"I'm Definitely A Whole Person"

When Chinese immigrants from Toishan arrived to East Coast cities in the 1930s, they found themselves unwelcome in many jobs, establishments, and neighborhoods. Impoverished in enclaves in the wake of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, 9-man volleyball was completely their own. The lightning-quick, fiercely intense game is most distinct for its strictly-guarded ethnic character: Every player was required to be of 100% Chinese descent. Now, six players on each team of nine must be 100% Chinese, while three can be either half Chinese or of another northeast Asian ethnicity. 

 

Right-side hitter Ashley Fung is 23, but she’s already coached kids, teenagers, peers, and college team men. She gets the most heated during games with her team, which is part of the often-overlooked women’s league at NY Strangers, New York City’s premier 9-man volleyball club. It’s where she can be herself, and where her social anxiety melts away. But Ashley’s father is Chinese, and her mother is Samoan. Until 1991, she wouldn’t have been allowed to play – and though the rules have changed, the culture of the sport is still catching up. After a frustrating loss, Ashley said, “This isn’t even my job, and I’m out here getting called ‘halfie’. Can we cut that shit? Like, what’s wrong with the other half?”

 

During tournaments, players are allowed to “challenge” other teams’ members, essentially asking them to prove their Chinese heritage – at risk of their team’s disqualification. An incident at the New York 9-Man Mini tournament two years ago is an especially sore spot: 2 points away from clinching the game against a powerful team from Toronto, they challenged Ashley and her NY Strangers team. Without anything besides family photos, she was unable to convince the administrators of her ethnicity and the team was kicked out of the tournament. Ashley is determined to play the game she loves with the community she envisions her place in, despite facing denial of her Asian heritage, and many attempts at exclusion by administrators and fellow athletes.