Next week, college baseball teams from around the country will vie to be the best when the China National College Baseball Tournament gets underway in Shanghai. But one hopeful team from Xinjiang is hoping to raise enough money just to be able to participate. We speak with Xinjiang University’s team captain Parhat Ablat about the fundraising efforts, ethnic boundaries on campus, and his appearance in a PBS film.

How long have you been involved with the Xinjiang University baseball team?
I’ve been playing baseball for five years. For the first four years, I was a player on the team as a captain. Even though I graduated last year, I am still involved with the team as a coach.
 
How were you selected as captain?
Back in 2007, there was an election for the captain position. I was good at organizing, and I was always helping new players improve their skills. I really cared about the team. Everyone voted for me to take on this responsibility.


Parhat pitches during practice. A graduate of Xinjiang University, Parhat continues to coach the team.

I understand that both Han and Uyghur students play on the baseball team. How does this change team's dynamic, especially because the two groups are segregated elsewhere on campus?
Despite the Han and Uyghurs segregation that occurs elsewhere on campus, the two groups on our team don’t experience anything like it. As long as they’re a member of the baseball team, they are our friend. There is such a kind and warm environment on the baseball team. Although sometimes I or another coach will yell, but that’s only during practice when we have to.

What are the sentiments between the Han and Uyghur students?
The relationship among the players, both personally and ethnically, is really good. We play the same game and we have the same dreams about baseball, and we all have to be really good together. And although there are many different kinds of people on the team—different areas of study, skill level, even ethnicity—we need help from one another to work on our game. To reach our same goals, we have to come together, and we all have to work hard together. So the sentiments among the us baseball folks are very friendly. We’re really a great group.  


 
I understand that both Han and Uyghur students play on the baseball team. How does this change team's dynamic, especially because the two groups are segregated elsewhere on campus?
Despite the Han and Uyghurs segregation that occurs elsewhere on campus, the two groups on our team don’t experience anything like it. As long as they’re a member of the baseball team, they are our friend. There is such a kind and warm environment on the baseball team. Although sometimes I or another coach will yell, but that’s only during practice when we have to.


 
I heard that Christopher Rufo is making a special documentary film about your team to be shown on PBS. How did he choose the Xinjiang baseball team as the subject?
Christopher found out about our baseball team somehow, and he was interested that there are both Uyghur and Han students playing on the team. This was the original inspiration to make the decision.

How do you hope to be portrayed?
When Rufo started shooting, he changed his original plan about his documentary to focus more on me and my life. Since it is a documentary, I hope the film accurately represents what I am like in real life. Of course, there are some things that I don't want to be in the film. But it’s a true story, so I don't mind.


 
How much money have you guys raised so far?
We have raised 80% of the budget so far, and there is only around RMB10000 to go.

Going into this tournament, who are your biggest rivals?
I don't know who we going to play against, we’ll find out when we get to Shanghai. But for us, any team will be the biggest rival. Our entire team thinks about the tournament this way.



What do you and the rest of the team hope to personally get out of the tournament in Shanghai?
We’re hoping to win the champion and bring kudos to Xinjiang University. Here, it’s difficult to keep the baseball team running. We don't have funds to buy equipment, we don't have any baseball field to practice, we don't have official coaches so I have been coaching ever since I graduated last year. We don't even have the funding to go to tournament. But to keep playing baseball, we always have to solve all these problems by ourselves. Everyone on the team works so hard on everything. No one knows what will happen. But we’re going to do our best and try everything to make it happen.

Help Parhat and his teammates compete in the National College Baseball Tournament on July 18. To donate, please visit www.documentaryfoundation.org/donate or call 15899418905/15900463147. Paypal users can email patrickainslie@gmail.com.