Something I learn from playing football

In my early memories, matches are not occasions to make friends, but somehow enemies.

When I was in the middle school, there would be some interclass football competitions. At that time, I found it hard to play with my opponents in harmony. Actually, many of my classmates hated their rivals after matches. We even took a neighbor class as our enemies after a basketball match. Once I said four-letter words to one of my opponents in a football match and got a yellow card. I almost fought against him the other day, due to other conflict related to football.

Several weeks ago, a football match helped me to make a change. The team I belong to had a football match with a Malay team. It was a friendly match, but there were quite some body contacts. However, this time, inspired by the senior teammates, I became a friendly adversary. I gave my hand when a Malay guy fell onto the ground to help him stand up. We shook hands after the match was over and said to each other “a great game”. Indeed, I felt much better to become a friendly opponent.

Matches are not designed to turn people into enemies. In fact, people should be grateful that they have adversaries. It would be sad that no one were willing to become your opponent. Believe me, matches can be played in harmony and you will feel great to do that.

Anyway, as time goes by, it is good to see that we have become more and more mature and overcome some drawbacks.