Lost In Translation?

It's not often you will see me write about golf in this space and I never dreamed I would ever discuss the LPGA. But oddly enough one of the most interesting sports news stories in recent days has been the somewhat controversial LPGA decision to require players to speak English in order to retain their tour cards.

On face value this seems borderline discriminatory. America has always been the melting pot and land of opportunity. And the LPGA has provided opportunities for many women including 121 international players. Obviously not all of them had to learn a new language as this number includes Canadians, Brits and Aussies, but many of them do come here knowing little to no English.

I know, I know.. You're asking yourself. Why is this an issue? Lots of athletes don't communicate well, including guys like Rickey Henderson and he was born and bred in the U.S. of A. But in a sport that reaps much of its revenue from Corporate sponsors and pay to play Pro-Ams, public appearances are almost as big a part of the job as hitting fairways. It's hard to ask someone to pay $5000 to get the opportunity to to play a pro-am round with a tour member only to have them discover the player they get assigned to can't communicate with them.

So what is the solution? Let the pieces fall where they may and risk losing sponsors and fans because they can't communicate or relate to the players they are watching? Is learning basic English really too much to ask of someone potentially making million of dollars to play a game? I understand it's not always easy. I spent some time in France when I was younger and I struggled to communicate at times. On more than one occasion I ended up coming across like a total jackass. But over time I got to where I could easily converse with people and do quite well for myself. I was also surprised to see that much of the typical French disdain for foreigners (especially Americans) melted away when they saw I was making the effort to learn their language and culture.

This will be an interesting story to follow in the coming months and one that Major League Baseball and the NBA should be following closely. If teams are going to be paying millions of dollars for a player's services then it's certainly not unreasonable to expect them to show up at public events and mingle with fans and sponsors.

Bottom line.. If you are lucky enough to play a game for a living, count your blessings... Learning the basics of another language seems a pretty trivial price to pay for the right to do something most of us can only dream of.