Two paths, one road

Hello everybody,

In my time at Football BC, I’ve been provided plenty of opportunities to improve my English skills. This blog is one example. And of course, I think many of you will remember my blooper reel.

 

Unfortunately, I don’t have a blooper reel for you this time. Since I interviewed Michael, who is my superstar (if you read my blog every week, you must know who he is), I have been looking for my next chance to interview a coach or player in order to continue to improve my English fluency.

 

My chance finally came this week when I got to interview an all-star player from Seaquam, Masaki Kawanami. This was a special interview because Masaki is an exchange student from Japan, and he was chosen as one of the All-Star members from hundreds of players. I was very proud of his accomplishment because he was born and raised in Japan, where playing football is less common.

 

When I found out he would be participating in the Subway Bowl Banquet and receiving an award, I thought about what questions to ask him that would make him comfortable if I were in his shoes. I admit that I was a little nervous before the banquet so I did not ask Daniel beforehand if I could do an interview because I was a little afraid of making mistakes again. But, all of a sudden, I remembered the main reason why I came here was to try and regain my confidence after my previous experiences and not to give up in the face of adversity.

 

At first, Michiko, my reliable Japanese coworker, interviewed two super star players, Chase Claypool& Chris Ellis, which were, as you can see, very smooth and made the players felt at ease because of her wonderful interview skills.

 

Thanks to Michiko, I was able to learn that I should enjoy interviewing even though it is super challenging for me.

 

To be honest, I had not met Masaki Kawanami before even though I happened to watch the last game of his high school career between Seaquam Seahawks vs West Vancouver on November 9. So, I was little excited to see what he looked like (my prediction would be that he would be very muscular with a scary-looking face). When I met him, I felt like I was in Japan because Masaki had a very typical Japanese attitude which made me feel relieved.

 

 

When I started interviewing him, I did not feel nervous because I prepared a lot for the interview. So, for those of you who are studying a second language, my advice is to try not to speak your native language as much as you can only in order to gain confidence from speaking the language you are learning. In my case, that language is English. From my experience, it is good to challenge yourself.

 

As time went by, I felt I was starting to get the hang of interviewing and wanted to ask questions about his experiences not only about football but being an international student. In many ways, Masaki and I are very similar. He came here at a younger age and got to experience a lot more of the culture, especially the sporting culture, but both of us came to Canada with the same goals.

 

When I look back on the interview, even though I still made grammar mistakes, I think I was able to do my best. I must say I was especially pleased with the interview because of Masaki’s spectacular personality. As I mentioned before, amazing players like Masaki and Michael have strong but friendly personalities and lead by example. Even though they were much younger than me, I really look up to them. Without Masaki, I would not have succeeded in the interview. Thank you, Masaki, for telling me about your experience as an exchange student.

 

I want to share my video especially for Japanese students who are here studying English but are struggling. So, I have put Japanese subtitles for them to understand what we are talking about. I hope this video makes them motivated to work harder and achieve their goals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWziPbJ3X2Q

 

I want to finally apologize for changing my blog topic this week. Of course, last week I mentioned I wanted to introduce you to my amazing Japanese and Korean friends who I got to bring to experience football. That is still my plan for next week, but because of this opportunity with Masaki I felt I had to change my plan.

 

 

Some of my friends will be back at Subway Bowl this week so I will have more stories to share. I look forward to meeting many of you at BC Place. Have a great day.

 

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5

Championships

 

 

9:00	Vancouver College Fighting Irish vs Seaquam Seahawks (Grade 8)
11:00	Windsor Dukes vs Mission Roadrunners (Jr. AA)
13:30	New Westminster Hyacks vs Mt. Douglas Rams (Jr. AAA)
16:00	Carson Graham Eagles vs Abbotsford Panthers (Sr. AA)
19:00	Mt. Douglas Rams vs Vancouver College Fighting Irish (Sr. AAA)

BC PLACE SUBWAY BOWL SATURDAY ADMISSION PRICES

General Admission	$20
Students/Seniors	$15
7-and-under	Free