n this year’s summer vacation, 22 baseball team members of Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) embarked on a trip to Edmonton, Canada for learning practice. Within three weeks from August 3rd to 24th, players completed the autistic children subject planned early. At the same time, they fully felt the local conditions and customs of Canada and left a friendly, warmhearted image with high quality in the kingdom of maple leaves.

The baseball team of SISU was founded when Shanghai College Student Baseball and Softball Association was founded in 1998, which has been 18 years. Since 2006, they have participated in the national college students and college students in Shanghai baseball league matches, have won the champion 14 times and won 5 second and third places.

 “Help the disabled with sports”: the global volunteer program covers training, on-the-spot investigation, simulated practice and voluntary work. At the meantime, members brought with them three topics including autistic child, the disabled and the comparison of student communities between China and Canada.

Canada, as one of the most high-welfare countries in the world, has a perfect social welfare system. A seemingly trivial button, particular for the disabled to open any door, can be found in most public places. And the University of Alberta also has a disabled rehabilitation center open to citizens. Members not only investigated the athletic facilities, but also learned from professionals how to help the disabled. All these materials enabled them to make analysis and better the current solution.

Besides the disabled, autistic child is also of their concern. Those so-called “kids of the star” are of few words and poor at communication, so contact with them requires much attention. After patient study they grasped some special techniques such as talking with children at their height, using imperative sentences instead of questions to reduce children’s puzzle.

Besides topic research and voluntary work, members had the luck to listen to speeches and tries local sports activities. "One of the purposes of the trip is to contact with international sports." said Miss Song. The players are exposed to Canada characteristic sports, for instance, hockey, curling, rock climbing sports and so on.

They also watched the Edmonton Eskimo's football league. The coach Ningning said, in the training after returning, the team will learn from others' strong points for experience which is suitable for the team, and increase the practice of new actions.

One interesting interlude makes this trip more than impressive. On the evening of the seventh day in Canada, the team members welcomed an activity called the "canoeing". All the members are supposed to keep rowing downstream in a river along the Rocky Mountains for two hours. However, after sailing for just 15 minutes, the sky suddenly became gloomy, followed by the downpour against faces. "The rain was so big that I can hardly open my eyes!"

There is nowhere to run for shelter and there is nothing I can hide under. The waterproof suits we wore were completely soaked," a team member recalls after rowing for half an hour.

In order to bench the solid wood boat of 5-6 meters, 22 boys scattered on both sides of it, concentrating their efforts on jacking up the boat. With difficulties and hardships, they marched to the bottom of a bridge on the slope with the boat on the wet, slippery and muddy pathway.

"No one complained about it at that time. When the other volunteers who didn't peer with us watched the video of carrying the boat, they also found it very encouraging." Doctor Song recalled that hard day like it just happened yesterday. "But the team members thought it a special and unforgettable experience of their own."

Coincidentally, on the other side of the river, there is a forest where lots of vagrants lived in. It is known as the "doomsday". So at that time, they were escaping from the "doomsday." Doctor Song told us that when she looked back, dark clouds were gathering in the sky and they were so close to them as if the "doomsday" really came.

This is a wonderful as well as meaningful study tour, and the program is the first global volunteer program ever which aims at “helping the disabled with sports” in SISU. Volunteers use their strengths to help the disabled and autistic child. Moreover, they have studied the perfect policy on the disabled and the assisting system for them, which they expect to apply these knowledges to domestic use.

Our school’s baseball team has gained a lot from the program, one member shared his reflection: For Canada, sports is not only for exercising, but also for treating the disabled and autistic child. It helps improve their psychological conditions, boost their confidence and positive attitudes, so that they can come back to normal life.”

SISU baseball team's study-tour in Canada is based on the support by school and teachers. The pre-arrangement had been made for more than three month. During that time, the director of SISU Faculty for Physical Education, Jun Wang, secretary Hairong Liu and Ningning He were planning schedule abroad, providing requiring documentations and reminding players the matters need attention. Yuting Song, as the leader of the team, took her responsibilities to students abroad in details.