The Great Game

There was once a group of children who had been left to play a soccer game in style. They had decided that each would carry an important element that would be in all official matches, and so, one brought the ball, another the whistle, another a goal, another the goalkeeper’s gloves, the flags of the corner, etc … But before starting the game, when choosing the teams there was a small discussion, and they decided that they could choose the one that would have carried the most important element. As they did not agree on that, they thought that the best thing would be to start playing, with all the elements, and to eliminate what each one had brought to see if they could continue playing and discover what was really essential. So they started playing, and first they eliminated the whistle, but whoever was the referee could continue to referee by shouting. Then they left the goalies without gloves, but they stopped just as well without them; and it was not even noticed when they removed the pennants that defined the limits of the field, nor when they changed the goals for two bins … and so they continued, until finally they also changed the ball for a can, and they were able to continue playing … While they played, a man with his son passed by, and watching them play that way, he told the boy:

“Look, son: learn from them, without having anything they are able to continue playing soccer as a team, being that essential to learn, have fun and share.”
The whole team listened to the man and finally realized that what is really important is not the material elements but the behavior and the attitude of achieving a goal as a team.

The whole team listened to the man and finally realized that what is really important is not the material elements but the behavior and the attitude of achieving a goal as a team.