Saturday, December 1, 2007

The Soccer Field: Where Teamwork Matters More than Nationalities

This weekend I am visiting my (former) hometown, Washington, D.C. This city is known for its cosmopolitan and international flavor, as it is the center for hundreds of embassies and numerous other internationally-oriented companies, organizations and think-tanks.

These organizations are staffed by large contingents of foreigners who bring to this country a love of and passion for soccer; you can drive around the city and the suburbs with your cleats in your car and generally find a pick-up game you can join. Your skills and teamwork matter more than where you're from, what language you speak, your level of personal hygiene, etc.

On fields throughout the region, Greeks play with Turks, Muslims with Jews, Germans with French, Peruvians with Chileans, you get the idea. Soccer games around here are the great melting pot and the universal equalizer: The winner isn't one nationality or one country, but the virtual UN of countries that managed to communicate and to play better together than the other side.

For example, today I played with a group of guys I used to play with when I lived here: On my team were Ziad (Palestinian), Mohammed (Saudi), Tariq (Armenian), Mike (Greek), Carlos (Venezuelan), and Thanos (Greek). Against us were arrayed six or seven guys from other countries, including Russia, Spain, and even a few American citizens (we have to work extra hard to get the ball, since our soccer skills--and our national team--are routinely maligned).

In light of the recently concluded talks in Annapolis, I thought, "wouldn't it be great if instead of gathering around a table to discuss the agonizingly minute details of international relations and the Middle East's history of bloodshed, violence and hopelessness, the delegates could just find a field, throw out a soccer ball, and play a game? No referee, everything on the honor system.

They'd split the teams evenly (easier because no one would know who's good and who stinks), making sure the people from countries that purportedly hate each other are on the same team. They'd play the game, work together, sweat together, laugh, curse and yell at each other (and of course make fun of the guys on the other team); argue about the score and complain about their wives and/or kids...

At the end of the game, I'm sure they'd know each other better, feel more comfortable with each other, and be sufficiently motivated to continue working together towards a genuine agreement that works for everyone.

A pipe dream, maybe. But this morning it happened on a smaller scale, and it was fun.

No comments: