Sport has the power to change the world - Inspirational stories of Nelson Mandela and others

The Christmas Truce

Soldiers from the opposing German and British forces play a game of football on Christmas day 1914 (credit: soulofagardner.wordpress.com)

There is evidence, collected through many letters written by soldiers at the time, to suggest that on the night before Christmas in the first year of the Great War, a German messenger walked across No Man’s Land to broker a temporary cease-fire agreement between the German and British forces.

The cease fire was agreed, and shortly after the bullets stopped flying, a football was kicked out from the British lines into No Man’s Land. In a bizarre and wonderful turn of events, an impromptu football match then broke out between the two opposing sides.

Men who had spent weeks and months trying desperately to kill each other shared the field in a friendly game of their favourite pastime. Soccer had given them a blissful distraction from the horrors of their predicament, and gave the two sides a common shared interest with which they could return some form of normalcy to a far from normal circumstance.

Mitchell’s moment

Sport not only has an effect on soldiers, apartheid torn countries and the impoverished children of the favelas, but can also be a powerful instrument in much safer environments, such as the confines of a school gym in a first world country. That was certainly the case for students of Coronado High School in El Paso, Texas.

Perhaps the most committed member of the Coronado High School basketball team is team manager Mitchell Marcus. Mitchell, however, has a developmental disability. He has been a part of the team for three years, but because of his disability had never been able to play the game.

However, in the last game of the regular season, Coach Peter Morales decided to put his most dedicated player into the game. What happened next is one of the most encouraging, compassionate and uplifting things you will ever see in a sporting contest, and I urge you watch the two minute video of Mitchell’s story:

Thankfully, stories like Mitchell’s aren’t in isolation.

The “Keith Special”

This November, the football team at Olivet Middle School in Michigan did something that only children can; they taught us all a lesson in the goodness of human beings during something as simple as a routine football game.

As part of an elaborate plan that was weeks in the making and of which their coaches had no knowledge whatsoever, the team decided to intentionally not score on a play. Sheridan Hedrick, the team’s running back, received a hand-off and would’ve easily scored a touchdown, but to the disappointment of the home crowd he instead took a knee on the 1-yard line.

All this was specifically designed to set up the next play – the “Keith Special.”

“Keith” refers to young Keith Orr; a member of the school’s football team and, like Mitchell Marcus, a special needs child. By the kindness of his buddies on the football team, Keith came in on the next play and was given the chance to run for a touchdown.

This is another short video that is well worth your while. Watch the event unfold:

The boys on the team did much more than help Keith score a touchdown that day. They set an example for how to treat others, they showed great friendship, and they brought a community together.

Sport has the power to change the world

Acts like these bring hope and happiness to people in great suffering, and that is the most important thing to take away here. But they also teach us the true art of compassion. They teach us to always include those less fortunate than ourselves, to reach out and help people as often as we can. That to be a good person is often more important than winning a sporting contest.

“Sport has the power to change the world “. It can change the world for a nation, as the Rugby World Cup did for Mandela’s South Africa, or for an individual suffering a personal plight. It can be a lasting legacy or a momentary joy. It can help us come together as a community in celebration, in mourning or in rebuilding. It can be a distraction in difficult times and a joy at the best of them.

The true power of sport is that it can be whatever we need it to be. It can lift a child out of a violent favela. It can bring blissful distraction from the horrors of a violent war. It can bring joy to a single disadvantaged child and bring an entire community together.

That is what sport is truly about. It is not about medals, championships or the multi-million dollar contracts. It is about the precious moments when someone’s life is made just that little bit better.

“Sport can create hope where once there was only despair”. Mr Mandela was a wise man.