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BOSTON -- On the streets, alleyways and parking lots of Bostons Chinatown, immigrants developed a unique style of volleyball now played in Chinatowns across the country. Now, an asphalt court where the game still thrives stands in the way of development.The prime slice of real estate near the historic Chinatown is steps from busy South Station and home to a 1930s-era steam plant with towering smokestacks and a modern state government office.But its also the site of Reggie Wong Memorial Park, a modest asphalt basketball and volleyball court where Chinese immigrants and their descendants play the game known as nine-man. An annual tournament between Chinatown teams across the country started blocks away from the hardcourt in the 1940s and continues to this day.Nine-man holds a special place for those of Chinese descent, said Tunney Lee, an urban studies and planning professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, whose father was a player and organizer.The game traces its roots to a style of volleyball developed in Taishan, a southern Chinese city where many of the earliest Chinese immigrants hailed from, and became a critical social outlet for immigrants largely isolated from broader American society.Part of the image of the Chinese was that of weaklings who were passive and servile, Lee said. Volleyball was a skill sport with strategy, teamwork and aggressiveness.At its most basic, nine-man involves more players -- standard volleyball has six players per side -- as well as a larger court and modified rules that have allowed for a different style of gameplay to evolve.Todays organizers say the first intercity game happened in Boston in 1935, between locals and a team from Providence, Rhode Island.The competitions steadily grew over the years, with Chinese communities in New York, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Los Angeles fielding teams to play in Boston.The North American Chinese Invitational Volleyball Tournament carries on the intercity rivalry today, hosting an annual competition in a different Chinatown each Labor Day weekend.Republican Gov. Charlie Bakers administration began seeking proposals last month to buy and develop the 5-acre site thats home to Reggie Wong Park as a centerpiece of his pledge to generate revenue and spur development by unloading underused government land.Chinatown activists and nine-man enthusiasts have voiced their concerns at community meetings this past year, prompting the administration to require developers to propose ways to carve out a public park somewhere on the site at least as big as the current court.Patrick Marvin, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, which is overseeing the land sale, notes the state is requiring prospective developers to guarantee the park remains public. It is also calling for other open space areas on the development site.But some in Chinatown want the state to require a larger park with more amenities. They also want guarantees that a temporary space will be carved out during construction so organized games can continue uninterrupted. And they worry not enough housing built on the property will be affordable to lower-wage Chinatown residents.The park is the latest battleground in the decades-long debate over gentrification in one of the nations oldest and largest Chinatowns. The neighborhood, with narrow streets lined with independent storefronts and eateries, has withstood waves of redevelopment dating to the 1950s, when an interstate highway was cut through it.Russell Eng, who coaches teen volleyball at the park, named after his uncle, says it keeps the Chinese community connected even as more increasingly live in suburbs, some of which have sprouted their own satellite Chinatowns.Todays Chinatown is geographically wider than what it was when I growing up there, he said. Reggie Wong Memorial Park serves as the center of the universe for them.Ursula Liang, who made the 2014 documentary 9-MAN: a Streetball Battle in the Heart of Chinatown, says Bostons predicament isnt unique.In her current hometown of New York, the Boston-area native says asphalt parks where nine-man is played are being converted into fields for soccer and other sports to draw new residents.Said Liang: What concerns me is that while most of these proposals tout things like economic growth and community improvement, ultimately the ideas that win out benefit politicians and businesspeople more than anyone else.---Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/philip-marceloSteve Young Super Bowl Jersey . The judges scored it 48-47, 48-47, 49-46 for Jones (19-1). It was the champions closest call. 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Kyle Juszczyk Super Bowl Jersey . -- Playing time has been limited for Maxim Tissot this season, so the Montreal Impact defender made the most of his first scoring opportunity on Saturday.Melbourne Victory skipper Carl Valeri has been ruled out of the clubs A-League match with Wellington Phoenix on Monday night.Soreness will stop Valeri, 32, from lining up on the now-traditional Melbourne Cup eve match at Etihad Stadium.New signing Max Beister, who was unveiled earlier on Thursday, has also missed out on the extended 18-man squad as he acclimatises to his new surroundings.But James Troisi could make a retturn to action just three weeks after breaking his collarbone.ddddddddddddThe Socceroos attacker has trained through the week and has been added to the squad that lost 2-0 to Melbourne City on Tuesday night in the FFA Cup.Joining Troisi in the squad are young pair Jai Ingham and Stefan Nigro. ' ' '