Soccer is the biggest sport in the world, and athletes are among the top paid professionals in the world. Add to that the pressures of reputation and possible thousand-man riots, and you get some pretty strange results.
An article online posted a video of one Chilean soccer player who went to desperate--and amusing--lengths to get a free foul kick. He grabbed an opposing teammate's hand and made the other guy slap him in the face. The referee was caught off guard and ended up rewarding Chile the free kick, but fortunately Chile still lost. Some might admire this soccer player's creativity--it's definitely out of the box thinking--but just imagine if his talents could be honed to do something productive for humanity.
I think I have mentioned in my blog before how silly I used to think those toddler soccer leagues were, until I had my own kid who LOVES kicking a ball around and has boundless energy. I now see that there must be other parents with my view, who see sports as a genuinely good team-building experience and a great form of exercise. I still think most of them are fanatics, but I'm getting used to the idea of allowing and even encouraging my kids to play sports.
I have played on a couple sports teams in my life--hard to believe, but there it is. I was on the junior varsity basketball team my freshman year of high school. I don't even remember why I tried out in the first place. My dad likes basketball, maybe that had something to do with it. Anyway, it was a lot of work. Two hours of practice every day after school and then travel time for away games and practice during the holidays consumed a lot of my days. I never really got to play much in the actual games; I'm not the athletic type and lack the drive or killer instinct to really play competitively. But it was great exercise, I'm pretty sure my teammates appreciated my positive attitude, and it was a unique experience for this bookworm.
I've also played volleyball on occasion. I can be a bit timid when it comes to diving for a ball (hey, I don't have knee pads), but I'm a pretty darn good server. But I would never dedicate my life to the sport. Athletics should be a hobby, not a career choice, especially for Mormons who do everything in moderation. Not many professionals could get away with not playing on Sundays; I'm not about to put a hobby above my religion.
Too many LDS kids sacrifice too many Sundays to their sports teams. Those teenage years are crucial to forming lasting friendships with those who share the same values. More importantly, those years of seminary and Mutual activities are the crucial time for adolescents to gain a testimony of the church. The church has done a study, and the time when most members go inactive is the late teenage years, 18 through 21, and the majority of those are girls.
Not all sports teams are willing to have players who aren't a hundred percent dedicated; skipping out on Sunday games can demoralize a team. When my kids play sports, they will only play if their coaches allow them to miss Sundays. If that means they don't get to be the star quarterback then so be it. If it means I have to drive 20 hours to catch up with the team's travelings early on a Monday, allowing my kid to worship on Sunday, then I am perfectly willing to do it. Living one's religion should be a sacrifice; hopefully my children will understand that when the time comes for them to make those decisions on their own.
A few weeks ago my husband came home with some work gossip. Apparently some of his coworkers had been lectured, admonished, ordered by their Elders Quorum president not to watch the Super Bowl that Sunday. His coworkers were very agitated, and my husband got angry too. The church does a pretty good job about allowing the members to make their own choices--teaching us basic principles and then allowing us to exercise our agency. No prophet has come right out and forbade us members from watching sports on Sundays, that I know of.
I immediately gave that poor president the benefit of the doubt. In the church, leadership is divided up into groups, an effective way to keep charge of all the members. Technically, that Elders Quorum president does have jurisdiction over the young men attending that particular ward. I tend to think that the president had some in-depth knowledge about his young men and their particular struggles, and maybe keeping the Sabbath day holy is one thing with which they struggle.
Sports can really rile people up and distract from what is supposed to be a day of worship, if they don't skip church altogether while "preparing" for the big game. So this Elders Quorum president's admonition was really only guided toward his members to address a particular issue. Even if he worded things incorrectly, his intentions were still good. Sports are corrosive by their very nature--you know, contention being of the devil and all.
Then some members will argue that they are so strong in the gospel that watching sports on Sunday won't affect their testimony. It might not have any immediate ramifications, but even the strongest testimonies can be chipped away over time. Admittedly, this is probably easy for me to say because I have no great love of sports. What's physical all eventually fades away; academic, intellectual achievements are more long-lasting. Then again, some spectators do feel inspired watching the great athletes break records and achieve new heights.
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