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Travels of a Hockey Coach, Part 2

Part 2

Interviewer: Let's pick up on that theme. First of all, though, I'd like to get back with both of you to this theme of the personal moments and the friendships and so forth, but I'm interested in going back to China. You went there in 1981. That was at a point when China had not yet fully opened up so it was very much what we might call the "Old China". What was your experience? How were you received? How did you find the Chinese players different from the Canadian players - in terms not only obviously, of skill level and experience in the game, but attitude-wise? What were the similarities and what were the differences?

Cam: It was really quite interesting to find out where these players were coming from. We found that a number of the players were with the PLA, which is the People's Liberation Army. We found a couple of teachers, who were people actually working in the schools. A number of people had gone through the culture revolution and were not educated, although they had a hockey background. It was quite diverse, as far as a team was concerned.

They were very appreciative of what we brought to the table. We were able to bring them into a second place finish in a tournament. The Chinese team had a goal - they were to hit the Olympics in 1984. As you know, in order for them to get into the Olympics in 1984, they had to be in the top two in the tournament, in the C Division, to get into the B Division the year after. Austria beat us two-to-one in the final game. Of that Austrian team, thirteen of those players were from Canada, which I found quite interesting, but nonetheless, we started really enjoying the camaraderie and the appreciativeness that the Chinese team brought because they were seeing success. And as you know, whenever you are in a situation that is rather insular we found that they sort of had to get out of their comfort zone in order to compete at the international level and they decided to do this. We were quite pleased with their reaction. The whole concept of being in the B Division the year after - they were just ecstatic.

I remember twenty-two thousand people in the stadium in Beijing never having seen a lot hockey before - they were just unbelievable. There was a lot of signs, and yelling and screaming. It was very similar to a time when I was living in Japan with the type of baseball fanatics that you would see with the drums and their pom-poms and signs and so on - very similar. They started very slowly. Very slowly. They decided to take a look at this game and say, "Hmmm, I'm not too sure about this game." But as the tournament progressed and as the success of the Chinese team got better and better, they warmed to the game and became quite loud. Obviously, I think it spurned on the Chinese team to compete at an even higher level.

Interviewer: You know, you made an interesting comment. In order to do well in any sort of performing situation you have to get out of your comfort zone. We always try to stress that with our language learners, that staying within your own language is very much your comfort zone. Once you are into a new language or a foreign language, you are deliberately pushing yourself into an uncomfortable situation, but of course, the benefits are there.

You talk about playing in countries of different cultures, of course Mark had the opportunity to play for two years with Team Canada and travel around, but also in various European countries, and then in Japan. I'm curious to know that while those cultures are all different, were there some common themes to the culture, which you might call "the hockey culture" or "the sports team culture"? To what extent were things common and to what extent were things different?

Mark: That's a little tough to answer because I was sort of always surrounded by the hockey culture and maybe I didn't have as much exposure to the everyday culture while I was there. But certainly the fact that you are playing the same game, you are on the same team, helps you to fit in better and to become, at least somewhat, a part of the community. As opposed to a total stranger, who is parachuted into a new environment, doesn't know anything or anybody, and doesn't have any common interests to connect to other people though. I think that's one thing - that doesn't matter - it doesn't matter if you're in a foreign environment or you're moving to a new city in your own country - if you get involved in an activity in that community that's the best way to get to know people because otherwise, it's tough. One other thing we talk about here is that people come to Vancouver and they're looking for someone to speak English with and say, "Will you speak with me?" Well, okay, but we have to have something to speak about otherwise how long can we talk? That's where having common interests at least allows you to share those experiences and gives you something to talk about. Wherever I went, being on a team, you have an automatic "in" because playing on a team you know all these guys and you play with them and can joke around and laugh. There's a lot of things that you don't understand as a foreigner, things that you're not a part of, but there's a lot that you are and it's certainly a good way to try to fit in to a new community. Interviewer: I know that you, Cam, of course, that we may have time to get on to your activities in terms of developing young people in Canada and have been involved in hockey development here in Canada. I'm sure that any activity, whether it be music or hockey or stamp collecting - any constructive activity like that, is a very positive experience for youngsters. Before we get to that, though, I would like to briefly touch on your Japanese experience because I know from our locker room that you would every-so-often come out with a few words in Japanese. So, obviously some Japanese culture has rubbed off on you and I think you had some involvement in it. What exactly was your involvement in Japan?

Cam: I was invited to spend two years in Japan at a major high school. As a matter of fact it was Sendai Ikuei Gakuen, in the city of Sendai. My job description was three fold; first of all, I was given about ten hours a week of ESL instruction; I was given the role of hockey coach; and my third job was to work in the international department of the school. My relationship was to invite or to meet all international delegations as they came into the town and to the school and to give them a bit of information regarding the education system of Japan.

What was interesting about the hockey program was that when I first saw one game with the gentleman who initially brought me over there and the team lost seventeen to zero, and obviously I asked a lot of questions because I did not do enough of my homework when it came to hockey and sport culture in Japan. I realized when I first got there that there were five players who were sitting on the bench who never got on the ice. I thought perhaps short benching a team from the beginning was a bit different than what we do in Canada, but then I realized that they were first year players and they did not play. I changed that very quickly.

So, here I am, trying to change five thousand years of Japanese culture in hockey. They ended up playing and they were our better players. I did a lot of different things that the Japanese had trouble with, although I persevered, and the fact that we ended up being more successful than they had ever been in the past. The principal of the school, who is a hockey player of some renown, was ecstatic and decided to slide a lot of the cultural problems that we had.

Interviewer: Can I ask what year that was?

Cam: It was 1989-1991.

It was also interesting understanding Japanese language. I worked in an environment that was from eight o'clock until five o'clock it was in English, because I was working with English people all the time, plus teaching English. But I ended up trying very hard to learn Japanese on the side, through instructions and through my players.

What was interesting was the ability to understand the concepts of the game of hockey where I was able to teach a little bit of the concept. This was very foreign to the Japanese players because worked more of a rote system. They were taught something and tried it three or four times and by the time they finished the year they were doing it five hundred times, but there was no creativity in their play. So, I had to come up with some kind of a program where I gave them that rote and from there developed options off from it.

They really enjoyed the fact that I was working hard to learn the language. They laughed at my idioms and they laughed at my ability to speak the language. In Sendai, as you know, it's Northern Japan, a very different dialect than Tokyo, but it was really quite interesting. I enjoyed it immensely. Obviously, we ended up winning some games, and the game that I saw that they had lost at seventeen to nothing, the last game we played we lost four to two. So, they had obviously improved over the course of two years.

Interviewer: It is interesting, as every country has its culture. Earlier, I asked Mark if there were some similarities because it's a game and it's a team, and of course there are those similarities. But you mentioned something there which is quite interesting, which is known in Japan as the sempai kohi system.

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Part 2

Interviewer: Let's pick up on that theme. First of all, though, I'd like to get back with both of you to this theme of the personal moments and the friendships and so forth, but I'm interested in going back to China. You went there in 1981. That was at a point when China had not yet fully opened up so it was very much what we might call the "Old China". What was your experience? How were you received? How did you find the Chinese players different from the Canadian players - in terms not only obviously, of skill level and experience in the game, but attitude-wise? What were the similarities and what were the differences?

Cam: It was really quite interesting to find out where these players were coming from. We found that a number of the players were with the PLA, which is the People's Liberation Army. We found a couple of teachers, who were people actually working in the schools. A number of people had gone through the culture revolution and were not educated, although they had a hockey background. It was quite diverse, as far as a team was concerned.

They were very appreciative of what we brought to the table. We were able to bring them into a second place finish in a tournament. The Chinese team had a goal - they were to hit the Olympics in 1984. As you know, in order for them to get into the Olympics in 1984, they had to be in the top two in the tournament, in the C Division, to get into the B Division the year after. Austria beat us two-to-one in the final game. Of that Austrian team, thirteen of those players were from Canada, which I found quite interesting, but nonetheless, we started really enjoying the camaraderie and the appreciativeness that the Chinese team brought because they were seeing success. And as you know, whenever you are in a situation that is rather insular we found that they sort of had to get out of their comfort zone in order to compete at the international level and they decided to do this. We were quite pleased with their reaction. The whole concept of being in the B Division the year after - they were just ecstatic.

I remember twenty-two thousand people in the stadium in Beijing never having seen a lot hockey before - they were just unbelievable. There was a lot of signs, and yelling and screaming. It was very similar to a time when I was living in Japan with the type of baseball fanatics that you would see with the drums and their pom-poms and signs and so on - very similar. They started very slowly. Very slowly. They decided to take a look at this game and say, "Hmmm, I'm not too sure about this game." But as the tournament progressed and as the success of the Chinese team got better and better, they warmed to the game and became quite loud. Obviously, I think it spurned on the Chinese team to compete at an even higher level.

Interviewer: You know, you made an interesting comment. In order to do well in any sort of performing situation you have to get out of your comfort zone. We always try to stress that with our language learners, that staying within your own language is very much your comfort zone. Once you are into a new language or a foreign language, you are deliberately pushing yourself into an uncomfortable situation, but of course, the benefits are there.

You talk about playing in countries of different cultures, of course Mark had the opportunity to play for two years with Team Canada and travel around, but also in various European countries, and then in Japan. I'm curious to know that while those cultures are all different, were there some common themes to the culture, which you might call "the hockey culture" or "the sports team culture"? To what extent were things common and to what extent were things different?

Mark: That's a little tough to answer because I was sort of always surrounded by the hockey culture and maybe I didn't have as much exposure to the everyday culture while I was there. But certainly the fact that you are playing the same game, you are on the same team, helps you to fit in better and to become, at least somewhat, a part of the community. As opposed to a total stranger, who is parachuted into a new environment, doesn't know anything or anybody, and doesn't have any common interests to connect to other people though. I think that's one thing - that doesn't matter - it doesn't matter if you're in a foreign environment or you're moving to a new city in your own country - if you get involved in an activity in that community that's the best way to get to know people because otherwise, it's tough. One other thing we talk about here is that people come to Vancouver and they're looking for someone to speak English with and say, "Will you speak with me?" Well, okay, but we have to have something to speak about otherwise how long can we talk? That's where having common interests at least allows you to share those experiences and gives you something to talk about. Wherever I went, being on a team, you have an automatic "in" because playing on a team you know all these guys and you play with them and can joke around and laugh. There's a lot of things that you don't understand as a foreigner, things that you're not a part of, but there's a lot that you are and it's certainly a good way to try to fit in to a new community. Interviewer: I know that you, Cam, of course, that we may have time to get on to your activities in terms of developing young people in Canada and have been involved in hockey development here in Canada. I'm sure that any activity, whether it be music or hockey or stamp collecting - any constructive activity like that, is a very positive experience for youngsters. Before we get to that, though, I would like to briefly touch on your Japanese experience because I know from our locker room that you would every-so-often come out with a few words in Japanese. So, obviously some Japanese culture has rubbed off on you and I think you had some involvement in it. What exactly was your involvement in Japan?

Cam: I was invited to spend two years in Japan at a major high school. As a matter of fact it was Sendai Ikuei Gakuen, in the city of Sendai. My job description was three fold; first of all, I was given about ten hours a week of ESL instruction; I was given the role of hockey coach; and my third job was to work in the international department of the school. My relationship was to invite or to meet all international delegations as they came into the town and to the school and to give them a bit of information regarding the education system of Japan.

What was interesting about the hockey program was that when I first saw one game with the gentleman who initially brought me over there and the team lost seventeen to zero, and obviously I asked a lot of questions because I did not do enough of my homework when it came to hockey and sport culture in Japan. I realized when I first got there that there were five players who were sitting on the bench who never got on the ice. I thought perhaps short benching a team from the beginning was a bit different than what we do in Canada, but then I realized that they were first year players and they did not play. I changed that very quickly.

So, here I am, trying to change five thousand years of Japanese culture in hockey. They ended up playing and they were our better players. I did a lot of different things that the Japanese had trouble with, although I persevered, and the fact that we ended up being more successful than they had ever been in the past. The principal of the school, who is a hockey player of some renown, was ecstatic and decided to slide a lot of the cultural problems that we had.

Interviewer: Can I ask what year that was?

Cam: It was 1989-1991.

It was also interesting understanding Japanese language. I worked in an environment that was from eight o'clock until five o'clock it was in English, because I was working with English people all the time, plus teaching English. But I ended up trying very hard to learn Japanese on the side, through instructions and through my players.

What was interesting was the ability to understand the concepts of the game of hockey where I was able to teach a little bit of the concept. This was very foreign to the Japanese players because worked more of a rote system. They were taught something and tried it three or four times and by the time they finished the year they were doing it five hundred times, but there was no creativity in their play. So, I had to come up with some kind of a program where I gave them that rote and from there developed options off from it.

They really enjoyed the fact that I was working hard to learn the language. They laughed at my idioms and they laughed at my ability to speak the language. In Sendai, as you know, it's Northern Japan, a very different dialect than Tokyo, but it was really quite interesting. I enjoyed it immensely. Obviously, we ended up winning some games, and the game that I saw that they had lost at seventeen to nothing, the last game we played we lost four to two. So, they had obviously improved over the course of two years.

Interviewer: It is interesting, as every country has its culture. Earlier, I asked Mark if there were some similarities because it's a game and it's a team, and of course there are those similarities. But you mentioned something there which is quite interesting, which is known in Japan as the sempai kohi system.