No one disputes the benefits that sports practice provides to people and communities; sport improves from the health of the individual, to public finances, through the strengthening of social relations.
To practice sport requires some will and certain opportunities. The will will be that own desire to move triggered by different stimuli to which we are exposed, such as the recommendation of a specialist, enjoying the satisfaction of doing so, or the example of a professional athlete whom we would like to emulate. The opportunity will probably have to do with a certain availability of time and resources to achieve it, such as facilities, clothing or footwear.
Mexico is not exactly a country of athletes, on the contrary, we are champions in obesity as a result of a series of habits among which sports practice is not found.
Why? Due to many things, among them, the inability of some institutions to consolidate a system that generates certain actions for citizens to practice sports.
For sample… a plane ticket. Our Mexican Women’s American Soccer Team (yes, with capital letters, because it brings together the best women in our country in their discipline), had an appointment on the agenda to attend the World Cup to be played in Finland, which they could not attend on time because plane tickets were not purchased in a timely manner. Yes, plane tickets!
An official of the Mexican Federation of the specialty has gone out to the media to provide a series of “faltering explanations” (Gómez Leyva Ciro, 2022) in which he narrates certain late and useless efforts that embody precisely what inside the field and outside of it. should never be done. In sport, as in public service, it is about things happening and what counts are the results, and in this case, nothing has happened and the result has been chaos.
The fact faithfully portrays why it is so difficult for us to practice sports. If whoever is called to play in a World Cup arrives days late due to the mediocrity of those who should offer minimal opportunities, what can others expect? What motivation do lower categories receive? What a great example it would be for our children -eager and in need of them- to see a Mexican National Team succeed and thus be encouraged to try.
We still have a lot to understand and to do.