SPORTS
Page 8 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
November 6, 2017
Asians in American sports w Asian Americans in world sports
Asian talent shines in NWSL’s fifth season
By Mike Street
Special to The Asian Reporter
hen
the
Portland
Thorns defeated the
North
Carolina
Courage in this year’s National
Women’s Soccer League (NWSL)
final, the match featured two
teams that started the season
with a pair of Asian players
apiece. Across the NWSL, Asian
representation continues to grow
on offense and defense and
between the posts, though knee
injuries hampered the seasons of
several.
Defenders Abby Erceg and
Yuri Kawamura anchored the
Courage back line, while the
Thorns began the season with
both midfielder Meleana “Mana”
Shim and dangerous striker
Nadia Nadim.
New Zealand’s most-capped
women’s soccer player ever,
Erceg, who has Maori heritage,
has made her mark in the NWSL.
She played for two years with the
Chicago Red Stars before joining
the Western New York Flash
during the 2016 season in time to
lead the team to its first NWSL
championship.
When the Flash moved to
North Carolina and became the
Courage, Erceg followed them
and has been an anchor on a
defensive line that led the league
in shutouts and fewest goals
allowed. The only Courage
defender with more minutes
played than Erceg was Abby
Dahlkemper, who played every
minute for the Courage and was
named the NWSL 2017 Defender
of the Year.
This formidable pair should
have been joined all season by
Japan’s Kawamura, a standout
W
SOCCER STANDOUTS. The fifth year of the National Women’s Soccer League
(NWSL) saw the Portland Thorns win the club’s second championship. The Thorns de-
feated the North Carolina Courage 1-0 in a physical match played at Orlando City Sta-
dium in Orlando, Florida. Pictured are Abby Erceg (#6) of the Courage challenging
Hayley Raso (#21) of the Thorns (left photo) and Nadia Nadim (#9) of the Thorns
dribbling the ball in a match against Chicago (right photo). (AR Photos/Jan Landis)
fullback for the Japanese appeared in 74 matches for the
National Team and in Japan’s Thorns, fourth-most in team
Nadeshiko League, but after just history. But Shim became the odd
eight matches with the Courage, player out on a talented club
Kawamura suffered a season- when the Thorns activated Tobin
ending knee injury. North Heath from injured reserve near
Carolina is looking forward to the end of the 2017 campaign.
seeing Kawamura and Erceg Växjö DFF in Sweden offered
again frustrate opposing for- Shim a spot on their club in late
August, so she and the Thorns
wards in 2018.
On the other side of the pitch in agreed to part ways and she
the championship match, the joined Växjö shortly thereafter.
Mana will be missed next
Thorns will have to look
elsewhere for Asian talent in season, as will Nadim. The
2018. Fan-favorite Shim, a Afghani native joined the Thorns
Hawai‘i native, joined the club in before the 2016 season after
2013 during an open tryout and nearly two seasons with Sky Blue
Wong says China rise means trade trumps rights
Continued from page 3
under threat. They are due in
court November 7 to appeal the
sentences.
Wong, who is also awaiting
sentencing in another case, is
prepared to go back to jail. He
turned 21 while behind bars and
said it “might not be the last time
I will celebrate my birthday
inside prison.”
Though he has become
synonymous with Hong Kong’s
democracy movement, Wong said
it was important not to forget
others who are also paying a price
but haven’t attracted the same
international spotlight. About
two dozen other young activists
are serving prison sentences
longer than his, “just because
they were asking for democracy,
freedom, and human rights by
non-violent civil disobedience,”
he said.
During his time behind bars,
Wong did compulsory marching
exercises 30 minutes a day and
ate with a spoon because forks,
knives, and chopsticks are
banned.
Asked if the prison guards
singled him out for harsher
treatment, he said, “They treated
me fairly with swear words and
foul language.”
Not allowed a phone, he
couldn’t update his popular social
media accounts but said being
unplugged allowed him the
opportunity
for
“spiritual
reflection.” Prison news was
limited
to
Hong
Kong’s
pro-Beijing publications, but he
read books such as I Am Malala
by 20-year-old Pakistani activist
and Nobel Peace laureate Malala
Yousafzai.
Letters
from
supporters in places like New
York, London, and Berlin helped
buoy his spirits.
Out of prison, he is making the
most of time, hanging out with
his parents and girlfriend,
playing video games, and
enjoying favorite local foods like
Hong Kong-style milk tea.
Wong plans to keep fighting for
full democracy in Hong Kong. In
the short term, he said his
political party, Demosisto, will
announce a candidate soon to run
in an election next year to fill a
seat in the city’s semi-democratic
legislature vacated when Law
was disqualified because of a
government legal challenge.
In the long run, he said there’s
plenty of work to do getting Hong
Kongers to “adjust their mindset”
to resist Beijing’s tightening grip.
“I still believe Hong Kong peo-
ple can overcome, even though we
are inside the prison set by
China.”
FC. In 2016, Nadim led the
Thorns with nine goals while
assisting in three others. In 2017,
she scored six goals and gave four
assists, which were third best
and second best on the team,
respectively. Both stat lines are
all the more impressive because
Nadim played in only 18 of the
Thorns 26 matches.
Nadim’s talent has not gone
unrecognized, and Manchester
City Women’s Football Club
made her an offer the Thorns
could not match. So Nadim, also a
member
of
the
Denmark
Women’s National Team that
nearly won the Euro 2017 tourna-
ment, will be playing with one of
Europe’s top clubs next season,
an acknowledgement of this
Hmong pop singer gains popularity
Continued from page 7
embracing it,” Xiong said.
Mixing old and new to create a
new form of music isn’t the only
way Vue challenges traditional
Hmong thinking. A young
married woman traditionally
would not travel alone, but she
must as she performs in live
concerts across the country.
When she first started singing,
in a show choir in middle school
in Green Bay, she hid her singing
desires from her parents. When
she continued singing in high
school, she had to tell them, and
they discouraged her from
participating.
She stubbornly held out. Vue
just loved to sing.
That’s where she picked up her
love of pop and show-tune style
music.
Vue was working a minimum-
wage job, taking care of her
mother, who is diabetic and blind,
while juggling school and choir.
“I was singing all kinds of
songs, Beatles, Aretha Franklin,
musicals,” Vue said. “I loved it. I
loved singing. I loved per-
forming.”
She was still a student at
Green Bay East High School
when she met her future
husband, Hmong Zong Yang, who
attended D.C. Everest Senior
High School. Yang encouraged
her to pursue her dreams, and his
support gave her the confidence
to work for a musical career.
Even as she sang and built her
fame, she was studying business
and arts management, first at the
University of Wisconsin (UW)
Marathon County and then at
UW-Stevens Point. Vue put
school on hold when her career
gained traction and she began to
earn a steady income from
singing. She plans to return soon
to finish her degree.
Meanwhile,
Yang
is
completing
his
degree
at
UW-Stevens Point where he’s
studying computer information
systems. He has no ambition to
step into a spotlight.
“I just want a normal, 9-to-5
job,” he said, although he has
been working to create video
games.
As for Vue, she plans to slowly
ease out of her performing
schedule to focus on producing
and working with Yellow
Diamond Records to aid other
young performers.
“I think this is leading me to a
higher calling,” Vue said, “to
create a more impressive Hmong
music industry.”
Vue was featured on the October 19
episode of Wisconsin Public Television’s
“Wisconsin Life.” To learn more,
visit <www.wisconsinlife.org>.
Asian star’s incredible talent.
The NWSL team with the
strongest Asian representation is
Portland’s northern neighbor,
the Seattle Reign. The squad
features
an
outstanding
Japanese tandem and a veteran
goalkeeper with aboriginal roots
who is among the best in the
world.
Lydia Williams is that keeper.
She joined the Houston Dash in
2016, enjoying a solid season in
which she allowed 22 goals in 15
starts. That’s not surprising from
a player who has anchored the
Australian national team. But a
midseason coaching change in
Continued on page 13
Talking Story: When
I’m sixty-four, oooh
Continued from page 6
(unthinkable Ferguson or unjust
East Portland) don’t matter.
Website hits and shares do.
And herein lies the possibility
of a heartless nation. You and me
segregated into tight consumer
communities. Trending news,
films,
fashion,
people.
Disconnected from the “other.”
You never have to talk to him.
You won’t hear his mom wail.
Cops and prosecutors will deal
with cross-town others. Our
awesome Navy Seals and our
stealthy Air Force will handle
those over the horizon.
“Will you still need me, will you
still feed me,” Paul McCartney
sang sweetly, surely to his lovely
Linda, “when I’m sixty-four,
oooh” — a sassy clarinet flourish
finishes his line. That Beatles
album was released exactly 50
years ago. Today, I’m feeling it
too. Pero it’s not a grumpy opa’s
grievance. Really not. It’s an
American believer’s hope that
we’re just taking a little break
from a world of hurt. And our role
in all that.
It’s me wading through red
leaves on S.W. Fifth’s autumn
sidewalk, knowing that Red from
Rosebud Rez and Ski from Polsk
North Portland and Brooklyn
from Paisan Brooklyn will soon
round the corner. Sharing
smokes and chocolate bars.