Why Sports and Social Responsibility Like Each Other So Much

Whether coach, player or fan, there has always been a certain inherent permission for baseball to express its lofty social goals and notions within its community. Just like MLB, the Dodgers and Jackie Robinson led the nation in desegregation well before a civil rights movement would emerge a decade later, the symbolic concept of "taking a knee" has now migrated out of sport and into the mainstream. The 2020 season of baseball was cancelled during spring training, and in some ways can now be seen to have yielded to the Spring Cleaning of the American soul.

The reason sports and culture marry so well, and have proved to be important in times of crisis has a lot to do with the in-game permissions given as gateways to real-world dialogue. For example, no one freaks out when the batter crosses himself or points to Heaven in reaction to the crack of a walk off homer. No, coaches and teams are trusted messengers given license to do these things because of the spirit of fair play, the nonpolitical ethic of sportsmanship and equality judged on merit. Coaches are mentors that want nothing more than to push us to find our best. Players only want to run the race as a testament of what is humanly possible if one only believes. "A coach's faith is in his star, and a player's faith is in himself. - John Sexton. Sport is a true supernatural power for tribes with no boundaries.

This incredible power of sport as a social impact superpower thunderstruck me one day in 2017 in a small Caribbean town where I was hired to organize logistics and workforce development for a US client. I had a meeting with the Minister of Education to set up a skilled training certificate program to train trades on the job. (Those programs work really well in countries where families need to rely on their kids to bring income into the household at a young age, and the idea of trade school, let alone school in general is not feasible.)  I flew in on a bumpy flight, onto a bumpy landing strip, exited directly onto the tarmac into a steamy hot overcast day. The Minister was there to meet me with a bottled water - by himself, in jeans and a white linen shirt and with no fanfare. The only way you'd know he was somebody was because he knew everybody and everybody acknowledged him by name. Small countries can be cool that way. One big community. As we made our way to the parking lot and his SUV, he asked whether I’d be his VIP guest at the exhibition match of their national football (soccer) team in the capital city stadium. I told him I'd be honored.

Friday Night Lights: Caribbean-style

We arrived at the stadium that evening after dark and what a scene, colorful and loud, vendors grilling up chicken and corn, folks of all ages coming together -kids running about- under the ballast lights high overhead, glaring off aluminum bleachers. What I didn’t expect to see was my "VIP seat" was actually at the end of the team bench on the sideline! Pretty cool. I got settled in just as the PA system crackled that the city’s junior team would be the pre-game attraction. A crew of boys about my son’s age (10 at the time) came running helter-skelter out from one side of the field -many with arms out like they were flying, some doing circled - they were excited. The boys immediately populated the bench giving big smiles of excitement to each other and me. Their coach took a minute to gather their attention from the stands, this white guy at the end of the bench and all the other distractions. The game was on and these kids suddenly got game-face-serious. The Minister came in and crammed next to me and started pointed out the who’s who parents of the players. (At 10 years old, soccer is still amoeba ball so I feigned I could see who he was speaking of.) I did note though that only half the kids had numbers let alone jerseys, mainly just red team and blue team. Then it happened. The coached gestured to the sub sitting midway down the bench and he started waving wildly to his teammate who, once aware, ran at quite a clip toward the bench. It was like a formula one pit stop. One shin guard was off mid run, then the other, the sub began pulling off one shoe, as the now on the bench the retiring player untied the other. My jaw dropped. They didn’t have enough shoes and equipment. I asked the Minister and he said the Government buys equipment for the national team, but hasn’t enough for the youth teams which are usually formed by volunteer inner city civic orgs and churches. Kid sized equipment simply doesn't exist in the marketplace. It’s a big problem he said because they know soccer keeps the kids off the streets and close to mentors. More teams could mean more kids on a better path. The capital like many Caribbean cities was notorious for the violent gangs competing for stake hold in the international transport of narcotics. The youth were foot soldiers - and with few opportunities for strong positive role models - these youngsters were easy recruits to replace the daily demise of teen gang soldiers.

It bothered me. A lot. The opportunity and esteem that come from sports is invaluable. Defining even.  Playing for a team, in front of your community as your coach yells your name after a great play. Ineffable. It's also more than that. We all know what it feels like to don a brand new team jersey, lace up new kicks, throw a gym bag over your shoulder when the game is done. To look over at your mate and his jersey is the same as yours - you're part of something - together. Bonded.

On the flight home I thought to myself that the logistics that my client’s company was setting up could easily piggyback a few loads of kids soccer equipment. Easy. A fundamental of Corporate Social Responsibility was after all was to look at one's own business processes, advantages and resource capabilities and use those to serve civil society.  The NE Patriots 767 flying to China to get masks for the Governor of Massachusetts will forever live in the minds of many fans as something they can feel part of - the civic values of sport, fan pride and society during a crisis.

Signs are everywhere to the observant. 

Fast forward about a month and I’m on the sideline of one of six U10 soccer matches taking place on a warm OC California Saturday morning. It was the last game of the season, and my son was squeezing every last bit of his role as "The Wall" for his team. All the kids were. Parents cheered even more than usual. The end of another season. At the corner of each field were large white cardboard boxes. In it was equipment - lots of lids equipment. As games finished, parents told their kids to take off their top-of-the-line junior pro shoes and brand shin guards and give them to charity (since they will be grown out of them by next season anyway.) The lightbulb went off. I asked the coordinator where those go and he said an OC org that distributes the equipment to disadvantaged teams.

That Monday I got in touch with the organization and after explaining the plan and the company's logistic commitments, six large 3'x4' boxes of equipment arrived in the client's lobby. Soccer balls, bags, shoes, socks, shin guards even an entire box of team jerseys. The bewildered client loved the concept and I assured them we’d be getting great coverage and thanks from our host country.  Within hours they were cross-docked into our supply chain with all the materials we were sending anyway.

I wasn’t able to be there when the equipment was dedicated and distributed by the county's Football Commissioner, but the pictures told me everything I needed to know. Bright smiles and puffed chests of youth wearing with pride a team jersey, candid pictures of one player looking at the other players brand new cleats. Game play shots that display the turbo charge of confidence that comes with esteem. Beaming coaches looking into the camera reinvigorated that these children, and many more can be inspired, mentored and can have a chance! I am convinced that nothing reached youth like sports, and nothing binds community to its youth like sports. I believe John Sexton is right in his estimation that baseball has the power to "stitch the crowd together in a wonderful unified tapestry." Today more than ever we need that resolve to dare to dream of what the unified tapestry might look like and the ingenuity it will take to get us there.

Adidas Exchange in West Africa