During the Civil War of Nigeria in 1970 a ceasefire was created when world renowned soccer star, Pele came to play in the Nigerian city of Lagos. Cote d'Ivoire has been at war since 2002, but when their team qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 2006, peace talks were initiated and a truce was put in place in order for the entire country to support their team, as a whole, when they played in Germany.
Thanks to programs such as the Afghan Youth Sports Exchange, girls who were formerly oppressed by the governing Taliban regime are now participating in athletics. They are able to use sports as a vehicle to travel, see the world, express themselves and boost their confidence in ways that were previously impossible.
Further empowering women, in 1995, Nike released statistics as part of one of their advertisements that stated girls are 60% less likely to develop breast cancer, will suffer depression less, be more likely to leave a man that beats them, and less likely to become pregnant before they want to, if they do one thing. Let them play sports. It is a strong statement that reflects the power sports have to make a positive impact in the world.
I once saw an ad for a website that read, 'If hoops is your religion, then this is your church.' It initially struck me as somewhat blasphemous. I went home and looked up the meaning of the word religion, and this is one definition that I found:
Re*li*gion [ri-lij-uhn] –noun
6. something one believes in and follows devotedly
It made me look at the ad differently. There are people who follow their favorite sports teams with utter devotion, almost religiously, you could say. But more importantly, I know there are people who believe. I am one of them. There is nothing wrong with having faith in something that has the ability to bring people together, reduce the likelihood of terminal illnesses, and help stop wars. In the battle that is a game or a match, someone has to win, someone has to lose, but it's never as serious as death. When you get down to it, sports are just pure unadulterated fun, and in this world we could use a lot more of that. It's worth believing in.
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Reprinted with the permission of the Journal of Urban Youth Culture.
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