Trailblazing

I will begin this post by saying I am not a sports fan, and that sports are not an area I am particularly knowledgeable in. As a child in little league baseball was the player who could never hit the ball and had to use a tee, and I also was the player always in the outfield looking at the clouds or playing with dirt. Now getting past that I can safely say that despite my lack of athletic ability or knowledge I am still aware of the growing craze sweeping the country: Linsanity.

To those of you even more out of the loop than I Jeremy Lin is the talented new point guard for the New York Knicks, aside from his exceptional skills on the basketball court Jeremy Lin is also described as having a good personality. This combination of talent and likeability has made him into an instant sensation. Of course there have been some bumps along the way, namely dealing with the fact that Lin is a Taiwanese-American. Of all the various ethnic minority groups in the United States Asian Americans as a whole is one of the most underrepresented in the media, especially sports. Aside from Chinese national Yao Ming it becomes difficult to list another professional basketball player of Asian descent, although Lin is American and was born in America and has lived in this country his entire life so comparing the two would not be accurate since their stories are drastically different.

What is a fair statement is that Lin is something of a trailblazer, an inspiration to any aspiring young person, athlete or not, and this includes Asian Americans. A recent story in the New York Times covered an Asian-American basketball tournament in New York. While some may assume that the recent Linsanity has spurned an interest in the sport among young Asian Americans the truth is that many of the leagues have existed for decades, created out of a lack of space in other leagues. Mike Mon, coach of the Fastballs who were participating in the tournament, believes that these leagues have continued is because of a ‘shared heritage’ between the players. While the cultures, nations, and traditions may be different most of these players share the common experience of being viewed as Asian American and thus through this lumping together that American society has done they have forged a real connection with one another.

For many of these players perhaps seeing the successful rise of Jeremy Lin further cements in the mind that they can achieve in both the sports world and beyond. One player noted that he had grown to become a fan of Lin despite earlier concerns of how the media was setting him up as the model for all Asian American players. However, he later acknowledged that Lin serves as an important symbol for future Asian American athletes, both professional and amateur.

The New York Times article can be found here.