You might think that teaching football strategy to Japanese-speaking players in Tokyo would present a major problem.
But when instructed by football coach Al Bagnoli to run a slant route, the players knew exactly what he was talking about. The language of football is universal, as Bagnoli learned.
His experience came as part of a week-long trip to Japan with six other members of his staff and four former Penn players, as well as a similar coalition from Princeton, to run clinics and seminars for players from Japanese universities.
But the Penn-Princeton rivalry can't be escaped, even on international soil. The week culminated with the Ivy-Samurai Bowl, the third annual football game that pitted former Penn players against the former Princeton players.
To make up the rest of the teams, all-stars were selected from roughly a dozen Japanese Universities located in the Tokyo area, then split into two squads. About 100 students were able to participate in the event.
The former Quakers included defensive back Doug Middleton, running back Sam Matthews, linebacker Ric San Doval and quarterback Mike Mitchell.
The Quaker coalition left the country on Monday, June 12. They held a press conference on Tuesday and began holding clinics, seminars and practices on Wednesday for the big game on Sunday.
Bagnoli described the Japanese players and coaches as having a "thirst to learn."
And when communications problems did pop up -- as they inevitably would -- the help of a staff of translators were quick to step in.
Rained poured down on game day, June 18th at the Komazawa Olympic Stadium, and prevented the teams from doing some of passing and other skills they worked on throughout the week.
The contest ended 26-7, in favor of the Princeton contingent, but Bagnoli described the game as "basically a one-touchdown game most of the way through."
More importantly, he said that he was genuinely impressed with the athleticism of the Japanese players.
"They had skilled kids and good speed," Bagnoli said.
The biggest difference he noted between American football players and Japanese was size. "You have a [Japanese] lineman who's 230 lbs., and he's considered big, whereas by American standards he's undersized."
The week wasn't all work, though. The Penn and Princeton coaches and players were given tours of the city and its landmarks and tested a different type of cuisine.
"The cultural experience was great," Bagnoli said. "We were treated great and made a lot of friends."
The week was designed for the Japanese to learn more about the American system, but experiences abroad helped not only the Japanese students, but also the Penn coaching staff. It gave the coaches a chance to work together on the field in a game situation, which is important as the Quakers added three new personnel to their staff earlier this year.
"It was like an additional scrimmage," Bagnoli said. "It helped our correspondence, communication on the sidelines and play calling."
It also helped the Penn staff work out kinks in teaching their plays, since they will have to do so to incoming freshman in a few weeks.
"It gave us an opportunity to teach our system to a different group of kids," he added.
"It's forcing you to work a little bit of over time because you're going to lose a week during the summer that you'd be in the office," Bagnoli said.
Penn and Princeton are the third set of Ivies to participate in the event. The first Ivy-Samurai Bowl was held in June of 2004 as Harvard and Yale made the trip oversees. Last year, Columbia and Brown squared off.
And if history is an indication, it seems that the knowledge -- both on the field and off -- gained from the trip more than compensates for the week of working in America that is lost.
