Love of the Game

Today's blog was written by Natalie Schmid, a Play Like a Champion summer intern.  Natalie is a rising high school junior and a soccer player on her local team.

Every team that enters the World Cup Tournament wants to win, but at what cost? Is it in the spirit of the game to come to an agreement with an opponent, so that you both get to the next round? That is exactly the question that faces both Germany and the United States right now. Tied in Group G right now with 4 points each, they both just need one more point from a draw to advance to the next round. So this brings up the question, will both teams just play for the tie and save their legs for later in the tournament? No evidence of any sort of deal between the Germans and Americans has been found, and they both deny that they will play for a draw in this next game.  Based on news coverage, both countries' fans are rooting for a win.  This being said, I believe that both teams will play “smart” in order to save their legs a little bit for later in the tournament. One way of doing this is to play a little bit of a slower game and just to play smart about the runs they makes and situations in the game they get themselves into. The situations that they are going to want to avoid will be getting any sort of cards, as well as plays that have high risk of injury. As much as players will attempt to avoid these situations, all involved in the game know that injuries and fouls are inevitable in any game. So is it worth it to agree on a draw to try and avoid these situations and advance to the next round?

Maybe it is, maybe it is not. Either way the competition aspect of the World Cup and love of the game will most likely bring fans a good hard fought game, with the two teams playing to win, instead of just agreeing to tie. The World Cup seems to do many things, but one of them is to bring to life the spirit of soccer in players', coaches' and fans' hearts alike. At the end of the day world cup games are ultimately unpredictable, and we can only watch as the Germans and Americans fight on the field for 90 minutes for the win, because agreeing to draw just wouldn’t be in the World Cup spirit.

As a High School varsity soccer player I know that the idea of an easy game sounds really good, so that you don’t have to play very hard. If faced with this decision in a High School Match it would be tempting to just play for a draw, but at the end of the day, I've noticed that everyone who plays past grade school has some competitiveness inside of them. With this competitiveness comes the will and want to win, and if given the option my team as well as most others I know, would play for a win not a tie. No one just plays soccer, or any sport for that matter, without some love of the game. That love of the game is what would fuel my team to play for the win, just as I believe Germany and America will play for the win. And I believe that we will win!

World Cup 2014

Today's blog was written by Tony Kim.  Tony is an intern with Play Like a Champion Today, a recent psychology graduate of Purdue University North Central, and an avid socccer fan. 

Eleven and a half billion dollars; let that sink in for just a moment.

Eleven and a half billion dollars is the reported amount spent on this Summer’s World Cup tournament in Brazil. And as the South American nation prepares to host those from nearly every corner of the footballing world, it faces its toughest task in handling the protesting citizens in outrage over the government spending for the tournament, rises in fares for public transportation, political corruption, and police brutality against the protesting citizens.  Though, the most visible issue today is perhaps the lack of consideration to use that money or an equivalent amount to improve the nations infrastructure.

The Brazilian protests are far from new occurrences. They truly began in 2013 with many of the issues previously discussed at the forefront while Brazil hosted the Confederations Cup—the prelude for the World Cup.  But with an event as extravagant and as famed as the World Cup, one would think that it would bring in an enormous amount of revenue for the host country which could hardly be protested. That notion, while sensible, is not always the case. Take, for instance, the data given by the study, “Tourism and the 2010 World Cup:Lessons for Developing Countries.” Although the money spent on the World Cup in 2010 attracted a number of tourists, the cost for each tourist amounted to a whopping $13,000. Not only that, but the economic impact that events such as the World Cup have on host nations are impermanent and rarely ever consistently positive.

So, with eleven and a half billion dollars being spent on the World Cup, the question of what it will yield still remains.  This enormous amount of money may also be part of restructuring for the 2016 Summer OlympicGames to be held in Rio, but in the end after all is said and done—will Brazil truly benefit? Will the citizens in protest today find any kind of resolution to the issues they stand and voice against? As seen by previous events as large as the World Cup or Olympic Games, the economic yield will most likely not be what is expected for the host country—thereby tagging the money spent on events such as these as borderline frivolous.

 

Eleven and a half billion dollars; hopefully not money down the drain.

The Game of Life

Baylor basketball player Isaiah Austin was just given news that would seem to make all the hours of work that he put into basketball his whole life for nothing, or was it? Earlier this year, Isaiah, in his second year of college basketball, declared for the draft with the hopes of hearing his name called in the draft and eventually playing in the NBA. This dream was shattered when Isaiah found out during a standard physical that he has Marfan syndrome. This genetic disorder is very serious because it causes strain on the cardiovascular system along with other things. Most importantly for Isaiah, it meant he would not be playing competitive basketball anymore. 

photo courtesy of krnb.com

Isaiah seems to have his body working against his will to play basketball. When he was younger he had a complication with an eye injury causing blindness in his right eye. He overcame that obstacle by effort and hard work, but unfortunately this new diagnosis of Marfan syndrome spells the end of his playing days. It would seem again that all of his dedication and work have been for nothing, but Isaiah’s attitude and recent statements  prove the opposite. He says in one of his tweets, “But it’s not the end; only the beginning.” This attitude will help him accept the life he has been given and continue to achieve. While Austin is undoubtedly upset about not being able to pursue his dreams in the NBA, something that he has worked most of his life for--laying in countless tournaments, and practicing for hours and hours at a time-- this commitment was not for nothing. Austin has already committed to helping others, starting with working with the Marfan Foundation to increase awareness of the disease.

Some people chose sports as a career, but the majority of people who do sports do them or put their children in them for three other reasons: for the physical activity, for the skill development, and three to teach valuable life lessons. One of these valuable life lessons is how to pick yourself back up after you fall. This could be if  if you trip on your own or if you fall because of forces beyond your control; but however you get to the ground there is one thing in sports you always have to do, and that is to get back up and brush yourself off.  I believe that in any sport and any age this lesson is learned by athletes, including Austin.  While this past week has clearly been quite difficult for him, he has handled himself with such grace that the NBA drafted him anyway, thus fulfilling a lifelong dream of hearing his name called in the draft. Austin's experience of sports may not be giving him his dream career anymore but, it is giving him the tools to pick himself up after this, brush himself off, and continue on in the game of life.