The Universal Language of Sports

Sports are, without a doubt, an activity that brings the most profound emotions, feelings, and ways of being to the surface. They are primal activities that uncover human beings’ universal language.

One of the best experiences of my life was undoubtedly walking into a professional baseball locker room at 17 years old, one of about 10 Americans on a team of 35. This experience shaped me in ways I am still unpacking today.

It was the experience of being a minority, of not understanding the language spoken around me, of feeling my teammates’ profound differences yet discovering a commonality with them on the most basic human level.

The fundamental lesson I learned from this experience, which took me beyond language, race, religion, and socio-economic backgrounds, was that being human means being in touch with what drives our experiences. It means being in touch with our desires to be known, seen and loved. This is what drove all of us in the locker room while simultaneously connecting us in the most human way.

So it is within these same driving forces today that I watch my son begin to interact with others, from around the globe, playing soccer.

Watching him interact with 15 other kids who speak a different language while taking instruction from a coach who also speaks another language has brought me back to my 17 year old self.

It has brought me back to the place where sports were the venue for authentic communion, real human connection, and the development of the human body and soul.

It has brought me back to the universal language that we call sports.