Costa Rica
June 2006
For better or for worse, athletics and the arts are usually viewed as two entirely separate entities. Stereotypically speaking, those who dabble in the arts don�t often spend their spare time in the weight room, and the star quarterback doesn�t usually cut out of practice early to get to his clarinet lesson. The clash of cultures between the arts and the athletics is, perhaps, best exemplified when the players set outside of their usual comfort zone and mistakenly refer to half time as intermission, or vice versa. This separation of arts and athletics is, apparently, not the case in Costa Rica�at least not when it comes to soccer.
Holy Week this year I played cello with the Municipal Symphonic Orchestra of Heredia. During a rehearsal, our director stopped the orchestra with apparent distress over a recurring problem in the woodwind section. Exasperated, he calmly explained: �You cannot miss. You are like the goalie of the team. If you mess up, we all lose. You simply cannot miss;� the next time we rehearsed the section it went smoothly.
Soccer is a way of life in Costa Rica. When the 2 professional leagues of the greater San Jos� area, which are fierce rivals, matched up in the tournament game, the city went crazy. People in cars were waving flags, tooting the horn, and hanging out of windows shouting; it was almost like election day (see my February/March reflection). Margit and I were returning to our house that night after spending the day at an outdoor concert at the University of Costa Rica. When we went to cross the street, we found the energetic fans waiting with us at the crosswalk, enthusiastically waving their Saprissa flags and sporting lots of purple, were not actually going to cross the street, they were simply standing there to cheer other Saprissa (the winning team) fans as they passed by. When we reached the other side of the street, we noticed the black and red colors of the Liga and figured out that this side of the street was dedicated to the losing Liga team to show their team spirit to passing Liga fans.
Now I am no longer surprised if a random Tico (Costa Rican) comes up to me and enthusiastically says, �We beat you!� This person is referring to a soccer game back in October where Costa Rica beat the US to qualify for the World Cup. Of course, now the comment is usually more along the lines of we�re going to win! (referring to the upcoming World Cup Tournament). The Swedish pastors here tell me that it is not unusual for Ticos to gently mock them because the Costa Rican soccer team beat them in a World Cup game fifteen years ago; apparently nothing is quite as important in history as soccer.
The enthusiasm and passion for soccer are what makes Soccer for Life program so successful. A program of the Oikos Institute for Education and Sustainable Development, funded by, among other donors, the ILCO and Germanys Bread for the World, Soccer for Life works on human and social development through offering soccer schools in underprivileged neighborhoods. They offer workshops on such topics as self-esteem, sexuality, HIV-AIDS, drug and alcohol abuse, team skills, and strongly encourage participants to succeed in school.
Looking around Costa Rica right now you might notice a higher number than usual of German flags. Its not that there is a sudden increase in the German ex-pat community, but rather that Germany is the host of the World Cup Tournament. And guess who is playing the inaugural game against Germany? That�s right�Costa Rica. What makes this World Cup Tournament even more exciting is that, thanks to the support of Germanys Bread for the World, eight children and two adolescents from the Soccer for Life program in the community of Alajuelita will be going to the World Cup tournament. In Germany, they will join with from all over the world playing in a soccer tournament that promotes respect and tolerance by using no referees, seeing sights and experiencing the culture of Germany and the youth will also get to participate in a meeting with the national selection soccer team.
Soccer is more than a hobby around here in Costa Rica, and I�ve learned, transcends the gap between athletics and the arts. The ILCO is working hard to make soccer a bridge from life in an underprivileged neighborhood to a life of dignity and opportunity, and I�m sure that these ten youth will have an experience that they will never forget.