Pitch Perfect

Because Hong Kong is short on space, they squeeze in soccer pitches wherever they can. Therefore, almost no two soccer pitches are the same size and very few of them are the full regulation size. Because the soccer pitches are smaller-ish, it is impractical to play the standard eleven players per side. So it is pretty standard at the middle school and even the high school level in Hong Kong to play seven-on-seven. Or as it is called around here simply “Sevens.”

What most of the fields do have in common is that they are built of the same surface material: cement -which they invariably paint green.

School nurses routinely see p.e. students who have taken a tumble while playing flag football on the local soccer pitch. My colleague who coaches one of our school’s soccer teams had to have knee surgery in October when he twisted it on the soccer pitch trying to keep up with his middle school players.

This fall, the Hong Kong government said yes to our school’s request to use a small piece of land a hundred meters from our school down by the nullah. In Hong Kong, almost all the land belongs to the government. Schools, business, and developers simply rent it. None-the-less, it is up to the school to finance all the improvements to the field.

Unfortunately, the government only extended to our school a two-year lease. If we had been extended a five or ten-year lease, we probably would have invested in artificial turf. But since –in theory- the Hong Kong government could rescind the lease after two years, we are not undertaking the expense of artificial turf. Once school lets out for summer, we will try planting grass.

The area will have a space for a single tennis court which can also be used for basketball. It will also have a small track ringing the area.

-Jack