In 1982, while visiting Longfellow Elementary School in Oakland, Calif., Nancy Reagan developed the vacuous theme for her anti-drug campaign when telling a girl to “Just say no” if offered drugs. “Just Say No” can and should be dismissed as idiotic because it ignored the most important part of the behavior change equation — something to say “yes” to. Johann Olav Koss, founder of Right To Play, does not expect the children of war-torn nations to say “no” to violence and extremism without an alternative to take their place, and what he wants these children to say “yes” to is sports.
You’re forgiven if, like me, you arrived at the keynote address of the 2013 Borah Symposium a bit skeptical of the theme “Sports, War, Peace: Beyond The Battlefield.” Soccer, basketball or the hallowed grounds surrounding a tetherball pole can impact the motives of Robert Mugabe and Kim Jong-un only so much. Koss knows the limits of sports, and Right To Play does not aim for something greater than sports can accomplish.
His organization works worldwide at a local level, delivering sports equipment and direction to impoverished children throughout Africa, Asia and South America. Right To Play has reached 165,000 children thus far, 50 percent of whom are girls, according to Koss. Sports possess obvious physical benefits, but Koss spoke mostly of the character-building opportunities sports present, with a particular emphasis on self-confidence for the thousands of girls Right To Play seeks to benefit.
Without context surrounding the nations Right To Play targets, the program sounds nebulous. Eritrea was the country Koss referenced most often, and the nation’s recent history doubles as horrifying and repetitive. From 1961-91, Eritreans were at war with Ethiopia for their independence, while simultaneously fighting a civil war from 1974-91. The years 1998-2000 saw a renaissance of sorts — another war with Ethiopia.
Pakistan, another country in which Right To Play planted roots, is a place where rape is not just a crime, but a punishment. Honor killings, and related honor rapes, take place at a rate of 20,000 per year worldwide, with Pakistan averaging 1,000 on its own, according to the United Kingdom’s “Independent.”
Countries like this have a lot to say “no” to — suicide bombers, child soldiers as both martyrs and role models, extremism and a legacy of treating women as second class at best, chattel at worst. This is where sports are something tangible these kids can say “yes” to before they’re lost for good.
Koss’ anecdotes revealed children without the opportunity to spend their childhoods being children, slowly developing the character traits needed to succeed. Far removed from the destitution of civil war, it’s easy for westerners to forget while watching the spoiled juveniles of the NBA and NFL that athletics have a role in positive behavioral development. Leadership, confidence, cooperation, and simple escape are present within sports everywhere, and part of why we spend so much on high school athletics — not just for entertainment, but to instill valuable and adaptive traits.
Right To Play has its limits. The required multiplier effect needed to spawn cultural change is the most noticeable. The organization cannot force the people of an area to demand change in governing policy, but it can hope that if enough are reached and a tipping point is met, leaders will have no choice but to give dignity, and yes, “peace” a second thought. It’s a small scale attempt not to change the world, but to change the world of as many children as possible. Right To Play does not require revolution to be a success, something 165,000 can attest to.
Brian Marceaucan be reached at [email protected]