I’ll admit, I didn’t watch sports growing up. I mean, every now and again I’d flip past a basketball or hockey game, so I knew sports were on tv, but that was about the extent of it. I think it would be fair to say that my entire yearly viewing of sports consisted of the Superbowl (4 hours max), a few minutes of the USC vs. UCLA football game (since I lived in L.A. and wanted to see what all the fuss was about), and the occasions when the tv remote would stop working while I was flipping past a televised sporting event and I had to decide whether I really wanted to get off the couch to go and change the channel manually. I decided it wasn’t worth the walk more often than I’d like to admit.
Needless to say, I married my polar opposite.
Because if my husband isn’t watching sports, he’s watching people talk about sports. And if he’s not watching people play sports or talk about sports, he’s listening to them talk sports in the car. And then he has to have discussions about the sports and people who were talking about sports…because, well, everyone has an opinion. We’ve toured ball parks on vacations, rearranged plans because of sporting events, and somewhere I have a picture of my husband and a good friend of ours praying in front of the television while a football game was on. Sports are very much a religious event for him.
So naturally, I wasn’t all that surprised when he started watching the Women’s World Cup in June. He played soccer in high school and made sure that Greenleigh got involved in soccer as soon as she was old enough. And he’s downright tickled that Hazeline just reached the age to play soccer for the fall season. Soccer on television in my house made sense, but it was his insistence that our girls watch it that I found a bit odd. Because let’s face it, 90 minutes is a very long time for their little attention spans. And unless there’s a cartoon character or talking dog involved, they generally aren’t interested.
But now, as we approach the final game between the US and Japan on Sunday, I realize how important it is for kids – and more specifically our daughters – to be watching this World Cup. Because while I’m still a bit sketchy on the rules and 90 minutes (plus the variable amount of extra time) is definitely a stretch for their attention spans, there are valuable lessons in the Women’s World Cup for our girls. While I’m sure there are tons of reasons to watch, these are the reasons I want my girls watching the World Cup:
Show them strength…and a little bit of girl power. My girls regularly watch sports on television, but they don’t watch women’s sports. I hate even typing that, but it’s true. If a sporting event is on the television at our house, you can put money on it that men are on the field. But with the Women’s World Cup, it’s different. They get to see women who are amazing athletes, showing their passion for the game with every stride on the field. Strong, fierce (seriously, those goalies can be scary!) women athletes who play bruised and occasionally – as demonstrated in the USA v. Germany game the other night – bloodied. Women all showing the dedication and effort to be the absolute best at what they do. Now that’s a role model.
Teach them team work. Team work can be a tough one for kids. From a young age kids are taught to share, then you get them involved in sports and have to convince them that sharing is good, but sharing with the other team is bad. Only to get them on the field and find that they don’t want to share the ball at all, with anyone. In watching the World Cup, my daughters have seen teammates celebrate in each other’s success and comfort one another in times of sadness or injury. Admittedly, my kids still don’t completely get it, but it’s a process, I suppose.
Demonstrate patriotism. We’re still working on the concept of cities, counties, states, and nations, but the World Cup has helped a ton. And you really haven’t lived until you’ve heard a 4 year old and a 6 year old chanting “USA” at the top of their lungs at your television. Regardless of what country you represent, instilling a sense of pride in your countrymen and women is never a bad thing, even if you’re a little hard of hearing when the game is over.
Encourage sportsmanship. For me, the amazing part about soccer is that the players make an effort to congratulate each other after a game, even if their team loses. It doesn’t happen in football or baseball or basketball (unless the players go out of their way to do it themselves), but watch soccer and all the players will be out on the field. It’s an excellent exhibition of sportsmanship that just doesn’t exist much today. Unfortunately.
Instill a love of the game. My girls are beyond excited about the 2015-2016 soccer season, and it doesn’t even start until October. That’s right, they can’t wait to go outside and run around for an hour in the Florida heat (and yes, it will still be hotter than the face of the sun here in Florida when October rolls around). No ipad. No computer. And, best of all, no cartoon characters or talking dogs. I’ll take it.
So, will you be watching the World Cup Championship game this Sunday?
