Author: Carol Wirth
“After more than 15 years in public relations with roots in journalism, I reached a point where I needed to find what I was passionate about in my profession or find a new one. I thought I would come out of the process changing careers. Instead, I found what I truly love about the one I’ve already got: Telling people’s stories. Everyone’s got a story – it’s what makes people (and people make up businesses) who they are, it’s their personality, their difference. I enjoy finding the story, pulling it out, making it relevant and communicating it to the public. In my adapted career, I simply found another way to communicate the stories – through documentary video.”
You can contact Carol at carol@glimsity.com
I can’t say I know much about soccer…football…or futbol.
But I do understand the sound that rings around the world with one word, GOOOOOOAL!
Amid the heightened state of euphoria surrounding the U.S. women’s soccer team winning the 2015 World Cup, I read many articles, columns, and heard commentary on the subject. Most notably, player Tiffany Weimer, touched on feeling the global connection of the sport in her column for the Washington Post.
But it wasn’t until I read a children’s book that had been laying around for a while, that I finally understood (no. grasped) the energy surrounding soccer.
In Goal! by Mina Javaherbin it was hidden in the Author’s Notes on the last page that I discovered the true value.
Javaherbin wrote:
To this day, in the face of poverty, bully rulers, and unsafe alleys, people play soccer. Through war, revolution, and hardship, people play soccer. In South Africa, East Asia, North America, the West Indies, and all corners of the world, people play soccer. Soccer bonds. Soccer makes both young and old feel that they belong, that they matter, and that they can win.
In South Africa, the people affectionately call their national football team Bafana Bafana, “the boys.” Here in this alley, we join a group of friends as they embrace the spirit of soccer. They play to stay connected. They play to stay children. They play to stay human. But mostly, they play to play.
As Javaherbin so eloquently put it, soccer is a sport played throughout the world – not only in developed countries, but in developing countries. Meaning, you don’t have to have money or stature to play.
Historically, it has been a field in which people can overcome differences –political, economic, race, religion– to play. To just play.
And that is something that any child and adult can do.
Kids exploring the soccer ball in Brad Nein, Educated Coaches video.
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At Glimsity, in our regular work day we talk to a lot of people, collect useful nuggets of information, gather insight and identify trends locally. Lil is an acronym for Local inside look (Lil). At Lil G Blog, we want to share the good stuff with you. It’s everything that doesn’t fit into our short videos.