Walk a mile or 10 in Donny Mark's trainers as he manages the Dulwich College Community Sports Programs and facilities in Pudong.

Home / Office-Pudong

7:03 am Wake up, beating the alarm by five minutes. Feed the cats and fish. I'm starting to think they should pay rent.
7:08 Bang out a quick set of push-ups and sit-ups while watching Champions League highlights from the night before. That Messi guy is good.
7:15 Feed myself: an apple, Cheerios and Longjing tea.
7:25 Hop on the computer, return overnight emails, 52 of them. Why do I have three email accounts? Who sends an email re: youth soccer at 12:03 am?
7:55 Work on new programs we hope to get into DCP by April-golf, racquet games, strength training and American football. Who can I find to coach Girls Comp Squad in straight Bring It On style?
8:37 My business partner Menci comes over to discuss plans for the Shanghai Cup Youth Football Tournament to be held this May at Dulwich College. Problem of the day: How can we attract more local kids to play youth sports? I suggest free candy.

Megafit

10:15 Pack up the gym bag, unlock my Shanghai Forever street cruiser and head to the gym. Takes seven minutes from the house at max speed.
10:28 Hit the weight room for a super power session. Year of the Rat = Year of Fitness. Lift for 45 minutes while lip syncing to EPMD's "Look at Us Now" and BT's "Dreaming."

Element Fresh

11:34 Say hello to the managers and a few people I know. About half the people in here have kids in our clubs. Grub down on the Laffa Bread Salad.
11:47 Order up another bing hong cha and pull out the MacBook. Have received 16 more emails about registration in the last hour and a half. Reply and get started on the spring youth football league schedules.
12:23 pm Wrap up work, mai dan and head out shooting the guns and throwing high-fives at the staff on the way out. I'm sure they think all Minnesotans are odd or maybe they wonder, Ta yi jing he zui le ma?

Dulwich Community Football Grounds

12:29 The grounds / turf manager Adam, our American football coach Jamel and office manager Caitlin are all already inside the new clubhouse. The grounds assistant Xiao Zhong is doing something on the fields, we place bets as to what it might be.

Starbucks

1:53 Head to the 'Bucks across the field, they really are taking over the world. Meet up with Jonathon and Wan who run sponsorships and travel for the club. Wan is working on trips to Malaysia and Beijing for our football teams.

Dulwich

3:30 Head back to the football grounds, meet with Coach Kely who has the daily training plans. I run the U10 age group in the soccer academy along with Jonathon and Coach Zhai who was a former pro goalkeeper.
4:03 Training starts for the whole football academy, some 150 kids in the U8-U16 age levels. The U10s do 25 minutes of technical work, 30 minutes of applied skills training then finish up with a small-sided game. I scan the grounds during the training. I love this job!
5:43 Get the gear picked up and rap with the other coaches in the locker room about the session. Coach Markus with the U8s always has a funny story as he works with the little dudes in the club.
6:03 Back on my ride, I bounce over to Dulwich School to check out our new Warriors Basketball program. Coach Joel and Jamel run this program. Joel played D1 at LaSalle, then played pro ball in Europe. We are lucky to have such a great group of kids and coaches in these programs. I dunk over Joel and then head out again, gotta get some eats.

Tai Er Zhuang Lu

7:43 Meet up with Adam and wait for Jamel to arrive at "Mom and Pops Restaurant." I'll find out what the real name is someday, but they serve up killer Chinese soul food. On the menu for tonight is jiao yan pai tiao, yu xiang qie zi, gan bian dao dou, dan chao fan, suan la tang and gong bao ji ding. I'm not even sure we ordered that, but being laowai, the staff must have assumed we wanted it.

Home

8:55 Pop in "House" season four, I think I might have polio. An hour of R&R and then it's off to sleep.