Give and Go

Practicing soccer skills on the street.

We had a great game of soccer this week. It was rich with life lessons as well. The pool water was gunky and had not been changed for several weeks, so we decided to play a family game instead on the old, run-down clay tennis court. Our kids are excited about soccer these days, so we got some chairs for goals and divided up the teams to be 2-on-3. First, we gave them a short lesson on the benefits of give-and-go passing. Even though they are still pretty young with naturally limited focus in a game, I was surprised at how well they kept this idea and always tried to use it in our game. It was another reminder to me of how helpful sports can be to teach children lessons about the importance of working together as a team/family/community in order to help everyone thrive.

Give-and-go passing is giving the ball to a teammate when they are in an open position, and then preparing to receive it back again when you’re further along in a good position to go forward to the goal. This is a key strategy to get through all the opposition on the field that one person alone can’t get through. But it’s also a great model for how to work as a family or social group. In our family we try to practice giving each other opportunities or preference when it seems like a good situation for one member to do something special. And then we expect the same reciprocity when another member of the family has worked to make a good situation for their turn to get the priority. This takes us forward and helps us all thrive. But I know in all our lives it’s easy to get tunnel vision to look at where we are personally going next and how we can individually get through the obstacles to get there. It’s a good reminder to open up our vision and look at where we can pass something on each day that will help someone else around us go forward and cultivate a culture of “give-and-go” teamwork. I hope our children will remember to have this vision on the soccer field and throughout their lives!

-- El Padre