When I told people in Europe that I was moving to the United
States, all I got were compassionate looks. I knew what they were
thinking: they were expecting me to embrace the lazy, stereotypical
American lifestyle and return to Europe with an extra 15 pounds on
the scale. Oversized portions, milkshakes throughout the day and
riding everywhere by car will put an end to any exercise achieved
by walking. That is what foreigners think of the average American
day. This rule might apply to some regions of the country, but it
is a different story in California.
Why does almost every girl enrolled at UCLA parade her body
around campus? Why don’t guys need any padding to show off
their muscles? The most athletic person in Europe seems to be the
equivalent of the laziest person walking around the Wooden
Center.
Was I wrong all these years to think that someone with a
membership to the local gym and a regular face at the tennis club
was sporty? Well, maybe not. The answer seems to lie in the way
people approach sports.
It is not the norm for universities in Europe to have athletic
facilities like UCLA does, and even if it were so, they would not
be used even half as much as the Wooden Center. Here, it is as if
the workout machines here are never turned off. Students seem to be
very disciplined in their activities, never forgetting the main
objective of it all: physical activity. Of course, they enjoy it
too; no one is forcing them to sweat it all out. But the ultimate
purpose seems to be very clear.
In Europe, however, people tend to think more of
“playing” sports rather than getting anything else out
of it. There are many club teams and countless gyms, but they just
do not work the same way. A typical UCLA training session resembles
more of an army camp in Hamburg than a soccer game in
Barcelona.
Gyms from northern England to southern Spain do not necessarily
serve the same purpose that they do here. The aim of going to the
gym in Europe is to socialize and have fun. Women do it to put
their mind at ease, and men do it to check out the new aerobics
teacher everyone keeps talking about at work. Oh yeah, and if a few
pounds are lost before summer that would be nice too.
“It would be embarrassing to reveal the amount of times I
went to the gym and never actually made it to the locker room.
Socializing with my friends instead is just too inviting,”
said Serena Natali, a student from France currently studying at
UCLA.
With music blasting and the television on, however, the Wooden
Center does not leave room for chatting and laughing. Those pounds
will definitely be gone before summer, and people get an
opportunity to relax, think, and look after their bodies. The
atmosphere might be a little crazy, but the workout can be almost
therapeutic.
“I work out in the morning five times a week,”
explains California-born third year student Cindy Pinzon. “I
always go on my own. It’s my quiet time of the
day.”
In addition, college sports in Europe do not compare to the
Pac-10 standard of training and excellence. For example, University
Rugby players in England practice at least four times a week and
enjoy the same popularity status that the football players do here,
yet most of the students at those schools do not even know which
position an athlete plays.
And as efficient as the 2004 national champions of University of
Durham rugby team were on the field, they never lost their
commitment to the team at the pub.
It would not be wise to call these foreign athletes heavy
drinkers, but the amount of partying was definitely impressive,
even compared to the drinking rituals of American undegraduate
student.
Rugby is known as one of the most challenging sports on the
planet, but it did not stop players from taking it above and
beyond. They made worthwhile every zip of those countless beers,
truly “playing” sports on and off the field. Are there
as many shenanigans in the American sports scene as overseas? From
what I have seen, no.
But the atmosphere around sports at UCLA is simply overwhelming.
College athletes are recognized for their efforts, and teams
receive the support they truly deserve.
And the tradition of fandom in American collegiate sports is so
great that students are brought together in a way that only
professional teamsin Europe can be.
“They won the Nationals? I didn’t even know they had
made it to the final rounds!” says Tim Proudlock, student at
Durham in 2004 and rugby fan at heart who still didn’t know
that his team won a championship.
In a country where rugby is part of the culture and the national
team is the defending world champion, there is still resevered
sports ethusiasm.
And so it is when culture differences are at their greatest.
When Europeans go to the gym largely on a social basis,
Californians feel it is the only time they can actually spend on
their own. Perhaps the interest in sports is due to the fact that a
larger part of the student body knows what it takes to compete at
such a level. But then again, taking part in college sports in
Europe is not as demanding as it is here, allowing the athletes to
indluge in what average students do.
So who has got it right? California or Europe? Both have their
advantages, and their inconveniences.
But at the end of the day, all love to cheer, sweat and
celebrate. The only difference is the order in which they come.
E-mail Cantryn at mcantryn@media.ucla.edu if you are
intimidtaed by the health craze of the West Coast.