The Value of Fun

by Ryan Pelley SportWORKS Officer | Saint Helena on April 26, 2013

I have a speech coming up tomorrow.
 
I have been invited to open up Athletics Day for the primary schools here on St Helena. The event will involve various sports, such as sprinting, relay, high jump and long jump for students aged six to eleven years old.
 
Throughout the past weeks, I have spent a bit of time tagging along with Nick Stevens, who is the Vice Chairman here at the National Amateur Sport Association of St Helena (NASAS), as well as the founder of New Horizons Youth Club—which uses sport as a tool to teach young people about various matters, such as living a healthy lifestyle. Alongside Mr Stevens and his staff, we trained the students in preparation for the upcoming event. While assisting, I started to think about what I was going to say to these youngsters during my opening speech.
 
How would I advocate my message about the importance of sport and development in a way that would resonate with this age group?
 
I have heard it is good to know your crowd if you want to get your message across, with this in mind, I began to think back to when I was young so that I could remember what sport meant to me at this age. At six, it was not about addressing sport’s ability to contribute to the improvement of society or its ability to open doors to a committed athlete down the road. It was simply about having fun. At six, I spent my time chasing a soccer ball around, spilling orange juice all over myself or digging a hole to China in my backyard with my brother.
 
This brings me to my next point—which happens to not be about actually trying to dig a hole to China and the various implications of such an action—but rather about the value of having fun. While having fun engaging in sport growing up, I was taught many things without even really knowing it at the time. I look back now and see how sport has taught me much that has contributed to my growth as a person; about the value of uniting people together for a common goal, about the magical feeling of success after a long and hard road of commitment, and really about how the love for what you choose to do can take you to great heights.
 
I am fortunate to do something I care about and although challenging at times, I have a lot of fun. Valuing fun is one of the most significant decisions I have made—one that could have been made much easier if I had the ability to have a chat with my six year old self covered in orange juice about what I should do with my life. As we grow up, responsibility is something we must take on, but not at the detriment of fun. I look to value both equally when I wake up every morning and work to allow them to complement each other—doing so has brought me to some pretty special places so far.
 
So tomorrow, when I address the couple hundred kids at Athletics Day, I will be sure to talk about the importance of fun.
 
Cheers from Day 60 on St Helena,
 
Ryan