In the United States, softball and baseball are among the first sports children are exposed to at a young age. It is a very different story in Hong Kong. 

壘球 are the two Chinese characters for softball. 壘 means “base” but also describes different types of military defenses, such as walls and fortresses. It is composed of three 田 meaning fields and one 土, meaning earth, referencing the surfaces on which softball is played. But it could stand for three bases and a home plate, resembling a diamond, an infield. Or, the three fields could represent the outfield, and one earth at the bottom, the infield. There is no official explanation for why this character was chosen to label softball in Chinese, just like there is no single reason people start to play a sport. 

About a year ago, when researching the different activities available in preparation for studying abroad this past fall quarter at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), I was pleasantly surprised to find that softball was on the list. It became a meshing of worlds I never thought would occur: my favorite sport in the only city in the world I love as much or at times, even more than my hometown of Castro Valley. In all my previous visits to the city, there were no traces or hints that baseball or softball existed there. 

The time I spent studying abroad was precious. For me, one of the best ways to meet some friends was by joining a sports team. I met some amazing people through playing for the Lady Ho Tung Hall (LHTH) softball team at HKU. Since I have come back to Santa Barbara, I have interviewed the leaders of the team, team captains and coaches, to see what their experience playing softball has been like in Hong Kong.

In addition, I hope to compare and contrast members of the LHTH team and their experiences to mine and on a broader level, those at UC Santa Barbara. In short, interhall competition is similar to intramural sports, but each team plays under their hall name. In UCSB terms, for example, say members of San Rafael hall play against members of Santa Rosa hall for bragging rights on who has the better sports team. 

The University of Hong Kong’s (HKU) Lady Ho Tung Hall (LHT) interhall softball team is the common thread through which the following interviewees are connected. 

I find that beginnings are always fascinating because they give perspective on people’s journeys. Many of my teammates were completely new to softball or had about half a year of experience when I first met them. So naturally, the first question I asked my team captains and coaches was what brought them to softball. The rest of this article focuses on the range of responses I received from my team captains and coaches regarding the start of their softball experience. 

“I was introduced to softball because of an activity called ‘feel camp.’ It was for hall promotion. I became friends with the hall currents in the camp so I joined the softball team which they’re in,” LHT team captain Joanna Cheung said. 

Feel camp is an event at the beginning of the school year that connects hall newcomers with existing hall members. 

Cred: Lady Ho Tung Hall Instagram (@ladyhotung) https://www.instagram.com/p/CSRG9Ampxfo/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D 

In my time at HKU, I learned there is a strong emphasis on residential communities and tradition, continuing the legacy by passing it on to others, especially through various events and activities. Hall currents refer to players who were, at the time, already members of the LHT softball team. 

As Cheung references, people often join and continue playing sports to build and maintain friendships, creating bonds that go well beyond the field of play. For example, after practices, our team would go to a late-night meal together, a common practice for many hall and university-affiliated sports teams. These meals served as an opportunity to get to know each other and have a good time aside from our time together on the field. 

“Back in my days there were only five to six secondary schools having softball as a sport. And to no surprise, my school is not one of them,” former Chinese University of Hong Kong softball player and current LHT pitching coach Brian Leung said. 

Schools are usually hotbeds to discover a new sport, with physical education classes or school-arranged competitions, at least in my experience. However, the road to less popular sports is not always clear.

“But we do have a teacher and alumni who plays softball at the Hong Kong level. While he didn’t promote the sport at school as a team, we were amused by the sport. At the same time, another teacher who teaches ethics showed us a movie ‘Kano,’ which is about baseball in Taiwan,” Leung said. 

Cred: IMDb https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2247566/ 

What I gathered from hearing these experiences is that interest in a new sport or any activity for that matter, requires a specific environment and community as well as an individual drive to discover and learn. It takes a nurturing environment and community to initiate interest in softball (or any new sport or activity, for that matter). Other people’s influence can initiate interest, but eventually, a willingness to discover and learn must be internally and individually driven. 

While Leung mostly described the external factors that led him to softball, the start of Hung’s journey began on the individual side with the comic book “Dorabase” featuring the character Doraemon. 

“The summer before going into my first year of junior high, I read a comic book called ‘Dorabase.’ It sparked my interest in baseball and softball,” Vocational Training Council softball player and current LHT coach Larry Hung said. In Hong Kong, the first year of junior high is equivalent to seventh grade in the U.S.

In contrast, the next step was clearly an external factor. 

“…It just so happened that my [new] school had baseball and softball teams available to join because Hong Kong only has about 10 schools that have baseball and softball teams,” Hung said. 

My team captains and coaches experiences are vastly different from my experience of watching and playing sports in early childhood. Please allow me to go abstract for a moment. In conversations off the record, we have discussed the role of 緣分 in jumpstarting our respective sports experiences. 緣分 is a concept or phrase that loosely means “destiny” or a relationship that happens with little to no rational reasoning or explanation. A phrase in a similar realm that we use in English would be “right time and place.” In other words, it is the activity or sport that chooses people at the right place and time in their lives and it is left up to people whether they answer the call. Though our starting points are different, we all eventually ended up or met at the same place and time: at HKU as members of the LHT softball team.

The quote from Hung has been translated from Chinese to English, with his consent. 

All questions in the interview were asked in English. Cheung and Leung’s responses were in English. Hung’s responses were in Chinese. With his consent, it was subsequently translated into English by the writer. 

壘 character definition link (click on Google Translate button): https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E5%A3%98 

緣 character definition link (click on Google Translate button): 

https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E7%B7%A3 

Used Google Translate for all other pronunciations

壘球 (Cantonese: leoi5kau4, Mandarin: lěiqiú)

壘 (Cantonese: leoi5, Mandarin: lěi) 

田 (Cantonese: tin4, Mandarin: tián)

土 (Cantonese: tou2, Mandarin: tǔ)

 緣分 (Cantonese: jyun4fan6, Mandarin: yuánfèn)

A version of this article was printed in the April 3. edition of the Daily Nexus.