中国中学篮球教练到美国大学“学艺”
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.
盐湖城——大约15名教练一个接一个地走到这个像包厢似的，能俯瞰一个篮球训练场的阳台上。他们穿着热身服装和运动鞋。随着犹特人(Utes)男篮队开始训练，一些人在小巧的Moleskine笔记本上做起了笔记，其他人则在查看打印出来的固定战术。
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，因此多名助理教练正在各地招兵买马，训练本身的重点是让球员进入状态，并让新成员融入球队，而不是制定针对任何对手的对策。
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.”
但这依然是一场一流的大学篮球训练，因此有时候会变得很激烈。犹他大学的教练拉里·克里斯特科维亚克(Larry Krystkowiak)叫停了一次练习，用不是生气仅仅是失望的语气对球队说，“你们这些家伙今天废话太多了;每个人都想发表点意见。”
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.
在一旁观察的教练们不知道克里斯特科维亚克具体说了什么，但他们明白他的失望和决心。他们做了笔记。他们属于中国最好的初高中篮球教练。因为中国政府与太平洋十二校联盟(Pacific-12 Conference)和犹他大学(University of Utah)的伙伴关系，他们来到了犹他大学美丽的校园。
This is no longer Ping-Pong diplomacy.
这不再是乒乓外交。
“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.”
“那些教练，他们在训练球员时非常有激情，”在中国东北省份吉林当教练的孙峰棱(音)说。“他真的很擅长和球员相处，把他们训练得很好。”
Sun added, “I want to learn the attitude and bring it back.”
孙峰棱接着说，“我想学习这种态度，并把它带回去。”
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.
过去两个赛季，曾是NBA大前锋的克里斯特科维亚克带领犹特人队冲进美国全国大学生体育协会(NCAA)联赛。他似乎认可孙峰棱的理解。
“If they want to improve at basketball,” he said, “it’s not always the place to be polite.”
“如果他们想提升篮球水平，”他说，“不能总是在场上温文尔雅。”
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.
中国政府希望能有更多的教练学习到这样的经验。近100名中国初高中男子和女子篮球、田径、游泳和拉拉队教练被送到犹他大学，和被送去亚利桑那州立大学(Arizona State University)的中国高校教练人数大致相当。该校也是太平洋十二校联盟的成员。
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.
这些教练会观察球场训练和健身房环节，还有机会亲自和犹他大学的教练一起上场。他们参加损伤康复讲座，并举行了比赛录像室环节，甚至还观看了今年对阵杨百翰大学(Brigham Young University)的橄榄球决赛。这场比赛在当地被称作圣战。
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.
犹他大学的副体育主管凯尔·布伦南(Kyle Brennan)说，在一定程度上，这些教练来学习的是美国非常与众不同的竞技体育模式，这种模式在美国的教育机构中得到了保护。
“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.”
“教练就是教练，”他轻轻地笑着说。“给他们上一节合规课，他们就想挑战限制。‘我为什么不能去另一所学校招人?’好吧，这些都是我们要遵守的规则。”
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.
该项目由中国国家留学基金管理委员会出资，中国大学生体育协会组织。后者类似于中国的NCAA，由政府资助。该机构认为这些教练的美国之旅远远不只是轻松的公费旅游。
“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.”
“中国有意确保他们回国，这不单单是一次观光旅游，”布伦南说。“他们想让他们学到东西。”
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.
他们在附近的山顶已被白雪覆盖的犹他大学进行为期三个月的访学，是表明太平洋十二校联盟有意在环太平洋地区占据主导地位的几个迹象之一。
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.
这个高校橄榄球赛季以加州大学在澳大利亚悉尼51比31大胜夏威夷的比赛拉开帷幕。周五晚上在上海，斯坦福在男子篮球赛中80比70打败哈佛。这是在中国举办的一系列太平洋十二校联盟赛事中的第二场比赛。去年在上海，华盛顿在中国的第一场常规赛中战胜德克萨斯。太平洋十二校联盟周五宣布，这一系列赛事将持续到明年，加大洛杉矶分校(UCLA)将迎战佐治亚理工(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.
这些比赛是太平洋十二校联盟全球化计划(Pac-12 Globalization Initiative)的一部分。太平洋十二校联盟总干事拉里·斯科特(Larry Scott)表示，该计划起源于2009年，也就是他上任第一年与成员学校的校长举行的一系列会议。
“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.”
“我提出假设，考虑到我们大学的全球视角，并且因为体育运动本来就是我们的门面，那么我们是否可以在国际舞台上展开体育活动，以帮助推广各所大学现有的更广泛议程?”斯科特说。“答案是响亮的‘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.
从华盛顿到加大到斯坦福到犹他大学再到其他学校，太平洋十二校联盟的很多成员学校都有大量中国学生，并与中国有着广泛的渊源。斯科特指出，去年，为了推动与北京的清华大学的一个项目，华盛顿大学的几名官员亲临该校哈士奇队(Huskies)与德克萨斯大学长角牛队(Longhorns)的篮球比赛现场。
“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联盟的品牌和增加曝光度而言，我们正在不断进步，”斯科特接着说。“这给我们的大学带来了非常明确的机遇。”
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.
犹他大学近40%的外国留学生是中国人，该州前州长洪博培(Jon Huntsman)曾是美国驻华大使。犹特人队的篮球馆便是以洪博培父亲的名字命名的。在欢迎中国教练来到盐湖城的仪式上，洪博培用流利的普通话向他们发表了讲话。
“We’re interested in recruiting top Chinese students,” said Michael L. Hardman, who runs the university’s Office for Global Engagement.
“我们有意招收顶尖的中国学生，”该校全球事务办公室(Office for Global Engagement)负责人迈克尔·L·哈德曼(Michael L. Hardman)说。
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.
犹他大学体育主管克里斯·希尔(Chris Hill)表示，第一次在太平洋十二校联盟成员中提出让中国教练来访学的主意时，大约有四个人举手赞成。
“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?’”
“我想其他人是害怕这项挑战，而且你的教练必须要配合才行，”希尔说。“我觉得其他一些人的想法是，‘我们有必要成为第一个吃螃蟹的人吗?’”
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.
为了那个目标，负责体育事务的工作人员接受了文化培训，并反过来坚持要求到访的教练遵守特定的规则，不要妨碍犹他大学教练的主要工作，即训练他们的球队。
“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.”
“我们必须在前期培训上下功夫，努力让他们明白有些事情不能做，因为那会阻碍我们成功，”布伦南说。“当教练试图指导球员时，如果你在那里说话，这就会成为一个问题。我们进行了一些坦率的交流。”
During one practice, the coaches were largely silent.
在训练期间，那些教练基本上沉默不语。
“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.”
“他们非常有效率，”在南京一支一流的初中篮球队担任教练的女老师顾红霞(音)通过翻译说。她指的是犹他大学的教练和球员。“他们不会训练很长时间，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.”
来自山西的教练王辉(音)通过翻译表示，在犹他大学的这段时间让他对自己训练后的康复练习感觉良好。那些练习似乎和犹他大学的旗鼓相当。他说，和其他任何技术专长相比，他学到的最宝贵的经验和“态度”有关。
“The players here are very motivated and want to do good,” he said.
“这里的球员都非常积极，想做好，”他说。
The coaches received their own cultural training, in the form of a seminar in China on how to adjust to American mores.
这些教练也接受了文化培训，培训形式是在中国国内举行的一场研讨会，主题是如何适应美国的习俗。
“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.
“他们培训了我们四天，介绍美国的文化、风俗和差异——比如不要在大楼里吸烟——让我们尽自己所能，多吸取经验，并把经验带回中国，带给我们的球员，”孙峰棱说。
Fortunately, Sun added, he does not smoke.
孙峰棱接着说，幸好他不吸烟。
