Cambodian-Americans to Help Cambodia's Basketball Team

Cambodian-Americans to Help Cambodia's Basketball Team

Cambodia’s National Basketball team is preparing to play in the Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in August.

Pek Mith is the team’s captain. He told VOA Khmer that the team will “play with a lot of heart.”

The Southeast Asian (SEA) Games are held every two years in one of 11 Southeast Asian countries. The SEA Games permit teams to have foreign-born or foreign-raised players compete in events, just like the Olympics. But the athletes must play for a parent’s native country.

Many people believe that the Cambodian basketball team would be improved by having taller, foreign players. The team hopes to win a medal in the games.

In a perfect world, the Cambodians imagine that their first medal would be a gold one. But that would mean defeating the team from the Philippines. The Philippine basketball team has won the gold medal since the SEA Games began in 1977, except for 1989 when Malaysia took first place.

So Cambodia recruited² 10 basketball players — nine from the U.S. and one from Canada. They range in height from 1.65 meters to 1.93 meters.

Rayvon Fouché is an associate professor and director of American Studies at Purdue University. He told VOA Khmer that the history of American sports showed that winning teams are driven by individual “effort and desire.”

“And I think heart matters a lot,” he said.

Fouché’s research showed that teams with mediocre³ players and a higher purpose often defeat teams that only have talented players. He said, “That’s why culture and community and identity within context⁴ of sports is really important.”

He added, “And that’s why people love the SEA Games and Olympics because playing and competing for your nation with people who have the same identity and culture — that makes you play in a way that you probably wouldn’t play before.”

In 2007, Sophean Toun was the first Cambodian-American player on the Cambodian National team. He says players want to compete because of national pride.

“I feel like it’s our job to represent our ways in basketball to fulfill⁵ that pride that everyone should have being Cambodian,” he said.

Austin Koledoye is the team’s head coach.

He said that countries regularly seek the best athletes without considering their nationalities. He added that the players he recruited are not “foreigners,” they are Khmer. Khmer are the majority population in Cambodia.

Koledoye said their involvement helps Cambodia, which is now getting recognition⁶ around the world.

Fouché says players coming from the U.S. have clear advantages. They are taller and better trained. He says those issues could lead to low morale⁷ in a team with native and foreign-born players.

Sok Tour is a Cambodian native who retired⁸ after the 2015 SEA Games. He now coaches for the Cambodian Basketball League Under 17 team. He says there was no resentment⁹ toward the foreign-born players.

“The Cambodian players here are limited in their skills,” he said. “When we compete to represent Cambodia, we want Cambodians from the U.S. because of their expertise¹⁰ in the game. We want experience and we need their help.”

Koledoye says that the Cambodian-Americans are role models for local Cambodians. “They leave their jobs and family to come and play,” he said. “That is Khmer spirit.”

I’m Jonathan Evans.

Words in this Story

advantage – n. something (such as a good position or condition) that helps to make someone or something better or more likely to succeed than others

mediocre – adj. not very good

morale – n. the feelings of enthusiasm and loyalty¹¹ that a person or group has about a task or job

recruit¹ – v. to form or build a group, team, army, etc. by getting people to join

1 recruit   

n.招聘，新兵，新成员；v.恢复，补充，招募

参考例句：

• The country's first act would be to recruit for the navy.国家的第一个行动是为海军征募新兵。
• This is a nationwide campaign to recruit women into trade unions.这是一次吸收妇女参加工会的全国性运动。

2 recruited   

招聘( recruit的过去式和过去分词 )； 吸收某人为新成员； 动员…（提供帮助）； 雇用

参考例句：

• Were men for the Navy recruited from men on merchant ships? 海军的人员是从商船的人员中征募的吗？
• Most of the workers will be recruited locally. 大多数工人都会在本地招募。

3 mediocre   

adj.平常的，普通的

参考例句：

• The student tried hard,but his work is mediocre. 该生学习刻苦，但学业平庸。
• Only lazybones and mediocre persons could hanker after the days of messing together.只有懒汉庸才才会留恋那大锅饭的年代。

4 context   

n.背景，环境，上下文，语境

参考例句：

• You can always tell the meaning of a word from its context.你常可以从上下文中猜出词义来。
• This sentence does not seem to connect with the context.这个句子似乎与上下文脱节。

5 fulfill   

vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意

参考例句：

• If you make a promise you should fulfill it.如果你许诺了，你就要履行你的诺言。
• This company should be able to fulfill our requirements.这家公司应该能够满足我们的要求。

6 recognition   

n.承认，认可，认出，认识

参考例句：

• The place has changed beyond recognition.这地方变得认不出来了。
• A sudden smile of recognition flashed across his face.他脸上掠过一丝笑意，表示认识对方。

7 morale   

n.道德准则，士气，斗志

参考例句：

• The morale of the enemy troops is sinking lower every day.敌军的士气日益低落。
• He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。

8 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

9 resentment   

n.怨愤，忿恨

参考例句：

• All her feelings of resentment just came pouring out.她一股脑儿倾吐出所有的怨恨。
• She cherished a deep resentment under the rose towards her employer.她暗中对她的雇主怀恨在心。

10 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

11 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。