In honor of Morehead State University’s International Education Week on Nov. 14-18, MSU Athletic Media Relations is doing a series of features on Eagle international student-athletes. Second in the series is senior men’s tennis player, Chris Shafik.
By Stefanie Howard, Morehead State Athletic Media Relations
The laid-back, beachy lifestyle of a big city on the coast of Australia offers a quick-paced culture that not all Australians would be willing to give up, especially for the hills of Kentucky. For senior men’s tennis player and Melbourne, Australia native Chris Shafik, that is exactly what he chose.
“Around Australia everyone lives around the coast,” says Shafik. “It’s like everyone needs to live by the ocean, but it’s a big city so people still have things to do and everything runs at a quicker pace.”
It is the ocean, Shafik notes, that doesn’t allow the quick-paced culture to make Australians up-tight city folk.
“In general, we are laid back and chill,” shares the senior. “The ocean adds to the chill mentality.”
Shafik grew up with that mentality and has not changed much as he’s grown up. His laid back demeanor does not stop him from being competitive, however. Shafik grew up participating in sports such as swimming, track, rugby and tennis. Even his younger sisters have been involved in athletics their whole lives. One is a diver, while the other participates in martial arts. Shafik rarely took time off for sports growing up.
“I went to an all-boys school and it was very sports driven,” says Shafik. “Every semester, the winter season or the summer season, you had to be playing a sport or else you could not attend the school. In the winter I played rugby and in the summer I was playing tennis. In-between sometimes I would be running track or swimming because they were kind of a mix between both seasons.”
Although he concentrated on other sports, Australian rules football is a huge sport in Melbourne says Shafik.
“A lot of people like to compare it to rugby but it’s not like rugby,” he says. “The field is oval shape, so it’s bigger and kicking is involved. Only Australians play Australian rules football. It’s really big all over but it’s especially big in Melbourne.”
Australia is also known for rugby and tennis and their respective major sporting events, the Rugby World Cup and Australian Open.
“Rugby is also big in Australia,” states Shafik.” We just hosted the Rugby World Cup. New Zealand won the World Cup. Australia made the semi-finals, but I was kind of annoyed that we lost.”
The Rugby World Cup captures the attention of Australians everywhere.
“It’s like the Olympics,” says Shafik. “Everyone all over the country in Australia and England and France, a lot of the islander countries like New Zealand, Fiji, those islands around New Zealand, are all watching and tuned in.”
Sports are everywhere in Shafik’s life it seems. He attended the same school, St. Kevin’s College, as famous Australian tennis player Neale Fraser. Fraser won titles in the 1960 Wimbledon and U.S. Open singles championships, while also registering three Australian Open doubles championships from 1957 to 1962. While they play the same sport, Shafik is not quite sure he will follow in Fraser’s footsteps.
“He won a grand slam,” shares Shafik. “There are four grand slams in the year, the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S Open. Winning those events is the peak of tennis and what you strive to win. Not everyone can win them; you have to be the top of the top in the sport at the time. If you win a grand slam that means you were the best, or one of the best, during your era and there aren’t too many people that are up there. I’d love to be the next Neale Fraser, but it’s probably not going to happen.”
The tennis courts at St. Kevin’s College are named after Fraser. The courts were flooded last year and have since been rebuilt. When he went back to visit his homeland, Shafik said the courts had been fixed.
“They have resurfaced the courts,” he notes. “Yarra River is a major river in Australia that kind of runs by my school. Whenever there are monsoon rain seasons, the whole school floods, including the ovals, the rugby field and the soccer field.”
Shafik is proud of the growth his high school tennis program has seen since he graduated.
“I have been back, and the tennis program at my high school is stronger than what it was when I was there,” says Shafik. “I’m happy about that. I’m actually a little jealous because they won the national championship, and I wish I could have been there when that happened.”
Shafik is usually able to get home to Melbourne on the long breaks from school.
“I’ve been home every year except for this year,” he says. “I’m staying here for my first Christmas and New Year’s in the United States. I went home over the summer here and it was winter over there. I got to stay there for a little bit longer because usually when I go home for Christmas, I only get to stay there for about three weeks. This time I was able to stay over during the summer and spend two months there. Usually I do go back home, but not this year.”
A major holiday that is celebrated in Australia, but not in the United States, is Boxing Day, which is similar to Black Friday after Thanksgiving.
“Boxing Day is the day after Christmas,” says Shafik. “Basically, it’s when everything goes on sale. All the shops have all this extra stock and pretty much they will be putting it away in boxes and shipping them off. That’s why they call it Boxing Day. It’s huge. Everyone goes to the mall and all the shopping centers. Everyone is out in the streets and it’s pretty cool.”
Many may not realize that Christmas and Boxing Day are also celebrated in the summer. Shafik notes that people actually have barbecues outside to celebrate Christmas in Australia.
While there are delicious foods that Australians have to enjoy the holidays, the meal Shafik misses the most is a meal for any occasion, the Four’N Twenty meat pie. He has it with tomato sauce, or ketchup as Americans call it, and a cola. It is a dish that you can get anywhere in Australia, whether it be in gas stations or restaurants.
For Shafik Australia is, and always will be, home. He misses the ocean. He misses the culture, the lifestyle, the essence of his home country. However, after Shafik graduates from MSU and returns to Australia, he says he will also miss Morehead.
“It’s different back home,” he says. ”I miss that sometimes, but when I’m gone from Morehead I will miss the culture here as well. I was away for two months this summer and I was thinking about coming back to Morehead the whole time. I was excited to come back to see everyone. I guess it’s going to be tough when I finally leave because I have gained another family over here now, too.”
