When thinking about developing a community, the first thing that comes to mind may be developing the relationships and building a community within an organization, or within a team in a sport. You tend to think of bringing together a somewhat smaller, selected group of people. However, in the movie Invictus, with the help of Nelson Mandela and the significant role of the sport of rugby, the previously separated and troubled country of South Africa is united together as one. South Africa is a huge country with a massive population mixed of whites and blacks who are often separated in schools, work and in the community. The whites were generally the successful people with all of the money and the blacks would be struggling to get by or be able to provide for one another and their families. Once Nelson Mandela was released from prison he began trying to unite his nation. He targeted the countries national rugby team as a vehicle to help move society to become one. The rugby team had been struggling quite badly until Mandela got a hold of the teams captain and told him of his ideas and his passions, and how much it would mean to an entire nation if they could pull it together and win the upcoming World Cup of rugby. In the end the South African team ended up defying all odds and pulling out the victory at the World Cup. This had a huge impact on the country and could not have pleased Mandela more. He had memorized all the players names and personally come to wish them good luck. He wore a jersey with the captains number, number 6, on it as well as a team hat to the game. When the leader of a community, or in this case, president of a country, believes in one thing, it will tend to spark one follower at a time and leading to great things.
In this movie Sport and Recreation were the catalysts for change and development in a nation struggling for unity. The president of the entire country sparked the team and the nation. In another sense, it was the captain, or leader of the rugby team who got his team going. He would take the players out for early morning runs to help bring the team together as one. This is why I compare the two as being similar leaders and figure heads in the eyes of the country and in the eyes of the players on the team. At one point in the movie, Mandela said, "If I can't change when circumstances demand it, then how can I expect others to. When I heard this quote in the movie it really stood out to me in the sense that if the leader of the community, or nation in this example, can't change for the best and be the best he/she can possible be and do all the things that he/she needs to do in order for the rest of the community/nation to follow, then how can he expect other to. If he is not leading by example how can he expect anyone to believe in him. He also said, "This is a country hungry for greatness." I look at this in two ways, one in a sense of greatness in sport, they could really use a win at the World Cup. The second way I see it is, is that with all the downfalls of this nation, South Africa could really use something to pull it together. The last quote that really stood out to me while watching was what Mandela said to one of his helper women. It was, "Still think I'm wasting my time with this rugby thing?" He said this as he looked out the window and saw all of his security playing around with a rugby ball and experimenting with throwing it around while having big smiles on there face and a lot of fun. To me that is a sure sign of development. At one other point in the movie, the professional rugby team visited a small black community to play rugby with them and show them the ways of passing and various other skills. The kids were all coming together and having a blast at the same time. Doing this activity in a place with many children who potentially have a lack of opportunity in life, was an outstanding gesture by the rugby team which surely relates directly to community development.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
In the article "Social functions of high school athletics in the United States: a historical and comparative analysis" the main subject the author compares is the differences in the athletic systems in the United States and the Netherlands. In the USA the majority of competitive athletics and recreation for people under the age of 18, takes place in the school system, such as high schools, prep schools, and even junior high school. In contrast, in the Netherlands the high majority of competitive sports take place in private clubs and programs. As far as education and athletics go in the Netherlands, it is mainly kept recreational. For example the physical education that takes place in the Netherlands in the school system, is strictly recreational. They play games and interact with each other on a fairly non competitive basis. In the states however, it is a completely different story. This article focus's on high school sports, more specifically football, in Texas. These schools recruit student athletes to come and play for their high school and are forced to remain in school in order to play sports. The football players on the team at these high schools are considered the popular kids, while holding the highest reputation. The athletes are forced to keep their marks up in school or no matter how valuable they are to the team, they will be kept out of action. This system seems to be a very effective one as it keeps kids out of violence and crime and in school until graduation day, and in many cases, onto a post secondary education to play football at a major university. It also keeps the young athletes in premier health and fitness. Compared to the Netherlands, the funding and money involved in athletics in the USA is substantially higher. The Netherlands sticks to the school system whereas the high schools in the States provides vast funding for many things to take place for these sports.
Community Development has been defined in a few different ways. One idea is that it is a group of individuals coming together to reach a common goal. It also says that it involves people building relationships trying to accomplish something. It takes all kinds of different people to create a successful community and in this article many examples relate exactly to these ideas. Every Friday night, these teams have a pep rally with cheerleaders and various inspirational speeches with thousands of people there in order to create school spirit and a unique atmosphere to kick start the game. Students, teachers, and even principals get together all with one common goal and one thing to do for the night, cheer for their team. All sorts of people, all with different beliefs, all come together to defend the pride and colours of their team. Usually there is a mascot and thousands of people equipped with jerseys and face paint to cheer. This relates exactly to community development as people of all different backgrounds, religions, races, values, interests and beliefs, all coming together as one to enjoy the night and hope for a win. The teams will usually play in Stadiums holding upwards of 20,000 people and on most Fridays nights, there isn't an empty seat.
Below are a couple of videos showing some high school students preparing for a pep rally before their teams football game. To me these examples clearly display examples of community development as large groups of people are coming together as one.
Stokvis, R. (2009). Social functions of high school athletics in the united states: a historical and comparative analysis.Sport in Society ,12(9), Retrieved from http://library.mtroyal.ca:2058/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?hid=112&sid=cf0c5b6f-fba4-4cf6-a69e-50a23a278c09%40sessionmgr114&vid=6
