Chinese newcomers audition for role in China Bowl

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Four kickers from China, having been put through a rigorous training program, are competing in American football's most exclusive audition.

The Chinese are vying to join the squads for August's China Bowl preseason game between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks -- the first NFL game to be played in China.

"The noise on the field is kind of annoying," said Ding Long, a rugby player who beat 30 other kickers last year to become one of the finalists and receive intensive training in the art of booting an oval pigskin through the uprights.

"Staying in focus is a difficult part in kicking. Moreover, consistency of the technique is not easy to obtain," he told Reuters in an e-mail exchange through an interpreter.

The NFL sees the newcomers as potential ambassadors who can help to introduce the sport to the world's biggest market in the August 8 game in Beijing, timed to coincide with the celebrations marking exactly one year until the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

"It's our belief that there is a good opportunity to carve out a niche for our sport there," Mark Waller, who oversees the NFL's international activities, told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"The good thing about our sport is a lot of people know of it and are interested in learning more about it."

The NFL makes another international splash on October 28 when the New York Giants and Miami Dolphins play in London's new Wembley Stadium in the first regular-season game played overseas.

LEARNING CURVE

The Chinese kickers have had a steep learning curve to follow. They arrived with strong legs but had to learn the technique and rules of the high-contact game.

"It is kind of complicated," said 21-year-old Gao Wei, a former soccer goalkeeper. "Sometimes it is hard to understand the strategies."

Ding, Gao and soccer player Shen Yalei had five hard weeks of training in Oregon before attending an NFL Europa kicking camp last week in Tampa, Florida.

"Football is very exciting," said 22-year-old Shen. "It is a man's game."

Gao agreed: "Football is a sport with the scent of man. The game belongs to men."

Under the tutelage of former Notre Dame kicker Nick Setta, currently a member of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League, the Chinese worked on their conditioning and kicking skills on the grounds of the University of Oregon.

The trio, along with a fourth kicker whose arrival has been delayed due to visa problems, have been assigned to the Berlin Thunder of NFL Europa to continue their apprenticeship.

The acolytes have progressed to the point where they are accurate from 40 yards out but they need to be able to consistently hit field goals from beyond that before the NFL gives its blessing and puts one kicker on each of the China Bowl teams.

STRATEGIC SPORT

Waller said the NFL, supremely popular in the United States, had faith that the game could catch on in China.

"They are incredibly interested in learning from the world and taking the best of what's available, to look at the best and model how they might optimize that," said the NFL vice president, who was born in Kenya and raised in Britain.

"You see it not only in sports but in retailing and manufacturing. Our sport and our league would certainly be up there on the lists of best in sports in the world.

"I think there's also an aspect of our sport that appeals. It's an incredibly strategic sport and tactical at the same time. If you look at it culturally, that is very much in their sweet spot.

"Thirdly, it's bloody good television and looks great in today's media. I think that has an appeal as they start to expand the presence of TV and the internet and high definition. Our sport is probably the best in those mediums."

The NFL has flag football programs underway in three Chinese cities and is keen to broaden its working arrangement with the Chinese government to develop the sport.

Gao believes he and his mates could be part of something big.

"Football will be popular in China," predicted Gao. "As China is becoming more open to the world, Chinese people are willing to accept new things."