Soccer Unites

Posted by Maria Costasnovo in Campus

“A child raised practicing sports is raised with values that nothing else can give them: companionship, solidarity and, most importantly, being able to be part of a team,” says Pablo Byrne, a senior from Mexico, and one of the students who meets every Tuesday at the Driscoll Fitness Center to play soccer. Last semester, a group of SFUAD students joined in the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Fe’s soccer league. Now, students—along with players from other schools and the Santa Fe community—transform the court at DFC to a multicultural meeting place each week.

“One of the best things about soccer is the union it makes between people. We are from different countries. We are here, together, doing the same thing, at the same time and we all enjoy doing it, which is incredible,” says Victor Rodrigues from Brazil.

And soccer, some players say, is the perfect sport to bring people together.

“Sometimes, people in my country are really separated because of political reasons,” says Patrick Roessner of Mexico. “But when the World Cup comes, all of Mexico is united, supporting the same team and being happy or sad for the same reason: the victory or the defeat.”

But even when people enjoy playing soccer, there are contrary opinions about this phenomenon called soccer:

“When your team is playing, it seems like it is the only important thing in the world,” says César Pérez of Mexico, who enjoys the DFC game, but doesn’t have the same level of fanaticism for the game as a whole. “In my country, there are lots of problems in the politics, people being killed in the streets, and poverty. However, none of these things matter when it comes to soccer: people forget about these things and they are happy if Mexico wins a game, even while there’s a lot of people who don’t have nothing to eat.”

Male players meet every Tuesday at 8 pm in the DFC to play soccer; female players meet at the same time each Thursday. All are welcome, including non-SFUAD students.