The UW’s upcoming events in China are more than just a way to share the Puget Sound’s unique spirit of innovation, they’re also an opportunity for the student-athletes on the UW men’s basketball team to enhance their educations with a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
The Pac-12 China Game in Shanghai will be the first regular season game an American sports league has played in China. And for all but one of the Huskies who will take on the University of Texas Longhorns, this will be their first trip to the world’s most populous nation.
To prepare, the team is taking a course from Professor Shawn Wong and teaching assistant Jane Yang, a UW sophomore from Shanghai. In addition to classroom work, which spawned friendly debates over whose pronunciation of various Mandarin phrases was the closest to hitting the mark, the members of the team will be making presentations during the course of the trip. These presentations on historic sites, cultural heritage, and prominent figures, such as Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba and sponsor of the game, will enable the Huskies to share what they’ve learned with their teammates.
Tim Booth of the Associated Press has more on this unique study abroad opportunity, and check back over the course of the trip for updates on the Huskies’ experiences in China.