Meet the Elder Statesman of Football in China - Ken Xu

　　He is one of the older figures in the American football community in China, and has played in both the British American Football League and NFL Europe. He is both a coach and a player. He is all business on the field, but can be a real goofball off the field. He is CAFL second-year player Ken Xu.

　　Beginnings in American Football

　　Sports has always been in Ken\'s family, as his parents both loved to play sports: His father is 1.80 meters tall, and played for his factory\'s basketball team, and his mother continued to stay very active after Ken was born. Ken outgrew both his parents, and eventually reached a height of 1.90 meters (6\'3").

　　The only exposure Ken had to American football back in China was through television. He initially wasn\'t very familiar with the sport, and he was also very skinny as an adolescent, so he had no idea of the sort of impact that the game would have on his life later.

（Ken in his younger days）

　　After deciding to study abroad in England at the University of Leeds, due to his height, the university\'s basketball, rugby, and American football teams all fought to bring him in to their teams. With a "why not?" attitude, Ken decided to choose the American football team, and his love for the sport only grew from there.

　　Compared to his teammates, Ken\'s introduction to American football came at a much older age, so he worked that much harder to make up the difference in skill and knowledge of the game between himself and his teammates.

　　The Start of a Long Football Journey

　　Ken\'s hard work paid off, as he eventually became a two-time MVP for the University of Leeds American football team, and was selected to play for the Coventry Jets of the British American Football League.

　　In the BAFL, Xu continued to shine on the field, as he helped the Jets go 16-0 in his first year with the team, winning his first American football championship ring. In the same year, Xu was nominated as one of the top players in England.

(Ken\'s Team MVP award and Jets championship ring)

　　Xu\'s continued hard work and outstanding play on the field, as well as his prototypical size and athleticism caused him to be selected to play in NFL Europe in 2006. The players he competed against in the NFL Europe tryouts were certainly no pushovers, but Xu held his own, and eventually earned a spot on an NFL Europe training camp roster.

(Ken\'s NFL Europe testing results)

　　Ken found NFL Europe training camp to be much harder than any testing or tryouts he had ever been through. He says:

　　Training camp was tougher than anything I have ever been through, especially in one-on-one drills. My neck and chin kept getting hit, and my gloves kept getting ripped, so I had to buy new gloves after just a week of use. At night, my fingers would be so swollen that I couldn\'t even close my hands properly, so I had to rely on ice packs to recover.

　　Going against more experienced players was not only a physical challenge, but a mental one as well. Players of the caliber that I was going against on a daily basis were very skilled, and would always be grabbing my pads and even my skin to gain an advantage.

　　Football in China - CAFL

　　When asked about what the three proudest moments of his career were, Ken explained:

　　One was definitely when we beat the Bristol Aztecs to win the BAFL championship. In the final quarter, they had driven down to our 12-yard line, but I came up with a sack by making a move to get by the offensive line, and I caused a fumble on the play.

　　Another moment I\'m proud of also came during my BAFL days. We were playing our biggest division rivals, the Birmingham Bulls, and we were at their 2-yard line. To help our team score, I was put in the game as a fullback and got the ball. I was immediately hit by two defenders, but I carried them into the end zone to score a touchdown.

（#94 Ken Xu)

　　「The last thing I\'m really proud of in my football career was definitely joining the China Arena Football League,」 says Ken. 「To be a part of the fast growth of this sport in China made me feel so happy. American football has had a late start in China, but it has grown surprisingly quickly. Compared to other football leagues, the CAFL\'s rules are a lot more suited to China; the ball changes hands faster, there is more scoring, more excitement, the field is closer to the fans, and so the fans also feel more involved.

　　The one thing I regret about last season is that I was injured for much of the season, so I couldn\'t play the full schedule. I have made a full recovery however, and I hope that I can help the Beijing Lions repeat as CAFL champions, which would mark my fourth professional football championship.

　　「My career in professional football is nearing the end, so I just hope I can give the last few years of my playing career to this sport, and end it on a good note. During this time, I also want to help promote this sport to the next generation of Chinese athletes.」

　　Ken has already made an impact on a few younger athletes, as three players that Ken coached in the past have become CAFL players.

　　（Ken working with coaches of the Foshan Tigers football team）

　　The Light-Hearted Old Football Player

　　Those who have seen Ken Xu play have often noticed his calmness, decisiveness, and sudden bursts of speed and power on the field. But not many people are aware of his light-hearted demeanor off the field. Here are a few funny stories Ken told us over the course of our conversation with him.

　　When Ken was in the US, he was approached by a street salesman in the subway. To avoid interacting with the salesman, Ken pretended not to know any English, and the man stopped talking to Ken and walked away. Ken was very proud of this one instance of playing dumb.

　　When Ken first started playing football, he was a tight end. Being totally new to the game, he couldn\'t catch a football well, but he could hit very hard. The coaches therefore moved him to the defensive line, where he has remained to this day. His coach back then joked with him that "the dumb players are the ones who play defense".

　　In graduate school, Ken lived on the 6th floor of his dorm building. One day, he was cooking an egg, but forgot about it, and left for a while. He forgot to turn off the flame, and ended up not only setting off the building\'s fire alarm, but also caused the city\'s firefighters to pay the building a visit.......

　　In Ken\'s second year of college, he went to visit his English friend\'s house. His friend lived in Buckinghamshire, and was surrounded by farms. Ken saw his friend\'s dog, and decided to take it out for a walk. He walked past a farm, and the bulls in the pen stared at him threateningly and made loud noises. Ken stopped and thought for a second, then picked his friend\'s dog up and sprinted away from the farm as fast as he could.......

　　Ken is proud of his three championship rings from playing professional football, but he says, "records are meant to be broken." He says that he will give everything he has to whatever teams he plays for during the rest of his playing career, and after retiring, he will try his hand at coaching, to try and help more and more Chinese athletes become world-class American football players.