China
Kickers brace for bowl in Beijing
(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2007-03-23 17:31
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Four kickers from China, having been put through a tough training program, are competing in American foot-ball's most exclusive audition.
The Chinese are vying to join the squads for August's China Bowl preseason game between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks - the first National Football League game to be played in China.
"The noise on the field is kind of annoying," said Ding Long, a rugby player who beat 30 other kickers last year to become one of the finalists and receive intensive training in the art of booting an oval pigskin through the uprights.
"Staying in focus is a difficult part in kicking. Moreover, consistency of the technique is not easy to obtain," he said in an e-mail exchange.
Ding, Gao Wei and soccer player Shen Yalei had five hard weeks of training in Oregon before attending an NFL Europa kicking camp last week in Tampa, Florida.
The trio, along with a fourth kicker whose arrival has been delayed due to visa problems, have been assigned to the Berlin Thunder of NFL Europa to continue their apprenticeship.
The NFL sees the newcomers as potential ambassadors who can help to introduce the sport to the world's biggest market in the August 8 game in Beijing, timed to coincide with the celebrations marking exactly one year until the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The NFL makes another international splash on October 28 when the New York Giants and Miami Dolphins play in London's new Wembley Stadium in the first regular-season game played overseas.
The Chinese are vying to join the squads for August's China Bowl preseason game between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks - the first National Football League game to be played in China.
"The noise on the field is kind of annoying," said Ding Long, a rugby player who beat 30 other kickers last year to become one of the finalists and receive intensive training in the art of booting an oval pigskin through the uprights.
"Staying in focus is a difficult part in kicking. Moreover, consistency of the technique is not easy to obtain," he said in an e-mail exchange.
Ding, Gao Wei and soccer player Shen Yalei had five hard weeks of training in Oregon before attending an NFL Europa kicking camp last week in Tampa, Florida.
The trio, along with a fourth kicker whose arrival has been delayed due to visa problems, have been assigned to the Berlin Thunder of NFL Europa to continue their apprenticeship.
The NFL sees the newcomers as potential ambassadors who can help to introduce the sport to the world's biggest market in the August 8 game in Beijing, timed to coincide with the celebrations marking exactly one year until the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The NFL makes another international splash on October 28 when the New York Giants and Miami Dolphins play in London's new Wembley Stadium in the first regular-season game played overseas.
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