International Development Programme - A Brit at the UofA

Having only been in Tucson, Arizona for a mere two weeks, it has become apparent to me the importance of extra-curricular activities, in particular sports on campus. From this observation, I hope to integrate into the community through attending sporting games and fixtures, to get the complete UofA Wildcat fan experience.

When I walked around campus for the first time, I was astounded by the scale and amount of sporting buildings: baseball, football, just to name a few. The paths on campus were reminders of the UofA’s success: lamposts with flags praising the success of sporting teams were just the beginning. My first reaction to the facilities on campus alone, reinforced why USA does so well in the Olympics. The extent of the facilities available: an Olympic sized swimming pool, climbing walls, 3 gyms, sand volleyball pitches, were vast and just incredible in comparison to those we have available at Leicester. I would like to research further for my next blog, to see the extent of sports in the curriculum prior to university to subsequently see if this is just the UofA culture or something students have grown up with.

To fully immerse myself into the new university culture I was about to experience, I decided to become a Wildcat and buy a Zona Zoo pass – enabling access to games of every sport for the entire year. By doing this, I felt as though I could begin to actively participate and integrate myself into the local culture.

On August 29^th, I attended my first American football game, UofA’s Wildcats against University of Nevada, Las Vegas. For me, this experience was just the beginning of understanding campus culture. With my year abroad being my first opportunity to visit North America, I had not realised just how important sport was to student culture. I could understand the rivalry, having experienced that myself during varsity against DMU, but this was on another scale.

Prior to the game, an event called tailgating occurs. Hundreds of fans, not only students, but from the broader community too, welcome the players at a strip called the Wildcat Walk. Cheerleaders and the marching band begin, whilst the players get off the coach and high-five the crowds as they mentally prepare themselves for the first game of the season. This video below will hopefully summarise to you the atmosphere from inside the stadium. From attending just one sporting game, it becomes apparent just how passionate students are about being Wildcats and representing their university.

Due to the four quarters of the game, it was great to experience the entertainment during the intervals. There were cheerleading performances, pom-girls, the marching band, the kiss cam just to name a few. Consequently, from attending this one game, I now the Bear Down song which is sang religiously throughout the game, the mash-up dances and hand gestures, all representative of the student sporting culture here. I now have a greater appreciation of what it is like to be a Wildcat and can now understand the student culture and wear my UofA clothing with pride.

Looking back on this experience, I can honestly say being in the home crowd was just like in the movies. I didn’t think that would be the case prior to the game and you could say to a certain extent, I am in culture shock. Having bought my Zona Zoo pass, I can’t wait to experience other sports such as basketball, to see if the hype is just the same. In my future blogs, I hope to portray my experiences further with you to see if this is the case.