LE MONDE DU SPORT ET L'URGENCE EDUCATIVE 
par Carlo Nanni

The Dutch historian, J. Huizinga, said that human culture comes into being and is handed on mainly through game-playing; for him, man is " homo ludens ". Along similar lines, the media prophet, M. MacLuhan, advances the thesis that one discovers the code to a culture by looking at the way a whole generation plays its games. Furthermore, polls conducted among children, adolescents and youth also manifest the prevalent role that recreational activities, particularly the practice of sport, play in their lives.

I. SPORT AND EDUCATION : MULTIPLE MEANINGS AND AMBIGUITIES

But this does not mean that sport is free of ambiguities. Relations between sport and education have never been simple. In ancient times, gymnastics, which were an expression of vitality and an integral component in the training of the aristocratic youth, had to withstand the excesses of competitive sport. In the early Christian tradition, sport, understood primarily in its passive, spectator dimension, was viewed as a stumbling-block to living the faith and was even considered a form of idolatry.

The episodes of violence among spectators in our own age once again raises the question about the social, ethical and educational value of sport. Increased access to consumer goods and free time has caused sport to grow as a leisure activity known as " amateur " sport. It has led many people, youth and adults, men and women, to even become " fixated " with physical fitness to the point of giving it and the body a certain " cult " status. Politics also enter the scene making sport a means of channelling or strengthening social cohesions, political consensus, and the popularity of dominant social currents which may suit any ideologies whether democratic, totalitarian, right, left or centre. Others also see sport simply as a means of " self-improvement " whether on a personal, relational or cultural level. Yet for a great majority of people, sport is a basic " self-betterment " activity and an attractive resource for an ongoing formation that is achieved through physical exercise and training, as well as through social norms and group interaction.

II. SPORT AND SOCIAL-CULTURAL ISSUES

For various reasons, sport is often a difficult resource to use properly. One reason is the lack of sound examples. Sport celebrities with their victories or scandals make the headlines and are encouraged by the media. For better or worse, sport " stars " have become models for our youngsters as well as for many adults.

Also, sports have become consumer goods - shows to watch rather than activities to play. They have become a commodity to be traded, and a tool for political manipulation of the masses. They are used to channel needs and aspirations, and to subtly create " made to measure " Mindsets by those favouring certain forms of conduct in preference to others.

But it is not only the professionalization, commercialization or politicisation of sport that threatens its educational purpose, for sport faces the same difficulties that exist in everyday life and in other associations. The exaggerated emphasis placed on success and self-fulfilment, sometimes to the point of creating a cult of self (channelled by the mass media and the dominant " neo-capitalist " and " neo-liberal " socialization forces), is now combined with the wearing down of inter- personal and social relations, the deterioration of political and civil life, a lack of interest in the common good and a rise in organized crime.

The existential suffering of the masses and their desire to escape from these social dangers does not always find a secure exit route.

These pressures - whether on an individual or collective level - can easily spill over the brink of resistance. As a result, some people seek to unload their frustrations via sport and it becomes an escape valve for these social disorders.

III. THE EDUCATIONAL EMERGENCY

At the same time, sport becomes a mirror and a sounding board for these maladies affecting both youth and adults; it is a kind of " litmus test ". In the   21st century, we have to face both the complexity of a globalized world in terms of business, production and the market place, as well as the ever-invasive onslaught of information technologies. Not only have socio-economic structures and material production standards changed (efficiency, functionality, utility, productivity, subjective well-being), but life and culture are also changing. At the global level we express this in terms of the knowledge-based society, the " information " society, or the " digital culture ".

If we wish to overcome relativism and fragmentation on the one hand, and an exclusive and fundamentalist way of thinking on the other hand, we must believe in and practice social dialogue (cultural and interfaith dialogue). This is a dialogue that is capable of overcoming intolerance and destruction by terrorism or imperialist domination because it moves beyond prejudice, rethinking the way we form individual and group thought patterns, and because it is grounded in a cultural anthropology that recognizes the fundamental human rights of each and every person, at all times and everywhere.

Things are not easy as one has to come to grips with the following phenomenon: international economic power which over-rides regional politics creating a sense of helplessness; the prevalence of a state of flux: flows and processes ("liquidity") rather than " consolidated " forms of culture causing an emphasis on flexibility, but also uncertainty and insecurity; a vision of time that is compressed into specific, unconnected moments, preventing us from having a sense of history and belonging; an emphasis on the " virtual " and computer images to the detriment of a sense of what is real and its limitations; the subjectivization of possibilities that were once more objective, and the overemphasis on the values of the moment, without a sense of limit and without " fundamentum in re " that is to say, without objectivity, truth, or a communitarian sense of life and human existence.

While all this applies in general terms to everyone and everywhere, it also has particular repercussions on the youth. For it is they - children, youth, young men and women - who are the first to feel the effects of globalisation, for better and for worse, in their personal, group and community lives. They share in the opportunities provided by technological innovation and the international and worldwide market. The globalized social communications system enables everyone, and primarily young people, to access an immense volume of information, and provides them with the possibility of communicating very rapidly with people and situations near and far, virtually doing away with physical time and space, stimulating their imaginations and their subjective fantasies to the point of effacing the borderlines between the real and the virtual. The generation born after the 1990's has had to deal more with innovation and its frantic pace than with change itself (as was the case, and still is, for the adult or older generations).

Yet, the present generation, while demonstrating a considerable capacity to handle technologies and navigate the Internet and the " second life " world, also exhibits more than other generations, fragility and weakness in their relationships and in their capacity to lead free and responsible lives. (In addition, we can add to this list a deficiency in being able to reflect and conceptualize ideas.) In recent times we have seen depressing episodes, almost daily, of violence and abuse inflicted by youth on other youth, often younger than themselves, and on disabled children, and on girls simply for being girls. It would appear that the culprits have no perception of the damage they cause, no knowledge of the suffering of the victims, and believe that they can play with impunity at the expense of others, or amuse themselves irresponsibly, almost as if it was their due, glorifying in being seen by an anonymous, but morbidly curious, public on the Internet.

In light of this epidemic of deviate behaviour that not only involves youth, many have come to the conclusion that education is in a historic " emergency " situation. The task of educating, that is to say, of helping people to grow and to develop as conscientious, free, and responsible individuals and members of society, has never been easy. But today it is more difficult than ever. At the June 2007 Conference convened by the Rome diocese on " Education to the faith, discipleship, and witness ", Pope Benedict XVI spoke about the great " educational emergency ", and the increasing difficulties facing schools and families and every other educational organization.

A new theoretical-pedagogical reflection is needed in order to reevaluate the ultimate aims of education or at least reflect upon its cornerstones which, up until now, have been the foundation of the Western educational culture: confidence in the individual's capacity to exercise his freedom worthily, the human capacity to transform reality, and faith in rationality, science and technology.

" Education ", said the Pope during that meeting, " tends to be broadly reduced to the transmission of specific abilities or capacities for doing, while people endeavour to satisfy the desire for happiness of the new generations by showering them with consumer goods and transitory gratification ". This has cast a shadow over what it is " the essential purpose of education ", namely, " the formation of the person to make him or her capable of living a full life and making their own contribution to the good of the community ".

Already several months earlier, in his address to the fourth Italian Ecclesial Conference in Verona of October 19, 2006, the Holy Father recalled that one of " the fundamental and decisive questions is that of the education of the person ". The Pontiff went on to say that " the formation of his mind must be a concern, without neglecting his freedom and capacity to love. This is why recourse to the help of Grace is necessary. Only in this way can that risk for the fate of the human family be effectively opposed, which is represented by the imbalance between the very rapid growth of our technological power and the more laborious growth of our moral resources ".

IV. THE NEED FOR AN ETHICAL-EDUCATIONAL APPROACH TO SPORTS

Can sport, with its social, civil, cultural, religious and historic dimensions, make a specific contribution towards meeting this educational emergency? I believe that in order to answer this question in the affirmative it is not only necessary to overcome the ambivalence, ambiguity, difficulties and risks inherent in the practice of sport as such, but also to make a broad sweeping choice in favour of education that will attempt, as a preliminary step, to steer the educational potential of the individual and group practice of sport in a manner that is correct and humanly worthy. It is only in this way that sport can be a significant means of human development and a major educational resource.

Consequently, for all those involved in the direction and management of sporting activities, I would like to mention a few points that need to be taken into consideration in order to advance this choice in favour of educating through sport: The integral good of the person.

Among the many legitimate intentions that can animate sport organizations, the desire to " educate through sport ", particularly in amateur youth sport (but also in semi-professional or fully professional sport) consists in procuring the growth and development of the individual, not only with regard to those values immediately related to physical activity (for example, developing their motor skills or competitiveness, the sense of corporeity, the value of working as a team, the sense of discipline and effort, playing by the rules, etc.) but also with regard to the overall, integral good of the person, taking into account their personal situation and the historical-cultural context that surrounds them. Concretely, this entails placing the person first, over and above trophies and victories, even though these are certainly not to be sneered at. Today, this also entails the ability to identify the particular human values that are to be strengthened, and conversely, to identify those perils that are to be avoided.

Towards an integral humanism  

Educating through sport means having a clear awareness of sport's social dimension and its contribution towards the comprehensive growth of the individual and the community. In this perspective, the personal dimension of " mens sana in corpore sano " is combined with a social development that favours an equitable " civil " community life while each dimension is being directed towards the sustainable development of the whole. In this way, sport is linked to and implicit in the formation of a " integral humanism " or if you prefer, a " new humanism ", not in the abstract, but one that is " made to the measure " of specific individuals and communities, and with concrete initiatives to be realized for the good of humanity.

Valuing cultural pluralism

Educating through sport, especially through team sports, favours both in principle and in practice the promotion of an open, democratic and solidarity-based society. In fact, through team sports, children can learn to be tolerant of others, to accept the " otherness " of their opponents, and to reach out to those who might appear " different ", and to integrate what is " non-homogeneous " to the group. The universality of sport can also favour dialogue and communication with those who think differently. teaching people not only how to peacefully co-exist (and " how to get along with others "), but it can also teach children how to " give " themselves to others and how to receive the " giving " (and the " for-giving ") which comes from others. It also can favour mutual collaboration and social integration, in solidarity with our neighbours (friends, companions, our loved ones. ..) as well as those who are not our neighbours for various reasons (as in the case of being opponents).

Emphasis on an " educational environment ".

The decision to educate through sport both requires and strengthens a sense of community. Consequently, the community is both an agent of growth, as well as a reality that in itself matures with this process. Thus there is a need for an " educational environment " or an organisational structure which has the capacity to manage sports activities and initiatives while at the same time being able to periodically evaluate itself so as to better improve its formative dimension. This will not only make education possible in the general sense but it will also equip an institution with the practical " know how " that comes from experience in order to respond to the most pressing social, human, or ecclesial needs in light of this " educational emergency " and to better counteract the widespread plague of individualism and civic apathy.

The concept of an " educational environment " demands continuity and integration between social institutions and their common educational tasks. At the ecclesial level, this requires integration of an overall plan for the pastoral ministry of sport which can be animated by the laity at the local level. It is precisely along these lines that we can come to view sport as a type of " frontier of the new evangelisation ". 

V. THE PERENNIAL QUESTION " WHO WILL TRAIN THE TRAINER ? "

 One of the priorities for anyone interested in educating through sport - particularly when this is taken up as the prime purpose of a specific sports institution or organisation - is to adopt a training policy that not only inculcates its directors with technical aspects, but also is capable of providing human, civil, social and pedagogical training for all those who, directly and indirectly, promote and manage the practice of sport or the events associated with these leisure time activities, particularly those for young people.

Therefore the perennial question " Who will train the trainer? " becomes especially crucial today, more than before, in view of the " res novae " and the multicultural character of globalisation and the prevailing climate.

Professional skills are certainly necessary, but at the same time they also need those skills that are fundamental to educators so that they can be equally competent inconducting themselves in such a way that is humanly worthy, civilly respectable and socially responsible, while also attentive to growth and maturation needs that are proper to each stage of life. Here, I would like to make a few additional observations regarding the training of the trainers.

A team effort.

In a sporting environment that is concerned with favouring the educational and formative value of physical activity - and in particular those of Christian inspiration - there is a lot of talk about " the centrality of the child ". Although this emphasis is made with the best intentions in the world, it can run the risk of being one sided and reducing the children to mere " objects " of an " educational treatment " applied by us, the adults, who are obsessively concerned with applying all the right techniques in order to reach " educational success ".

We need to correct this with a " team effort " where the child becomes a co-protagonist and co-responsible in this process (and not a mere object).

Education is not so much a matter of working " on " and " for " the children who are being educated, as it is the result of a mutual educational relationship " between " the teacher and the pupil with the goal of achieving a " competent " personalisation and a quality of life for all (including the life of the educators! ). The students are not mere " objects " or " beneficiaries ", but active team players who are coresponsible for their own growth. And they have to be increasingly more engaged in this process as they mature. This is true everywhere and in every educational situation, but in sport in a particular way.

But that is not all...     The educational relationship is not enclosed within a dualistic " I-you " relationship, even though this aspect is fundamental to it. Neither is it simply confined within a group that was amalgamated into a team or assembled in a laboratory. The educational relationship extends beyond this and embraces the whole breadth of life. Consequently, its supreme benchmark is not a test score but rather, humanity itself, in every form - historical, personal and cultural, past, present and future.

To say it in sporting terms, the task of education becomes a " pedagogical championship " where the educational community is not just the passive field, but also an active participant as both a player and the goal towards which all activity revolves. In this great educational " championship " the different " teams " which come into play are the   various individual and community players, each within their own sphere of competence, all interacting and collaborating together (just as soccer is made up of players with specific roles, as well as referees, linesmen, coaches, fans etc.) with their focus on the educational goal that is held in common.

The educators and trainers have the task of awakening, stimulating, and promoting, the use of freedom in pursuit of values in their students, sustaining them and accompany them, orientating them responsibly. It is up to them to help bring into play all of the persons and components who make up this educating community: the sports associations, the families, the municipality, and the local church community.  

The personal dimension.  

This " pedagogical championship " demands that the educators and trainers themselves receive thorough and ongoing training. Here are some fundamental points to keep in mind. First of all, one can never take their eye off the task of education. It is necessary to see everything from this perspective, and the child's education particularly. Secondly, we must give priority to a personal approach. Experience tells us that whoever wants to teach a child math needs to first know the child in his context and environment. One must know their students by their first and last name. They must consider their potential (as based on the individual and their context) as well as their current results. Taking into consideration their pupils immediate surroundings - interpreting people, facts and events - they should encourage the positive values therein and not discourage them. There is good in everyone. Or as the great educator, Don Bosco would say: " There is a point leading to goodness in everyone ".

One must also continually think, judge and act in terms of far-reaching goals and not get too bogged-down in the ordinariness of routine. On the contrary, an educator must think in terms of a continual growth, where all are being educated together, both as a community and inter-generationally. Finally, " keeping an eye on education " requires staying close to each pupil, accepting them as they are and for what they are.

Cost what it may, this is the only way to stimulate youngsters to grow and to foster their personal capabilities.

Shifting from fear to trust.

Education is based on trust: and this requires educators to be trust- worthy people who are skilled in the art of helping others, which is what education is all about. Therefore, this requires one to be " authoritative " but not " authoritarian " ! Some appropriate preconditions that create what I call a " platform " for fostering communication and facilitating trust are the following: the ability to reach out and to welcome; the capacity to listen and to dialogue; to know how to play by the rules; to know how to be near to their students but at the same time maintain a certain distance; and the patience not to expect students to be " good ", " polite " or " in our image and likeness " from the start.

      Secondly, one must not expect to fix them all at once but rather to lead them little by little by directing their questions; that is to say, an educator must help them to express their questions in words, helping to expand upon these questions, elevating them to their highest and most beautiful expression.

Education involves a personal decision; it requires taking a personal stand with regards to one's own life and regarding the life of others. To be consistent in how one thinks and how one arts, to be faithful in one's relationships, to be true to one's ideals, proposals, duties and tasks - in a word, to be responsible - is not any easier today than yesterday. In fact. I would like to mention four obstacles that need to be especially overcome today in order to be a witness for the youth and to establish an authoritative and educational presence among them.

We also have to overcome a certain idea and practice of relationships which is often reduced merely to its empirical, public, " correct ", " horizontal " dimension, neglecting the dimension of inferiority and personal diversity, or the " vertical " dimension that relates to truth and the transcendent. Or, on the other hand, we must also avoid a relationship restricted solely to the interpersonal " I-you " dimension, not open to the personal, institutional and cultural " we " dimension.

Similarly, we have to move beyond an emplace on action rather than being. In today's performance and efficiency based society, it is common to think of, and to attribute value to, what one has rather than who one is; to focus on the externals rather than on the ontological: roles rather than persons; processes rather than substance: change and innovation rather than continuity and durability; standardisation rather than regional identity; appearing rather than being; the present rather than the future; the façade rather than the profound identity of the other; functionality rather than the true basis of relationships. In such a perspective, what is spontaneous and free, the moment of contemplation, the deepest sense of being, are easily overshadowed.

Lastly, educators must overcome the myth of " eternal adolescence ". Young at heart: yes; immaturity: no. A childish attitude that consists in always living for adventures and for whatever comes their way has caused many adults to prolong their adolescence to the point of never growing up. In reality, such a mentality is harmful both in itself (as it never allows one to mature and enjoy what is beautiful and proper at each stage of life) and for the youth, as it robs them of finding adequate adult role models in their parents and educators and in the other adults with whom they are in contact. In lieu of this deficiency of sound examples to follow, the youth are turning to the " virtual ", or to cerebrities to seek inspiration and orientation.

VI. AIMING HIGH

Baden Powell, one of those English educators noted for being a pragmatist, in his last will and testament, invited the scouts " to leave the world a little better than how they found it ". In educating through sport, as well as educating in the family, in school, and in the parish or group settings, the time has come to aim high. We cannot be content with the past or status quo, but must seek a higher perspective. While a " reactionary pedagogy " is necessary to respond to the most urgent   needs of youth, educators must also seek a long term " proactive pedagogy " that anticipates these needs by helping the youth to discover the value and meaning inherent in these activities.

Educators must also go beyond a pedagogy concerned with personal growth in general to one that focuses on the actual goals to be reached. In the world of sport, this can be translated into an overall concern for the good of all of those involved in sport, and not just the individual. This means keeping in mind the aims and goals that the practice of sport seeks to achieve in all sectors: the personal, the human, the social, the cultural, the institutional, and ecclesial level.

Lastly, educators must reach beyond a pedagogy " at the service of the individual " - that is, one simply concerned with their personal growth - with a pedagogy that " promotes service ". That is to say, they   should foster a pedagogy that provokes an awareness of a sense of mission and vocation, helping the youth to recognize their talents and abilities and to place them at the serve of the community, participating and collaborating actively in building a more caring society, more open and favourable to all. In Gospel terminology and within the perspective of the salvation of the world, this is the building of the " civilization of love " that is en route towards the Kingdom of God, where justice and truth will live definitively and completely.

VII. A LIFE THAT BEARS WITNESS TO THE GOSPEL

Today more than ever, in a historical context that requires us to speak of a " new evangelization " and before the religious pluralism that surrounds us, it is necessary to take into account and bear witness to the " Christian difference ". A probative educational stance demands that we as teachers, parents, and coaches not merely call ourselves Christians but that we truly live as Christians, make our Christianity some- thing very concrete and real, in all areas of our life, but especially in that of sport.

  This demands that we not only have a sufficient and up-to-date knowledge of this " patrimonium fidei " in its fundamental points, but also that we advance from a level of religious education equivalent to that of first Holy Communion a level of a mature adult; today's culture demands that we should possess at least a minimal level of Christian culture if not a deep profound faith. We are in need of " well-made Christians " ! In fact cultural and inter-religious dialogue will not make much progress without a clear and profound Christian identity.

But on a level still more personal and more profound. it is absolutely necessary that the Christian faith become the very heart of a deep personal spirituality, because today more than ever, education is dependent upon the personal witness of the individual and the community.

What is much needed today is an intelligence that is spiritually creative, and above all bears witness to the goodness of the Gospel, that is rooted in the essential, in Christ and his spirit and in the horizons delineated in the Our Father and its seven petitions.

In this perspective, I would like to call to mind the example of Jesus the Teacher, who in his very actions made it a point to always make himself available for others, always going out to meet others, with the desire of establishing a rapport of " salvation ", of being a " good Samaritan ". We can recall how he freed people from evil, consoled them in their suffering, shared personally in the hopes and desires of those who approached him to ask him for something (even those who approached him with a " bad conscience " or malicious intent). Jesus accepted people as they were and attended their requests. By well thought-out questions and active dialogue, he was able to draw people out of themselves into the " horizon of salvation ".

When there is not an " apriori " hardness of heart with those with whom he is speaking, he shows himself to be more understanding than condemning, while never " justifying " their erroneous words or behaviour. In him, people always found a new path that was far more fulfilling than the rest. The degree of commitment he required of them depended on their personal situation and capacity. To some he required a certain degree of goodness as manifested in his words: " Don't sin any- more ", " You also do the same ", " Do this and you will live ". Whereas, to others, he invites them to follow him with all the radicalness of the Gospel: " Come also and work in my vineyard "; " Sell all, and give the money to the poor "; " Go out to all the world and proclaim the Good News ". 

CONCLUSION                       

I would like to end with a quote from the founder of the Catholic Union of italian high school teachers, Gesualdo Nosegno. What he says here to educators, I would like to extend to coaches, trainers, volunteers, and all those who work with youth through sports: " Teachers: if you slow down you will lose them, if you get discouraged, they will weaken, if you sit down they will lie down, if you doubt they will despair, if you go ahead of them they will pass you by, if you give them your hand they will give their lives, if you pray for them they will become saints! May you always be an educator who never gives up, who never discourages, who never doubts, who never goes too far ahead, who always offers his hand, and who always prays! "