An Approach to Organized Sport

What I have experienced these last few weeks has been unlike anything else. It had never crossed my mind to possibly run my own soccer development program until now. 

So what have I learned that changed my mind? The answer lies within my experience with Lionsraw and through what we learned in class. Organized sport allows the kids to work with others and have fun while gaining physical activity and staying away from other negative influences at least while they are at the camp. In class we learned to approach soccer development programs by always being skeptical to their claims or goals if they are not quantifiable, specific or measurable.  We also looked research on younger children from ages 6-12 that showed how soccer development programs were useful at bringing about teamwork skills, showed few positive effects on leadership and had no effect on self-confidence. Although, the advantages of sport-development programs have not been fully determined yet (Okada, Young).  In ``Sport and social development: Promise and caution from an incipient Cambodian Football league´´ Chiaki Okada and Kevin Young examine the role of SHFL (a sport for development program/Cambodian football league) on the lives of its participants. Their findings showed that the most undeniable output of the program was how it forged multiple relationships. The program additionally portrayed and I quote ``how otherwise relatively unempowered individuals can operate spontaneously, voluntarily and relatively autonomously at the grassroots level through sport to improve their social circumstances´´(Okada, Young).

Seeing it first hand in a Pinhais favela really sealed the deal. We were capable of talking to the volunteers who mostly came from Europe but some from all over the world. We got to understand the discipline these kids were being taught and the relationships they were making amongst themselves but also with the volunteers especially the ex-professional Brazilian coach who was the boss. You could see that the kids respected him and really respected his authority as the father figure. 

Like the findings of the Okada, Young study, Lionsraw did shed light on the childrens´ ability to operate spontaneously, voluntarily and relatively autonomously. Nevertheless, where I thought they could have improved on was getting to know the children coming in. One of the Lionsraw volunteers told me that they simply didn’t know what the kids schooling schedules where like. Therefore often times they didn’t know if kids where skipping school to come play soccer or actually playing during their break. So my suggestion to this would be to formalize the system a little more. This way they could understand their schedules at school and work around them. This could be easily done by getting their parents to come when they sign up to write down their children´s school schedules.

As a final thought, I had an idea of running a sport for development program but then I ran across Favela do Moinho and other groups like them on Facebook. Many individuals in favelas and urban occupations across Brazil were involved in organizations like this one which consisted of friends coming together, making teams and making alternative World Cups. The goal of these groups where to get people of all ages active and involved in organized sport for the fun of it! That’s when I got the idea of running fundraisers for organizations like these by entering their facilities and asking them what they need to run their alternative World Cups more efficiently. This way we can give them the necessary resources that they want to properly structure these tournaments and help give their alternative World Cups more structure. This is a perfect example of how people all over the world want to get involved in organized sport even when they have very little resources. I think that supporting organized sport is a wonderful thing and that giving locals the proper materials for them to run their own organized sport activities is a great way to support sport globally. This method avoids the one of the main criticisms of sport for development programs which is foreigners coming in and imposing their own practices amongst the locals.

Sources

http://irs.sagepub.com.libproxy.mta.ca/content/47/1/5.full.pdf+html

https://www.facebook.com/moinhoresiste/info

The World Is Watching Brazil

Now that the World Cup has started I would like to shed some light on expectations I had about the World Cup and compare those with how the tournament has gone on so far. Let us begin with the biggest expectation that is crushed when many foreigners arrive to Brazil for the first time, the general attitude locals have towards the tournament and FIFA. These are things we often forget when watching the tournament from the outside. The media often overlooks these stories especially once the tournament itself has started, because more people are interested in watching the games and hearing about match-ups, injuries, formations and opinions about games than about the serious controversies they pose. The main controversy is that money is being taken from taxes and spent on stadiums and highways when it should be spent on education and welfare. Additionally, a lot of the construction industry is facing serious problems with bribes taking place in many stages of the building process. Moreover FIFA has required the relocation of some communities in the host cities for the construction of more efficient transportation to and from venues and for the general appeal of specific areas. Some of the relocated communities happen to be within the 2km radius of the stadiums which is temporarily FIFA territory. Seeing this first hand today was a real shock because I must have seen dozens of military police guarding the road and requiring those wishing to enter to show their tickets. This line that de-marks the FIFA territory felt never ending with officials as far as the eye could see. Just how much were they spending on protecting their grounds?

A lot of the negative attitudes that I had suspected would get overshadowed by the Cup have persisted. Today there was a “Não Vai Ter Copa” protest in Curitiba which got slightly out of hand with 300 protesters marching towards the Baixada stadium. They were fended off by multiple military police and army officials with 14 protesters being arrested (Kadanus, GDP). These protests are ongoing and have been for a long time, although they have diminished in numbers with many being scared of the possible consequences due to officials being ever present with the commencement of the World Cup. Interestingly enough, the fact that there have been fewer protesters doesn't mean that many Brazilians have changed their minds. I got to see this while in Foz do Iguaçu when watching the Brazilian opener against Croatia. The family we were watching the game with was desperately cheering on Croatia and all other teams that will be facing Brazil in the upcoming month in the hopes that people don't forget the impact the tournament has left on their country.

Anti-FIFA protests might have slightly declined but the eyes of the world are on Brazil and many unions and workers are taking advantage of this fact to show the inequalities that they are facing even with Dilma’s tough stance towards protests. What better time to protest than with the constant media given by the World Cup allowing for settlements to occur in order to maintain stability in the eyes of the public? But this is not the first time that the World Cup has been in the controversy spotlight: in 1996 an interesting social justice campaign that was launched, called, the Foul ball campaign. It involved protests for Pakistani 12 year olds stitching soccer balls at 60 cents a ball with the average production of 1-2 balls per person, per day (Kuhn, p.109). In 2008, FIFA recognized this problem in Pakistan - where 75% of the worlds soccer balls are produced - and decided to bring children out to hold hands with the stars before the beginning of the games. But people being taken advantage of for the production of soccer balls is still a present issue with inmates in Brazil stitching many of the Brazuca’s being used in official World Cup games and for sale to the general public. Sadly holding hands didn’t change things and inmates like the ones in Belo Horizonte are still being exploited by corporations who pay them ¾ of minimum wage to make soccer balls from the latex to the final coating (Longman, NYT). 

As previously mentioned, I went to a World Cup game today and it was nice to finally be capable to rationalize the tournament I was so used to watching on a screen. It was no longer a surreal fantasy, it had become an amazing event of the past. Being so close to the players and the field made the tournament a more personable experience, making me realize that these players are no less human than you and I. This one in a life time experience that so many Brazilians risk everything to enjoy allows me to think more critically on the controversies at hand. Why does Brazil have to risk so much for the world to enjoy the beautiful game? Is not beautiful enough without the makeup? Needless to say, I will never watch a World Cup game in the same light.

Bibliography

http://www.gazetadopovo.com.br/

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/15/sports/worldcup/brazilian-prisoners-manufacture-soccer-balls.html?_r=0

Book: Soccer Vs. The State (tackling football and radical politics) By: Gabriel Kuhn

Sidenote

A cool interactive webpage on how the soccer balls are made taking them apart from the inside over the last hundred years:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/06/13/sports/worldcup/world-cup-balls.html

Why Brazil Will Win the 2014 World Cup

Why Brazil Will Win the 2014 World Cup

      Unlike other football tournaments the World Cup relies solely on the national development of its own players. After my studies and time in Brazil I have enhanced my understanding of football and its representation within Brazilian culture. Football in Brazil is not a simply a sport, but an industry. Here, the focus of many clubs is based on creating the next Pele’s, Kaka’s and Ronaldo’s and exporting their talent in exchange for money. It all starts with the programs in place in Brazil which start at the age of 11. According to research done by Koslowsky & Botelho which compared brazilian and portuguese learning practices. The brazilian training facilities showed strengths in taking the technical aspects of training and applying them to the game (Koslowsky & Botelho). Unlike most other countries, Brazil has privately owned training facilities such as Trieste Stadium and NB Futsal which get rented out by clubs such as the two I have been in contact with in Curitiba, notably Atletico Paranese and Coritiba. These top of the line facilities help soccer clubs by training their future stars and by determining those who will become professionals and those who won’t. At the age of 14 the best players are given contracts with the clubs intentions of making profits on them. For those who don’t make it big in football (which in Brazil is 98% of children who play, according to a guest speaker from Atletico) there are very limited options. Due to the lack of options many highly skilled players are left with very little education due to their dedication to football. This leaves them often resorting to blue collar jobs or football related professions such as coaching due their expertise in the field. Brazil pools its resources to benefit the best but does very little for those who want to enjoy the game. Since the last president Luis Silva (aka Lula) even university sports including football have been canceled.

      One might ask themselves why is it that these children are so committed to playing for these massive football clubs. The answer lies within the economic situation of Brazil. Here in Brazil as of 2005, 42% of children are living in poverty (Bodack). Many see sports like football as their only way out of their current lifestyle. Especially considering the fact that they cannot afford post secondary schooling and don't have access to the same kind of learning experience as the other more affluent kids. As our professor Nick Holt mentioned it greatly reminds me of the situation many children in the USA are faced with when trying to get out of the ghetto and make a living through professional basketball. This amazing opportunity of making it out of the favela is also supported greatly by the media portraying stars such as Neymar and Pele who came from nothing and became rich and famous by playing a game many children love to play. Moreover, the sport can be played in almost any environment making it readily available to almost all children in Brazil. 

      With the motive to be the best, the feasibility to play anywhere, the proper coaching offered by its many masters and the ever present facilities offered to the top prospects, no wonder people are saying Brazil has the best chances at winning the 2014 World Cup.

Sources

http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=94e0d781-8de9-4a01-a24f-184896af825b%40sessionmgr4004&vid=7&hid=4208

http://www.tulane.edu/~rouxbee/kids99/brazil.html