Chinese newcomers audition for role in China Bowl

By Larry Fine

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.