Paper short abstract:

Formal schooling in Hong Kong is regimented and standardized. Since 2018, I have launched an intercultural sports project that teaches the South Asian sport kabaddi. This paper discusses the potentialities and challenges of cultivating interculturality among the participants in the project.

Paper long abstract:

Following the legacy of colonialism, formal schooling in Hong Kong is highly regimented and standardized. It suppresses dialogue and collaboration. Since 2018, I have launched an intercultural sports program that collaborates with local secondary schools to teach students a South Asian sport, kabaddi. Kabaddi used to be a tagging childhood game popular in South Asia but has evolved into a professional, international sport in the last three decades. This paper discusses how this project cultivated a sense of interculturality among participants, including coaches and players from different cultural backgrounds, by connecting them to cultural dialogues involving knowledge, empathy, and critical thinking. In the process, they contributed their creativity and resources to negotiate the representations and practices of the sport, which decolonized the curriculum in formal education to a certain extent. Yet, this paper also addresses the challenges when implementing this project, such as the lack of institutional support and the pervasiveness of athlete’s mentality – overconforming to the norms of the sport ethic, namely dedication to the sport, accepting risks and pain, and striving for distinction. As some participants found the interculturality embedded in the project incompatible with their athlete’s mentality, they decided to quit. Their decision raises a broader question, namely the feasibility and sustainability of conducting intercultural and community-building projects with the current political situation in Hong Kong.