As Grandes Pequenas Coisas / The Big Little Things

Read in English below

***PT:
Algo interessante de lidar com outras realidades é relembrar coisas que já vivemos, e voltar a vê-las com certa inocência. Semana passada os alunos da Escola de Volcancito participaram de um campeonato de futebol, entre as escolas da cidade, e eu, o professor de educação física (cof cof!), fui acompanhá-los.

Não existe uma equipe da escola de Volcancito - na verdade, os jogadores da equipe eram aqueles que os pais assinaram um papelzinho permitindo que eles fossem ao campeonato. A fundação em que estou conseguiu uma van para levar as crianças para o campeonato, e as 8 em ponto estavam nossos "atletas" fazendo fila, animados, comentando quem ia ser zagueiro, goleiro ou atacante. Fomos conversando no caminho e quando estávamos já perto os meninos diziam que estavam nervosos: "ah, tengo miedo!". Eu achei que era drama, afinal era só um jogo de pelada entre crianças.

"só um joguinho para as crianças se divertirem"

Chegamos lá e havia uma mesa dessas de plástico, com uma senhora que anotava o nome da escola, e um troféu de plástico dourado, nada pomposo, e toda aquela molecada jogando bola, "esquentando" enquanto as outras escolas chegavam. Outra vez pensei: normal, é só um joguinho para para as crianças se divertirem. Mas ao mesmo tempo, os meninos estavam mais nervosos, o olhavam os adversários desconhecidos, comentando "quantos anos será que ele tem?!".

Time da Escola de Volcancito

Aí eu percebi que EU estava vendo aquilo com olhos de adulto, e lembrei dos meus 8-10 anos, do frio na barriga que eu sentia quando ia nas competições de natação (sim, natação, pois futebol não era meu forte...): na minha visão, aquilo era como as olimpíadas - os pais estavam ali, crianças de outros clubes, medalhas, as pessoas iam me ver nadando...E claro, eu ficava nervoso! Agora, aqueles meninos estavam ali, havia um trofeu de ouro (somente um adulto diz plástico dourado), havia adversários mais experientes, alguns pais foram a ver seus filhos jogarem...uau, aquilo era a copa do mundo pra eles!

Pode por a culpa no técnico

Então eu tomei aquele pequeno-grande campeonato em sério: vamos tomar uma foto da equipe, vamos organizar o time, tentando ser o Zagalo da seleção pra aqueles meninos, encorajando eles - e com certeza eu estava meio ridículo ali, afinal eu não sei nada de futebol.

Bem, o meninos se esforçaram, correram, fizeram um gol (contra), e, infelizmente, perdemos de 3x0. O meu consolo para eles foi que houve outro time que perdeu de 13x1, então tínhamos jogado bem...Mas, aqui entre nós, a culpa foi mesmo é do técnico que nem sabia o que era impedimento!

***EN:

Something interesting about being in touch with another reality is remembering things that we have already lived, and see them again with some naivety. Last week, the students from Volcancito participated on soccer championship, with other schools from the city. So, I, the physical education teacher (cough, cough!), was there with the kids.

There is no soccer team in the school of Volcancito – actually, the players we had were the ones whose parents signed a paper with an authorization for them to leave the school that day. The foundation in which I am arranged a van to take the kids to the championship, and at 8am all our athletes were there, lined up, exited, talking about who would be the goal keeper, defender or attack. As we talked in our way to the other school, some of the boys were saying that they were nervous: “ah, tengo miedo!”. I thought that it was a bit of an overreaction, as it was only an ordinary match, with children.

"this is just an ordinary kids game."

We got there, and there was this plastic table, with this lady that would write down the schools names, besides this golden plastic trophy, nothing fancy. Meanwhile, the other children were warming up in mini soccer matches. Again, I thought: no big deal, this is just an ordinary kids game for them to have fun. But, at the same time, the Volcancito boys were getting more anxious, watching their unknown opponents, saying: “how old do you think he is?”.

Volcancito School team

And then I noticed that I was seeing all that with the eyes of an adult, and I remembered of when I was 8-10, and would have butterflies in my stomach when I would go to the swimming competitions (right, swimming because I have always sucked at soccer…): from my perspective, those competitions were like the Olympics – parents were there, other kids from other clubs, medals, people that were watching me swim…And sure, I would be nervous! Now, those kids were there, there was this trophy made of gold (well, only an adult says it is golden plastic), there were more experienced opponents, some parents watching their kids…wow, that was the world cup for them!

You can blame it on the coach

So, I took that little-big championship seriously: lets a take a photo of the team, lets get the team organized, and I was trying to be THE coach of that selection, encouraging them – and for sure I was being ridiculous somehow, after all I know nothing about soccer.

Well, the boys played hard, they ran, they made a goal (own goal), and, unfortunately, we lost 3x0. My support to the kids was that there was this other school that lost 13x1, so our result was not that bad… But, off records, you can blame the loss on the coach – he did not even know what was the off-side rule!