Why so many asian americans?

GAZ082

Rookie
Hi! I just have to ask! All the vids of you guys seem to be from asian americans! What's the deal with tennis there? Is tennis more popular in asian guys rather than the rest? Must be just more than a probability given the size of your community, because there are lot's of latino americans, african americans, etc. as well.
 

shintan17

Semi-Pro
Hi! I just have to ask! All the vids of you guys seem to be from asian americans! What's the deal with tennis there? Is tennis more popular in asian guys rather than the rest? Must be just more than a probability given the size of your community, because there are lot's of latino americans, african americans, etc. as well.

I think more Asians are hooked on internet...probably (and I am one of them).
 
Well Tennis Warehouse is based in California, which has a ridiculously high percentage of Asians compared to the rest of the country.

During the summer my basketball team traveled to Oregon to play a tournament, and I have to say, I was SHOCKED to see so many white (sake of simplicity) people there. After living in the Bay Area my entire life, I'd assumed that we'd taken over then entire country already :p

Another story, as part of my school's Interact club, we had a get-together for every club from the Bay Area to Arizona. And from Arizona there was ONE Asian kid, and while he was there it seemed as if he were about to cry whenever someone would make conversation with him. I'm guessing that he's never seen so many Asians in one place before.
 

crazytennis

Semi-Pro
One of the first people I met here in the US told me that tennis is the ultimate Asian American sport. I don't know how much it was true or cared to found out, as I'm not AA. But still yeah.
 

BreakPoint

Bionic Poster
I think many Asian Americans who grew up in CA would probably have a hard time adjusting if they moved to a part of the US where there are very few to no Asians. Whereas, Asian Americans who grew up in a part of the US with few Asians should have an easier time adjusting to a place with lots of Asians.
 

snoopy

Professional
In the US there r lots of asians on the coasts and in the big cities. Tennis seems to be really popular amongst Asians, especially Fillipino, at the courts where I live on the east coast. There are many serious asian tennis players but from what I observed there also seems to be a lot of asians who play tennis to socialize with other asians.
 
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There was one old asian guy with a pretty hefty beard who played on the indoor courts all the time during the winter, back when I was in school. He was pretty good. Probably a professor, or something.

During the summer, half of the outdoor courts would be dominated by all international asian students, which leads me to believe that it might be a regional/cultural bias towards tennis, and not just an AA phenomenon. I guess most AAs haven't been in American enough generations to have that bias eliminated yet.
 

Phil

Hall of Fame
I think many Asian Americans who grew up in CA would probably have a hard time adjusting if they moved to a part of the US where there are very few to no Asians. Whereas, Asian Americans who grew up in a part of the US with few Asians should have an easier time adjusting to a place with lots of Asians.
I don't know about that...they seem like a fairly adaptable group. It's quite an assumption on your part.
 

BreakPoint

Bionic Poster
I don't know about that...they seem like a fairly adaptable group. It's quite an assumption on your part.
So would you say adjusting to Japan was a piece of cake for you, Phil? It's always hard adjusting to a place where most people view and treat you like an outsider.
 
There are over 1 billion Chinese, and over 1 billion Indians. With the population of the world around over 6 billion, that's at least one-third of the world that is "asian". Some are bound to find their way into the States.
 

Phil

Hall of Fame
So would you say adjusting to Japan was a piece of cake for you, Phil? It's always hard adjusting to a place where most people view and treat you like an outsider.

But it's easier to adjust in a place that allows you to stay there legally and operates on a merit-based system (i.e. a work ethic, entreprennurial drive and ambition, etc.). The Asian "diaspora" has placed people from Asia in all sorts of countries, and they have, in general, done quite well for themselves. I don't think the jump from California to, say the Mid-west would be too traumatic for your typical Asian. A few places, of course, are unwelcoming of foreigners, but for the most part, I don't buy your assumption-not in the USA. There are people who are willing to, and do make whatever adjustments need to be made to become productive in their chosen communities.

It was relatively easy for me to adjust to Japan, but that's just me. I'm a bit weird. I know what to expect and nothing much shocks me (other than a few things I ate here...;-)). I will ALWAYS be "different" in Japan-but being different sometimes has its advantages-one needs to identify and then HEAVILY exploit those advantages. On the whole, I have no complaints with the treatment I've received here. As an AMERICAN, you get treated worse in New York City (though that didn't bother me too much either).
 

rommil

Legend
^That's the advantage if you assimilate to a different culture is that you can have a different perspective and learn new ones. You start realizing what's good and what's not and take the best of both worlds. A lot of people in the US do not realize how they have it very good here but they don't realize that because they haven't seen any different. As an immigrant who grew up in the Philippines, I can say that Filipinos tend to move to place where they have family or close friends(true for most immigrants I assume) and usually it's tennis that they play when they get together(considering that back home basketball is the biggest sport).
 

Golden Retriever

Hall of Fame
What other sports can Asian-Americans actually compete in America that are relatively cool besides tennis? Ping pong is not cool in America ,badminton is not cool in America so tennis is almost the only "cool" option they have. Don't give me that Yao Ming argument, you and I all know Yao Ming is one in a billion.
 
The problem with basketball is that most AAs aren't tall enough to be anything other than guards. I believe it takes more than one generation to overcome nutritional deficiencies and reach maximum genetic potential.
 

GAZ082

Rookie
If tennis is such a biggie in Asians, why there is only one known AA player such as Michael Chang.
 
Because most AAs are brought up to value education more than sports, so they don't risk their futures on trying to become tennis pros.

Soccer is cool, it's just that nobody plays it.
 
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Phil

Hall of Fame
Soccer is cool in America? Baseball is not popular in Asia except Japan so most Asian-Americans don't really care for baseball.
I think soccer is the most widely-played high school sport in America. That means it must be cool, right?

While in Asia baseball is the most popular in Japan, it's also very popular in Taiwan and Korea, both of which have professional bb leagues. Not sure if Australia counts as "Asia" these days, but the Aussies won the baseball gold medal at the Athens Olympics.
 

bluegrasser

Hall of Fame
I think many Asian Americans who grew up in CA would probably have a hard time adjusting if they moved to a part of the US where there are very few to no Asians. Whereas, Asian Americans who grew up in a part of the US with few Asians should have an easier time adjusting to a place with lots of Asians.

The Asian population is high here in the ' Minneapple' & they seem to fare pretty well - also very much into tennis.
 

BreakPoint

Bionic Poster
The Asian population is high here in the ' Minneapple' & they seem to fare pretty well - also very much into tennis.
Well, I'm actually talking about places where there aren't that many Asians and I'm only referring to people who grew up in an area with lots of Asians, like California, and then moving to another part of the U.S. with few Asians later in life. The ones that grew up in these other areas I'm sure are just fine as they have had their whole lives to assimilate.
 

fastswingVD

Rookie
even though they're too short and too small but their brains are big lol
the weird thing is the tallest guy in the NBA is Asian haha
Yao Ming
one out of billion people that's tall in Asian group
 
I think many Asian Americans who grew up in CA would probably have a hard time adjusting if they moved to a part of the US where there are very few to no Asians. Whereas, Asian Americans who grew up in a part of the US with few Asians should have an easier time adjusting to a place with lots of Asians.

Haha if only you told me that about 9 months earlier. I couldn't even speak at Oregon because I was so shocked from the uniformity of the demographics there.

There's no city quite like Fremont :p
 

randomname

Professional
I live in the middle of texas and if you go out to the local high school courts at night you would swear its some kind of asian night club, whole families come out, the kids generally just play with eachother, and nobody speaks english.
 

Fedace

Banned
Hi! I just have to ask! All the vids of you guys seem to be from asian americans! What's the deal with tennis there? Is tennis more popular in asian guys rather than the rest? Must be just more than a probability given the size of your community, because there are lot's of latino americans, african americans, etc. as well.

It is cause all the HOT chicks are playing tennis.:)
 

mistapooh

Semi-Pro
So the ones that are saying there are a lot of Asians playing tennis, are you guys in clubs or just hitting at parks?
 

rommil

Legend
If tennis is such a biggie in Asians, why there is only one known AA player such as Michael Chang.

I think the AA kids pursue it more on a recreational level, they lean more towards pursuing academic goals. Where you headed with these questions anyway?
 
well most asians are too short for basketball, and too small for football; so they play tennis

"short" - I can agree to a small extent but "small"- definately not. Not many Asians chooses to bulk up physically, but rather bulk up the brain with some knowledge to succeed in school...and sure you can do both.. but we are mostly grew up in playing instruments.. and some of us were even forced to play instruments as a kid. Forced vs. free will, play instrument or play ping pong? lol..
 

junbug

Rookie
a lot of the asian ams like to take their math and science brains to the court and apply it. you know angles, depth. speed, power, force, etc.
 

Sentinel

Bionic Poster
Maybe Asians really don't get the hang of American Football, baseball and ice-hockey. These games are not popular in Asia. Basketball is, but asians are too short for that (except for the tall ones, as BP pointed out).

Asians don't have the huge bulky refrigerator like physiques for what you call Football ;-)

Tennis and Golf are great for the "upwardly mobile" image most Asians aspire to. I think this is the most probable reason. I hope I haven't offended my numerous Asian friends in saying this (like that punk from Tokyo :) )
 
Maybe Asians really don't get the hang of American Football, baseball and ice-hockey. These games are not popular in Asia. Basketball is, but asians are too short for that (except for the tall ones, as BP pointed out).

Asians don't have the huge bulky refrigerator like physiques for what you call Football ;-)

Tennis and Golf are great for the "upwardly mobile" image most Asians aspire to. I think this is the most probable reason. I hope I haven't offended my numerous Asian friends in saying this (like that punk from Tokyo :) )

I love offending asians. Since I'm a Chinaman, I especially love to offend the Chinese! My grandmother shakes her finger at me when I'm making fun of the Chinese, trying to say how the Chinese is so great because they invented paper, firecrackers, and such. Then I say to her, "Well, if you love China so much, why are you Catholic? 'Cuz Jesus is a camel-jockey from the Middle-East! You should instead be worshipping some Confucius-Jackie-Chan type of deity!" It wasn't until I was an undergrad at Berkeley that I found so many damn asian-americans that are into bible study. Unbelievable.

Hey Sentinel, how is Russell Peters' impression of Italy?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=83KEvIURe9M
 
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f1 tech

Semi-Pro
I think racquet sport is big for Asians period. Badminton, ping pong, and tennis are very popular. I think racquetball is catching up also.
 

goober

Legend
If tennis is such a biggie in Asians, why there is only one known AA player such as Michael Chang.

Asian Americans are pretty well represented on the high school and college levels. Most of them probably don't have pro aspirations.

There are a fair number of pros though.

Current
Kevin Kim was top 100
Vania King 115
Meilen Tu 88
Amber Liu 256

There are a bunch in the 300-1400 range

Past
kimberly Po- won wimbledon Mixed dubs
Tommy Ho- well he is "known" but more for being a bust in the pros after dominating juniors.:)
There are probably some others I am forgetting.

You have to remember very few players reach HOF status like Michael Chang. So it doesn't surprise me that he is the only Asian American that is known worldwide in tennis.
 

Sentinel

Bionic Poster
Oh just read the the Stanford thread in Rants and Raves from beginning to end one day and draw your own conclusions.
One full day ! I think there's a day free after Haile and before W, will have to wait until then !
 
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