Something happens to me whenever I play a game, and this happens to all of us when we play. A sport practice, the one taking place in neighborhood fields, moves us, touches us. The reason is simple: it is inevitable to learn about myself and about my relationship with others, and be able to make something possible by starting from a "we”. Shall we go to the field? Let's go!
Like life itself, the unique way to learn how to play is by playing. Theory vanishes, prejudices and fears gradually fade away through play, and we start to move the muscle with which we tell ourselves “this is me, now.” And we feel the pleasure of being with others, of making it happen together. In this regard, there is just a simple confirmation: persons are those who support the game, those who choose to keep playing. This is a powerful tool to build the future.
Football and its varieties do not distinguish age, tone of voice, color of the skin, place, nor even sizes. Playing football leads us to build a shared space – a space for communication, cooperation, concentration, coexistence, an integral connection space. Football offers us a chance to evidence, through action, our ability to share the same game.
Who would have thought that a simple ball can generate so much excitement in boys and girls worldwide? Whether it’s made of a wrapped sock or to standard regulations, it generates the context to create together. Football is like that. It contributes to give us permission to detach from paradigms with which we limit ourselves, and to move to a jointly created space which promotes communication. The “I can’t,” “ I don’t know,” and “myself,” along with other wounds of the soul that reflect the conditions of a community, vanish with the pleasure generated by learning how to kick and pass the ball. It is the power to reach an agreement with a shared purpose.
For those who enter onto a field, it makes sense to reach an agreement and set rules to be followed. Do you realize the consequences of learning how to set rules and comply with them by our own choice? We become fellow citizens, colleagues, and mates not when we kick the ball, but when we choose one way or another. That is to say, we are going to play football and not basketball or baseball. It is because we are Homo ludens (playing men) that we turn into Homo sapiens (thinking men). What we feel when we learn to play by playing definitely leads us to learn how to belong.
When we play to play, we begin to master cooperation with others. This is the field, with the same number of players on each side, and just one ball. Clear rules are established, said aloud. With these, I know how to play. If you get the ball into the net, it is worth one point. I know how to win, among all team members. A shared purpose is gradually incorporated to what we are while we do. And it goes beyond the field – we carry it with us in what we do in the world.
Playing honestly on and off the field transforms us into both active and conscious contributors in caring communities. The person who learns to play with or without a ball, whether by intention or intuition, by means of his actions acknowledges that the genuine competence lays in our ability to learn and connect with other people and oneself. This is the game of life. It is evident that the love we devote to football reflects the love we devote to community life. Let's play, together.
By Changemakers community member David Rojas Elbirt, www.orggames.org
Photo courtesy of Eli Sinkus
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