Skate Soccer - A Group Of Special Men Playing Football With A Touch Of Heart

Skate soccer, a game for specially-abled people and polio survivors, is gaining popularity all across Africa and the ‘Rollaball’ project is looking to bring this to the world’s attention by filming Ghana’s Rolling Rockets – a special team.

ai???However mean your life is, meet it and live it.ai???Ai??ai??i?? Henry David Thoreau.

A wise man once said that the easiest way to deal with problems in our lives is to look around and appreciate how lucky we are. While we complain about the lack of hike in salary, someone somewhere is struggling to earn his daily bread. When we are weighed down with the disappointment of not being able to afford a pair of sneakers from of our favourite brand, there are people who havenai??i??t experienced what it feels like to walk or run. At a certain point in life, one has to stop for a while and be grateful for what we have, a thing that might be a ai???necessityai??i?? for you, is likely to be a ai???luxuryai??i?? for someone else.

Football has come a long way since its inception. Like most sports it started out as a means of entertainment and has slowly been commercialized into one of the most high profile professions. Being the most followed sports in the world and the huge media attention that it garners has elevated footballers to the status of celebrities. Ai??Big name players are earning millions, from bothAi??the clubs and the sponsorships, yet there is always this need for more. Players and agents holding clubs to ransom is perhaps the most common story in every transfer window. A lot of purist and former players have lamented that the sport is slowly losing one of the most important values that constituted this game – loyalty.

Away from all this madness and media frenzy, somewhere in the streets of Ghana, few specially abled men are reliving football the way it was meant to be ai??i?? this is the story of RollingAi??Rockets, a skate soccer team from Ghana.

A recent report suggests that Ghana are close to completely eradicating Polio from the nation, a disease which has affected thousands in the past. People who were lucky to survive this disease, where usually left with a struggle for existence for the rest of their lives. Social stigma and their disability force them to lead a life of impoverishment and isolation. That until Albert K. Frimpong, executive director of Sports and Youth development Organisation in Ghana, decided to do something about it.

He understood that these men, the polio survivors, needed something to special to take them away from the life they are leading at the moment and skate soccer provided them with that opportunity. The Sports originally developed in Nigeria, later spread across Ghana and is now slowly being made popular in whole of Africa.

The sport in itself is intriguing and is designed to cater to these specially abled people. It follows nearly every rule of normal football, except that the players use their hand instead of feet. The players move around the pitch while sitting on specially made skates, which are locally made, and the ball is also lighter than normal football.

The sport of course doesnai??i??t provide them with a living as of yet, and the players still have to beg for their livelihood. They travel on the road with their skateboards and have to depend on the whims of passing commuters to raise the money they need to feed themselves. Some of them even have a family to feed. This also comes with a lot of risk as a lot of them have been injured and even killed by speeding vehicles. Everyday these amazingly brave men fight for their survival, except for Sundays. On Sundays they gather to practice skate soccer, it is a day they live the rest of the week for.

The most important thing that this sport provides for them is hope. Hope for a better life, hope to achieve something and hope to survive. The moment they touch down on the pitch and the ball starts rolling, it takes them away from all their troubles and they experience something which you and I are lucky enough to experience every day ai??i?? freedom. Sports can free a soul like none other and this is exactly what football was initially meant to be.

The next step of this wonderful project is to popularise this sports and bring mass attention towards it. The sports is yet to feature in Paralympics and a lot of people are working hard behind the scenes to provide skate soccer the recognition it deserves. Albert K. Frimpong is also pushing to organise a continent wide tournament where players from all across Africa can come together and celebrate skate soccer.

ai???The first game of skate soccer was in Lagos, Nigeria, but itai??i??s now spread throughout West Africa. We played our first international game recently against Nigeria and are hoping to host an Africa Cup of Nations next year.ai??? – Albert K. Frimpong said.

Eddie Edwards, who has won awards for his sports documentary ai???The Flightai???, is directing a movie named ‘Rollaball’ in order to promote skate soccer outside Africa. The project is being crowd funded through kickstarter and has already received a good response. The film is still in production and they are hoping to release it before the 2014 FIFA world Cup in Brazil.

Shelley Barry, a social activist and film director, is the associate producer for this movie and believes that this documentary can elevate the status of this sports and make a pitch for its inclusion in the next edition of Paralympics.

ai???Who decides which sports are played at the Paralympics and what criteria are used? Skate soccer is one of the most gripping sports Iai??i??ve ever seen, so itai??i??s a shame that its inspiring athletes wonai??i??t be represented at the games, purely because until now the players havenai??i??t had the resources available to campaign successfully for its inclusion. We want this documentary to help change that.ai??? ai??i?? She explained.

The eventual aim is to make this a professional sport for these players so that they can stop begging and be self-sufficient. But there is still a long way to go before that can be achieved. These players dream of representing their countries on the international stage someday. For director Eddie Edwards, this has been a humbling experience and he has expressed how these special sportsmen have been an inspiration for him.

ai???When I first met the team two years ago, I knew they were something special. These guys face massive challenges off the pitch, as polio is still stigmatized in Ghana, so many of them live on the streets and beg for a living. But despite all the odds, theyai??i??re incredible athletes who deserve to be stars. They have inspired something in me and I believe theyai??i??ll inspire many others. Both on and off the field, their stories are legendary.ai??? ai??i?? Edward said.

Nature has a way of balancing things out: while these players have been harshly limited in their physical abilities, they have the mental strength to deal with something like this and come out on the top. Make no mistake about their ability as athletes though; they have made the most of what they have. Perhaps the least we, as fans and media, can do is to support this sport.

The next time you kick a ball, just remember how lucky you are to be able to do so.

***

The details about the Rollaball movie and its project is available here. You can also support them through their facebook page.

Tags: Skate Soccer

Skate Soccer – A Group Of Special Men Playing Football With A Touch Of Heart

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