FIFA World Cup 2022 Is The Perfect Time To Find Your Child A Sports Mentor

Most children are happy to watch television at midnight with a bag of junk food, but how do you use a big sporting event such as the 2022 World Cup to build a sustained love for sport? FIFA has some effective tips for parents watching with their young ones: Try gamification—play the daily match predictor; follow a team; don’t forget to focus on the fans.

Some parents have opted to travel to Qatar with their children to watch the matches live, but my favourite tip involves zero fuss and no pricey tickets. And it’s guaranteed to seed the love of sport in your child. Call a friend—preferably a woman—who is knowledgable about and loves football. I love all sports but I’m no expert in any, so I requested my friend and sportswriter Sharda Ugra to watch some matches with my child. If you’re the kind of parent who takes their children to bookstores every weekend or invests hours finding the perfect math tutor, do consider getting them a sports mentor.

“Kylian Mbappe is one of the best players,” my child said, showing her new guide she knew a thing or two about football and the French team. “Yup,” Ugra replied. “Milik said Poland will need a scooter to catch him. There are always two people marking him, but then the other defenders have to be much sharper.” More on their conversation later. 

Why should children inculcate a love for sports? It is the easiest way to understand weighty concepts such as sportsmanship. Where else can you get a ringside seat to watch the world’s best players handle victory and defeat in real time. Here, children can wordlessly grasp the power of not quitting. South Korea beat favourites Portugal in the 91st minute to advance. Japan topped a group that included Germany and Spain. “The lesson is you don’t get intimidated by reputation or size. You keep going, you harry, you try, you believe, you push, you sweat—because you never know,” my friend and sportswriter Rohit Brijnath says (too much name dropping in one column, I know).

Sports teaches you lessons in persistence and fair play. It is a great introduction to politics; it offers insights into how difficult the equal rights fight has been; and it teaches you how history is always the elephant in the room. The Ghana-Uruguay match was a different game if you knew what Uruguayan striker Luis Suárez did in 2010. I’m puzzled when people say they find sports boring.

A big game gives you access to inspiring success stories from across the world. How did Luka Modrić go from a young refugee who played with a punctured football in the midst of a civil war to the captain of the Croatian team? 

Even if my daughter doesn’t play competitive sport seriously, I consider it my basic parenting duty to ensure she learns to love all sport. I wrote a few years ago that I introduced her to female champions from the age of two. When Sharda Ugra came over for the Poland vs France match, the lessons flowed even before the match whistle. I tried to take notes: 

“Wales is amazing at singing the anthem,” Ugra said, pointing to all the praise the country has received in the tournament.

Ugra clearly explained the offside rule to my pre-teen. When she told my daughter about about the live-tracking sensor in the football, my 12-year-old had many questions: “What if a shoulder is ahead of the other team’s player?” “Too bad,” Ugra replied.

“Isn’t the Polish goalkeeper great? Is the Polish goalkeeper better or the French?” my daughter asked.

“Anyone who stops a Lionel Messi penalty is better,” Ugra replied. I don’t know if my daughter caught her wide grin. 

“The Polish goalkeeper is very tall. When he stands on his tippy toes he can touch the goal,” my child said. Ugra concurred with this wisdom. 

“Did you see that baby in the stands? Would you take an infant to a World Cup match?” A discussion followed. Short answer: Yes, but newborns can kindly excuse. 

“Who’s your favourite No. 10?” I’m embarrassed to report I asked Ugra this tiger mom question. “Zidane,” she replied. 

My daughter wanted to know how difficult it was for the goalkeeper to defend a free kick and Ugra explained that he was not the first line of defence. “But have you seen the Roberto Carlos free kick? In such a situation the goalkeeper can’t do anything,” she said. “Watch it, your mind will get fried.” 

The husband, who’s comfortable with high levels of oestrogen, chose this moment to air his knowledge: “Except for one player, all the other Frenchman are sons of immigrants.” He loves reading about sports but rarely watches live matches. He also contributed some bad jokes such as “Milik is drinking milk.” 

When France’s Olivier Giroud executed a bicycle kick, albeit after the referee blew the foul whistle, it was the perfect time to discuss Pele and Brazil, Ugra’s favourite team. “You should see Birth of A Legend. It’s on Netflix,” she told my daughter. The husband, always the contrarian, was rooting for Japan. He’ll have to pick a new team now. Embarrassingly, my favourites, Italy, didn’t made it to the World Cup for the second consecutive time. “Eleven stylish haircuts looking for a plan,” Ugra said about that team, quoting a headline she had read in The New York Times years ago.

“JE NE SAIS QUOIS!” We all loudly echoed the commentator after Mbappe scored his second goal out of nowhere. “In this World Cup, bizarre things have happened,” Ugra said. She quoted her favourite line from How To Watch Football by Rudd Gullit: “Football is a game of mistakes."  

Thanks to Ugra’s insights, my child’s match viewing experience was elevated. She felt like a junior expert on the game. Don’t ask me to explain how—je ne sais quois—but I know she’ll be hooked for years to come.

Priya Ramani is a Bengaluru-based journalist and is on the editorial board of Article-14.com.

The views expressed here are those of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views of BQ Prime or its editorial team.