"Having been involved in cricket all my working life it's fantastic now to have the opportunity to work in a different sport, " said Fatkin.

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Whether you want to keep fit or make friends, get a new hobby or resurrect an old one, sport is an important part of life for many people living and working in a country that is not home.

BBC: Expats see business boom in Mid East

New York is a fishbowl too, he acknowledged, but he expects it to be a different, less-intense environment than the talk-radio fueled Boston scene perhaps, he said, owing to the fact that there are two teams in every sport in New York, making each individual team's struggles less a matter of life-or-death.

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The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has developed a "True Sport" campaign to help parents, coaches and administrators return the emphasis in sports to the life lessons that don't show up in the won-loss column.

WSJ: Ref's death a consequence of lack of sportsmanship