Racism Suspended (part 2)
Can sports really end racism?
If people were born racists then there would be no hope for humanity. Racism is not something that one is born with, it is something they are taught. Do you know what kills racism, or at least, suspends it for a time? Sports! Playing sports is much more than just doing so for health benefits and looking good. Playing sports teaches you teamwork.
(No, not the teamwork that we have at our jobs, where we play along, when deep down, we hate most of our co-workers. No. I’m talking about the type of teamwork where you and your teammates see eye to eye and have earned each other’s respect.)
One thing I wondered, about my old coaches, was why they always partnered us up with people, we thought, were just plain weird. They know this move could potentially cause a problem, so why did they increase the chance of an altercation to occur?
It was simple! They did so because they wanted the players to see the similarities since they could clearly already point out their differences. By doing so, this would allow the players to see another perspective, on life, through the lenses of their teammates.
As it turned out, they were not too different from me as I’d imagined. They too were: students in debt, keep to theirselves, have a bit of family drama, and most importantly, sports is their escape from reality.
Coming to long practices, sharing a locker room with 20 other players, being challenged by coaches and the team, it can really make you hate the game, but deep down, you know you still love it.
Why do you love it?
It’s because you escaped reality for just a moment. Nothing else mattered out there other than handling your business on that court. Life was on a momentary pause for the duration of the session. That meaningless argument that you had with your girlfriend is not important, that fight you had with your parents yesterday is not relevant and that math test you failed two days ago is also a thing of the past. Nothing else matters!
You also love it because you don’t have to hold back on anyone. Your skills on the court did the talking for you. Respect was earned through your abilities: your ball-handling, shooting accuracy, your passing and your movement. Those were the only things that mattered, not just to the coaches, but to the rest of the team as well.
When try-outs are finished and you make the final cut, earning a position on the team is an indescribable feeling. When life was not going your way for such a long time, that accomplishment means everything! It is a sense of belonging.
You did not wish to jeopardize that feeling for anything. You show up every morning for practice to learn new plays, try out different tactics, all while enhancing your game to a whole other level.
Once you make the team, you meet everyone else that made it too. Some of them you get along with, others you can’t stand. Their arrogance and pride not only gets between the two of you building a friendship, it also gets in the way of the team since you lack chemistry.
This is the moment that the coaches love!
This is where they star playing their little games.
The coach pairs you up with the player you have a problem with. First, they make you go against each other. This does one thing: to put your money where your mouth is. You might talk a big game, but talk is cheap when skills are put to the test.
The players go toe-to-toe with each other, giving it their all because now their playing for their honour. This match means a lot to both of them, the winner of this match earns not only bragging rights, but also the other’s respect. You talked, you lost, now you sit!
Weeks go by, yet the player with the wounded pride does not give up so easily. Secretly, they want revenge. And so, the first few games don’t go as planned because ‘some’ people are having an off-night.
Then come the coaches again, with their ‘new’ tactics.
Coaches live for this stuff.
You might think that this is all ‘new’ to the coach but as experience would prove, coaches see this with every time they coach a new team. Do you know how hard it is to get 20 people to not only share in the same goal, but to also put their differences aside? Very difficult. The coach only gets that power through one thing everyone of them have in common. Yep, you guessed it. SPORTS!
They pair you with each other until you get your heads out of you know where and get back to doing what everyone wants, which is winning. You also just found yourself a new roommate for away games. The coach sits back and lets the magic happen.
You fight with each other in the locker room, you fight with each other at practice, you fight with each other on the way to games and you continue to fight with each other in the motel room you now share.
Through all that fighting, each of you get everything off of your chests. Whatever bothered you about the other person is now said, words are at war with each other, nothing is being held back. And then it happens. One of you, usually the one that sees reason first, begins to lower their guard. Words are now exchanged through a tone of exhaustion. Each of you have said what you had to say and are now trying to find common ground.
That’s the magic.
They begin to sacrifice their differences and focus on their similarities. They come to an agreement to focus on the team and winning. They talk about why sports is their escape from life, and why it matters so much to them. They lower their weapons and share life stories with each other, explaining to one another where they come from and a little about their personal battles with the world.
They see each other’s war with life and understand that everyone has their own battles. By ending the war between each other, they could redirect that energy and hatred onto the enemy, the one they have to face on the court the next day. And so, they step out of their motel room with the rest of the team and head to the gym to prepare themselves.
-WordUnspoken
https://wordunspoken.medium.com
wordsunspoken.writer@gmail.com
