I confess to being scathing the first time I encountered Chairball, when my daughter was in Thai elementary school.
"What the actual f*** is Chairball anyway? Some soft namby-pamby watered-down version of netball for Thai girls who don't want to play proper sport?" I confess my rant may have been something along those lines. 😆
Chairball is big in Thailand. It's only played by girls. Think a soft version of netball on a much smaller court. 5 girls against 5 other girls in a central square. No dribbling, no travel. Pass the ball only. One defender at one end. Shoot from the main square to the "goal" about 10 meters away. The goal post? That would be the 7th player standing on a chair, holding a basket, and actively leaning and reaching to catch the goal in the said basket. Just in case the aim is a bit off. 😆
In all my 17 years here, I've only ever seen Chairball played at school sports days. Always with muttered comments by yours truly.
FFWD to the last months, when I have joined a Thai language Business International Club here in Chiang Mai, #BNIBelieve. As part of the team building which underpins referral marketing, we play social sports. And so far I've happily played football, basketball and badminton. And then last week, it was cheerfully announced that our club would also be fielding a Chairball team. Urgh.
"Pii Mali you play Chairball for us. We need tall."
It was more of a statement than a question. I stand 187cm tall (6 feet 2 inches for the Americans in the room - statuesque and Dutch) and because Thai people struggle to pronounce my name, they call me Pii Mali, which means, "Elder Sister Jasmine Flower."
I was about to mumble some excuse when the #LifeLongLearning thing popped into my head. It's a core value of BNI and also one that I personally subscribe to wholeheartedly. And so I paused, bit back my excuse, decided that giving everything a chance before dissing it matters, and fronted for Chairball practice this weekend.
Since I've never played before, I got the 5 mins version of the rules and they put me on goal post duty - stand on the chair and catch the ball using the basket, without falling off the said chair. It was mind-numbingly easy and boring - all that balance work in yoga and long arms. I must also confess I was culturally inappropriate and said I was bored stupid when they called the first break after 10 mins. Yes, that's me standing on the chair. 🤣
"You want to run?"
They looked incredulous. It was about 42C in the tin-roofed indoor-ish stadium. And so I played one set in the middle, running and passing the ball. Gotta say it was tougher than it looks. There's so little actual sports field to play in, that it's hard to maneuver yourself free to get possession the ball. There was rather a lot of aggressive hip and elbow contact from 2 girls on the opposing team who were definitely not enamored with the tall, fit foreigner.
And so I was switched to being the defender, since it's EXPECTED that the tallest person should go there. And it's hot and hard work and involves a lot of jumping.
The irony was that the chair standing goal holder for the other team was the wife of a senior business man. She's also 51 years old. A big song and dance was made about how dangerous it would be for an elderly lady to fall off the chair, so her husband held her, supported her and made sure she was able to catch a lot of throws that she should not have been able to reach without falling off her perch. Ironically she is 6 years younger than I am. 😆 In the western world we'd simply call that cheating. In Asia, where age automatically demands respect, privilege and a bending of rules if required, it created a challenging cultural dilemma. Should I play western style and play to win, with the possibility of injuring her if I knock her off? Or gracefully defend enough to show effort but not enough to elbow her, and him, to the ground? It was painful to choose the latter. In the end, I decided I was there for networking and teamwork rather than winning and needed to learn to play by their rules.
I sweated buckets and actually had quite a lot of fun, once I released my resistance. Isn't that always the way? Most of the girls playing are in their 20s and it commanded considerable respect from them (a) that I tried to learn something new, (b) that I was able to play by their cultural unspoken rules (in the end) and (c) that I was on the court for 1.5 hours in the heat and still standing at the end. I call that Game, Set & Match and objectives achieved. The business-leader husband of the goal post has since sent me a social media friend request. Touché! 😆
And so I learned something this weekend - that Life Long Learning sounds great and easy as a core value, but that it does require us to suspend prejudice, try things that are uncomfortable or maybe don't resonate 100% with our personal or cultural values, and which challenge us.
And so I made the team! 😆
We'll be practicing 2 hours solid, x 2 every week, for the coming month - preparing for an Inter-Club Chairball Tournament. Soon I'll be a Chairball Pro 😆. Don't laugh, it could happen.
LIVE The Moments. Embrace #LifeLongLearning
Wanna see a local Thai Chairball game?? Yup - they usually have cheerleaders and the whole box & dice. And yes, I can CHEER in Thai pretty darn well! 😍
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