Pilgrims Progress column with Erik Peeters: The Joy of the Game
As an avid sports fan, I have rather enjoyed our bumper summer of sports. Though, it wasn’t so much the razzmatazz and bombast of the “biggest ever” men’s Football World Cup that got me.
What got me was the passion and sheer exuberance of the women’s Champions League, the women’s T20 World Cup and before that the women’s Rugby Six Nations. Because the people playing in them do so out of genuine passion for their sport, and the joy and the privilege of doing so on a world stage.
Watching Marizanne Kapp, South African all-rounder, charge in to bowl with a ferocity that belies her 36 years, is an absolute joy, as is the guile of Sophie Ecclestone, England’s top women’s bowler, and the batting power of Danni Wyatt-Hodge. The speed of thought and vision of French scrum-half Pauline Bourdon Sansus sparkled amongst the power and grit of the English scrum, and to watch Barcelona Feminine take on Arsenal’s women in the Champions League semi-final was a spectacle of attacking intent, creative flair and absolutely committed defence.
What was a breath of fresh air was that despite their status as superheroes and icons in their respective sports, these women don’t strut, don’t cheat, don’t play it safe in order to avoid defeat. They play to win but more than that they play for the sheer joy of it, the exhilarating fun of doing what they are best at to entertain and astonish those who come to watch.
To watch them play is for me a gift, is to feel some of the same joy and enthusiasm invade me, too, and make me see again the beauty of what it is to be human.
My hope is that over this summer, we will all find the space and time to do something we love – a sport, a hobby, a craft – for the simple joy of it.
Erik Peeters, Wakefield Cathedral