Program of the Seminar
The fourth International Seminar of the Church & Sport Section, organized by the Pontifical Council for the Laity was held last May 14th and 15th. The dicastery has dedicated an important part of its work to organizing meetings and seminars led by the professionals and experts that occupy various sports positions to make the work efficacious and enduring. The dicastery is aware of the need to leave a foundation for future generations. “Coaches: educators of persons” was the title of the seminar. Its end was to develop and better understand the important role of the coaches in the formation of sports. The goal was to not look at sports only at the level of a hobby, but also at the professional level, given that in many places the youth are beginning to earn fame and money at an early age and the coach is, as is often the case, a respected figure that accompanies them during the entire process of formation.
The title of the seminar was chosen to be in continuity with the results of previous seminars. The Pontifical Council for the Laity wants to leave a complete work which can be used by others to continue this mission at the level of local churches. To that end, the conferences chosen for this seminar were to reflect the most general perspective of sports as possible, so that, the cultural point of view, the diverse levels, and specialties that exist in athletic activities could be seen. Thus, it was done such a way as to have participants with both an international and a diversified profile. In fact, from the one hundred people that participated, there were sports figures, former coaches, instructors, amateur team coaches, and heads of international organisms or professional universities. Chaplains from numerous episcopal conferences and other Christian denominations also took part in the work.
Cardinal Ryłko, the president of the Pontifical Council of the Laity, opened the seminar with an introduction in which he underlined the importance that the Church gives to sports as one of the most important cultural phenomena of our age. The Cardinal said “in the last ten years, various Pontiffs have spoken on this topic, seeing in the world of the sports ‘a new Areopagus’ that raises urgent challenges in the mission of the Church. Blessed Paul VI wrote in Evangelii Nuntiandi ‘The Church should […] to make every effort to ensure a complete evangelization of the culture, or more correctly of cultures. It needs to be regenerated by means of an encounter with the Good News”.
Msgr. Clemens, the secretary of the dicastery, continued the seminar by reading a message that Pope Francis had sent to Cardinal Ryłko for all the participants of the International Seminar. The message reflected the lively hope that the Holy Father places in sports. The Pontiff underlined the capacity that coaches have to give a true contribution to creation as a summit of solidarity and inclusion for immigrant youth and in those living in situations of social risk when they manage to bring them closer to sports and also to the experience of socialization. If the coach “has a human and spiritual balance” wrote Pope Francis “he will also preserve the authentic values of sports and the fundamental nature of games and social activities, preventing disorders which occur under the stress of many interests, above all economic, which is all the more evident today.”
Above all, the Holy Father asked for the collaboration of all the participants in order to attract the attention of all the organizations that work in the world of sports, the international and national federations, both lay and religious sports organizations. He asked them to pay the needed attention and to invest the necessary resources for the formation of professional coaches; both human and spiritual. The Holy Father’s message was a constant point of referral during the seminar, and many of the observations and the points for reflection that were offered noted the interest that Pope Francis has for sports.
The first day of the seminar consisted in two parts. During the first, Norbert Müller and Gerard Treutlein spoke about the role of coaches and the relationship that athletes have with coaches in the various aspects of sports life; observing them from both a general and sociological point of view. Professor Müller, a member of the commission of education and culture of the International Olympic Committee, spoke about the relationship between the youth’s world and sports as a combination which challenges coaches today.
For this reason, he presented on recent study in which almost two hundred athletes from a variety of areas. They responded to questions on the ethical values of sports, the vision of coaches, the social standards that they have in competitive sports, and on the influence that their coaches have had on them. He then underlined the fact that the Olympic movement needs to be conscience of the responsibility that it has on the social conditions and the ethics in which the athletes live and are trained. He also reported on the problem of sports finances, in which the sponsors and governors strive to promote only the specialties in which there is high probability to obtain medals, and the grave responsibility of all institutions to form people, even non athletes, to not be machines to get benefits. On his part, Gerard Treutlein addressed the challenge which, together with violence, is the gravest threat for sports in today’s world, namely doping. Professor Treutlein, emeritus of Pedagogy of the Physical Education at the University of Heidelberg, is an expert in such matters and founded the Center for the prevention of doping. In his exposition, he analyzed the causes of doping and how in the dominant culture of consumerism the search for success at all costs is one that perverts the true image of sporting activities.
He also reported that, in the face of such attitudes, the coach has a fundamental role in the mental formation athletes. He concluded in affirming that it is necessary to prevent doping from an early age, including adolescents, by promoting values and giving them the necessary tools to know the effects of doping substances and providing them with tools which would be useful in discerning, and thus, rejecting the consumption of unnecessary pharmaceutical products.
The second part of the first day was concentrated on the profile of the coach. Raymond McKenna, the president of the Catholic Athletes for Christ Association, began by speaking about the importance of “instructing the instructors”, as affirmed in the message from Pope Frances. In the interview, he underlined the singular role that the coaches play in doing good for both society and sports. He showed that the example of the coach’s life is fundamental, and that the virtue of humility and knowing where the athlete is at is essential in transmitting and teaching personal values in the world of sports. The coach’s position is a great platform to witness to the faith, the truth, and the Christian virtues which are called for in sports. At the meeting, the theme of “The Coach as a Means of Social Inclusion” was discussed from many points of view.
Irene Villa, writer and Paralympic athlete, spoke about the strength which sports are able to give in overcoming barriers. She spoke about how she knew how to have a life of hope and to fight violent tendencies after having lost both legs during a terrorist attack when she was twelve because of sports. For her, the coach was not just someone who helped her reach a goal, but someone who was always at her side, in moments of joy and sadness, and who helped her become a better person. Jaime Fillol, a former tennis player, professional coach, and president of The Fillol Foundation, illustrated the great importance that sports have in fighting poverty; in fact, it has been found that it is possible to better lives through coaches. In many cases, their role for those in need is not just an instructor of sports but “another father”. In a society that is increasingly fragmented and in which the family is more and more frequently under attack Professor Fillol voiced the need that today’s youth have for love, affection and understanding. He said that sports are not only a means of entertainment but also as a means to educate and transmit the faith. He continued by giving two examples of social integration which have come about as a result of sports.
Kevin D’Souza, the president of the John Paul II Foundation for Sports in Goa, India, spoke about programs which provide formation of values and social prevention. Following him, Professor Sandra Allen Craig illustrated what the “Future of Youth” project is and what the Catholic University of Australia brought to East Timor over the years through the project. By forming coaches, the program has helped people reconcile areas and integrate people from diverse ethnic, religious and social spheres. The second day of the seminar was more technically focused. It began with a presentation by Antonio Manicone, assistant coach of the Swiss National Football team and former soccer player and a graduate of Motor Science. He divided his presentation into three themes: “Who is the coach?”, “Who has been my coach?” “Experiences as soccer player and coach.” Manicone has played and coached at both the amateur and professional levels, and has the authority to speak clearly about the conditions of the pressures that the coach must face every day. He described the dangers of fame, money, social communication etc.
However, he spoke primarily about the educative function of the coach and the relation that he has had with the players’ parents at the amateur level. Further, he reported on the danger of putting too much pressure on young players to win at any cost; the importance of esteem during the adolescent phase, and, as young adults, and the necessity on the part of the coach to not give a distorted vision of reality. Manicone commented that, “a frequent problem that we often see at the beginning of sports is the need to show men that everything is not as it appears: things don’t last forever. Money can’t give you everything. It’s only a means to an end.” After the debate, Cardinal George Pell, Prefect of the Congregation of the Economy, presented on the rich relation between the figure of the coach and his testimony of faith in a life of service for other people. Although the mission entrusted to Cardinal Pell by Pope Francis has nothing to do with the themes of the seminar sponsored by the dicastery, it is known that the cardinal has always loved sports and that before entering seminary he played as a ruckman in Australian Football and was even a coach. Cardinal Pell made reference to the diseases that attack sports today and the necessity for schools to form sports values. He shared some personal experiences which have served to reinforce his own faith and in which sports have had a role in bringing people to the Catholic faith. The day concluded with four testimonies which showed how sports can change lives and how, without the help of a coach, this change would have never had happened.
Chris Tiu, a professional basketball player from the Philippines, Massimo Achini, the president of Central Italian Sports, the largest Italian catholic sporting association with over one thousand members, Iván Ramiro Córdoba, a former professional soccer player, and Alison Wanner, a missionary from FOCUS Varsity Catholic, each gave a testimony. Alison’s experience clearly showed that thanks to sports she went from a disregard of the faith to announcing it to all. Unexpectedly, at the end of her testimony she announced to the audience that her next step would be to enter the novitiate for the Servants of the Heart of Jesus. Without a doubt the seminar, as said in the conclusion by Msgr. Clemens, has been formed by the message from the Holy Father and an environment of friendship and collaboration had existed from the beginning. In two days of work, they have given hope to be able to continue to work together as a group to make sports a real way of transmitting values and the faith. They will also work to not let its propter identity be distorted by external agents; sports are to elevate the person and his dignity to live as children of God. All the texts of the seminar can be found on the Dicastery’s webpage www.laici.va in the languages that they were given. The message of the Pope has been translated into the official languages of the Dicastery and is online on the same site of the Holy See.
