Torneo de Paz

On October 2nd, Soccer Without Borders held a city-wide women's tournament to honor the 2010 Global Peace Games for Children and Youth. It was the tenth anniversary of the games which are held every fall in conjuction with the United Nation's International Day of Peace. The point of the Global Peace Games is to highlight the power that sport can have in uniting people of all races, genders, social classes, religions, etc. Another goal is to demonstrate to youth that by coming together in sport they can have central roles in working towards global peace.

Our tournament went pretty well. Preparations for the day itself were a great lesson and demonstration of the slow pace of life and slow pace of work here in Granada. The tournament was played at a stadium called multi estadio that is almost always occupied by a boys baseball league. In order to host the tournament there we needed to get permission from the Mayor's office. Doing so required multiple and often fruitless trips to the office and didn't actually come through until the morning of the tournament. Other logistical obstacles included trying to formally register the teams and getting a guest speaker to read messages from the president of FIFA and a UN advisor.

On the afternoon of the tournament however, things managed to come together. Six different teams from throughout the city emerged upon multi estadio where two small-sided fields and even refirees were awating them. Before the soccer playing started, the two messages about the Global Peace Games were read to all participants (see links if you're interested in reading them).
Message from Fifa. Message from UN Advisor Wilfred Lemke.

All participants also signed a Peace Manifesto who'se pilars are respect, rejecting violence, listening to arrive at understanding and contributing to community development.


Once the soccer started, the tournament began to develop the feel and energy of so many summer tournaments I participated in as a kid. Teams that were not playing in the first round of games were warming up on the sidelines, friends and siblings cheered for their respective teams, coaches disputed with the referees when they disagreed on calls and the crowd was captivated every time a game went to penalty kicks.



For both Larkin and I, the day was a very nice opportunity to relax, enjoy soccer and enjoy the company of many of our participants and co-workers. So often, especially with the girls in the program we are instructing or leading them in some manner, however once the soccer playing started and our responsibilities for the day more or less wrapped up, we got to just hang out with them and watch the soccer games unfold. In the end, the Soccer Without Borders won the tournament and a new set of jerseys!

The winning team! Fútbol sin Fronteras.