So, what sport did you play?

Me in Senior

This is often posed to me by Americans as we witness various school sports encounters. It was asked of me last week as we watched school alumni play the school's Varsity boys basketball team (varsity=top school team).


Whenever that happens there is usually a pause as I struggle to find the right answer. How much info do they want? Because the American system is much more intense and formulated than the Australian system I grew up in as I explained here. 


I wonder, What can I say to simply answer their innocent question? I usually start with 'track' or the one time I represented our school in cross country. If they hang around I might try to explain some of the differences in the systems or mention netball (which most have never heard of) and my rebound-volleyball-in-a-squash-court days. If they are still around after that I judge that they are genuinely interested in me and I might talk about how music kind-of took over my high school after school hours. Still it is a challenging conversation in the midst of a sports event. 


If they're up for an interesting cultural comparison conversation, I might bring up the fact that we don't have "concession stands". That usually provides confusion – where do you buy food then? I can concede that there is often a shop of some description, but it is never called a "concession stand".


Nonetheless, we enjoy going along to these meets. Especially when they are just down the road at the school and the "concession stand" provides us with an easy evening meal (Japanese curry rice or hot dogs usually) and free entertainment. At the same time we're supporting the seniors towards their ministry trip in Thailand next March (profits from concessions go towards their costs). There isn't much to lose, except your sanity as you answer tricky questions!