A few days back I had the chance to witness a very unique game of football. Not one of those games cheered by people all over the world or played by stalwarts of the game. It was an all-fun game played by some youngsters aged between five and ten and what a game it was!
Sitting at my Gothenburg (Sweden) apartment, I happened to peep out of my living room window at the sprawling green lawns and well manicured trees and plants outside. This is a favourite hobby of mine ever since I came over here for my summer holidays. I never seem to have enough of the beauty and greenery of the Swedish gardens outside.
As I was watching, out came a young lady in her twenties with a football in her hand followed by six boys and a girl, all in the age group of five to ten. It was holiday time for all the school-going kids. All the kids were laughing and shouting something in Swedish. I assumed she must be a nanny or an elder sister of one of the kids entrusted by tired parents of these children to relieve them of their parenting task for a few hours. She made the children stand in a semi circle and kicked the ball up. Then began all the ruckus. Each of the boys would vie with each other to kick the ball while at the same time roll on the grass turf, which glided beautifully down like a big slide. For them, this game of football was all about laughing and rolling and being happy. Nothing short of that. Nothing else mattered too!
As the boys were having so much fun, the lone girl in that group just preferred to walk around. I could see the boys asking her to join them but she just shrugged off those requests and preferred to walk around. She was wearing a very shiny frock and also on her feet, I saw a pair of glass slippers! Of course she couldn’t play foot ball with such fancy slippers. She might not have had the heart to kick off those slippers and play with her bare feet.
Of course there were some fist games too! While two of the boys were fighting there was a third one who jumped into the fray and tried to appease them. After all we are all sportspersons to the core. I did not understand Swedish, what a pity! Youngest of the lot was a tiny youngster with glasses. He could surely not be more than six. It was such fun to watch his attempts to kick the ball while others waited patiently for him to do so. Isn’t it what is called empathy? Well, I told myself this game of football is a great teacher.
As it always happens, one of the boys got hurt on the side of his face. Immediately all of them gathered around him and started fussing over him. It was so heartening to see the youngest one of them all rushing up to him, throwing his arms around him and hugging him! Don’t we all need such kindness around us at all point of time? What really amused me was that the young lady in her twenties equally seemed to enjoy this game of football as the young boys around her. Her energy was mesmerizing. There she was dribbling the ball and giving a tough fight. Next moment she would drop to the grass with a thud to remain there and enjoy the Nordic sun which would be available to her only for one more month. I could see that every single person was enjoying the game to the fullest and were playing it for the sheer happiness it was bringing to them. After more than an hour of playing on the green grassland with golden sun shining over them, they all started taking it easy and stretching and lying on the grass. The girl with the glass slippers, who was walking around, finally bid them all good bye and walked away! May be football was not her cup of tea. Maybe she would also play football on some other day when she would be wearing sports shoes and not glass slippers?.
On that day, peeping out of my window I learned that life is all about the present moment. Those Swedish youngsters taught me how to live in the present moment and also be happy. You don’t need too many things for such happiness. All you need is a football and some friends! Now, I know what Ronaldinho must have meant when he said, “I learned about life with a ball at my feet.”