard on the front end of education, trying to get them to understand there’s certain things you can’t do because it will hinder our success,” Brennan said. “If you’re up there talking while Coach is trying to teach, that’s going to be a problem. We had some upfront conversations.”

“我們必須在前期培訓上下功夫，努力讓他們明白有些事情不能做，因為那會阻礙我們成功，”布倫南說。“當教練試圖指導球員時，如果你在那里說話，這就會成為一個問題。我們進行了一些坦率的交流。”

During one practice, the coaches were largely silent.

在訓練期間，那些教練基本上沉默不語。

“They are very effective,” Gu Hong Xia, a woman who coaches a top junior high squad in Nanjing, said through an interpreter, referring to Utah’s coaches and players. “They don’t train for a very long time, but they are very efficient.”

“他們非常有效率，”在南京一支一流的初中籃球隊擔任教練的女老師顧紅霞(音)通過翻譯說。她指的是猶他大學的教練和球員。“他們不會訓練很長時間，但都非常有效率。”

Wang Hui, who coaches in Shanxi, said through an interpreter that his time in Utah had made him feel good about his own postpractice rehabilitation practices, which appeared to match Utah’s. More than any technical expertise, the most valuable lesson he learned, he said, concerned “attitude.”

來自山西的教練王輝(音)通過翻譯表示，在猶他大學的這段時間讓他對自己訓練后的康復練習感覺良好。那些練習似乎和猶他大學的旗鼓相當。他說，和其他任何技術專長相比，他學到的最寶貴的經驗和“態(tài)度”有關。

“The players here are very motivated and want to do good,” he said.

“這里的球員都非常積極，想做好，”他說。

The coaches received their own cultural training, in the form of a seminar in China on how to adjust to American mores.

這些教練也接受了文化培訓，培訓形式是在中國國內舉行的一場研討會，主題是如何適應美國的習俗。

“They trained us for four days on American culture, manners, different things — like don’t smoke in the building — and told us to learn as much as we can and bring it back to China, to our players,” Sun said.

“他們培訓了我們四天，介紹美國的文化、風俗和差異——比如不要在大樓里吸煙——讓我們盡自己所能，多吸取經驗，并把經驗帶回中國，帶給我們的球員，”孫峰棱說。

Fortunately, Sun added, he does not smoke.

孫峰棱接著說，幸好他不吸煙。