WNE Soccer... A Buddhist soccer team?

Composed of 29 college students ranging from seventeen to twenty-two years old, we are a soccer club that wants to win and have had success doing so. Finishing with a record of 16-5-3 in this past Fall campaign, the Western New England University's Men's Soccer team is driven to find success. However, how is this achieved? Hard work and dedication are both contributions. In my personal opinion our Buddhist view of the game has brought us a range of short and long terms successes. Throughout our team from coach to players, we believe that 'Doing the right things now will benefit us in the future'. This does not refer to scoring goals but applies throughout our personal lives. Being a good citizen, a proper student, and attentive family member. A phrase that is said almost every practice is, 'Do the little things!' referring to doing the small things in your life that others are leaving out. We feel that our success not only comes from our performance on the field but our actions off it.

Reading 'The Buddha and his Teachings', Kamma is widely spoken of throughout chapters 17 through 20. It is spoken about in a degree that it is what determines your lifestyle and how you are blessed with looks, intelligence, and physical features.  Reading in chapter 19 it is stated, "the significance of the Buddha’s enigmatic statement: 'We are the heirs of our own actions.'(Hanh, Ch19)". Although a short statement, this represents everything that Buddhism explains about Kamma in the chapters involving Kamma. In a Buddhist's view Kamma determines the majority of your life. When reading the statement I immediately made a connection to the soccer club I play for. Although we do not participate in a complete Buddhist view, there are strong traces that our team believes in the role of Kamma. We may be winning directly from scoring on the field, but we believe that our actions off the field throughout our individual lives pave the future for the success of the team. A Buddhist may not feel that 'winning' comes from Kamma but this is our form of happiness in a team setting. I personally have come to believe this Kamma-like idea based on my experiences with other teams. I have been a part of teams with equal talent but lacked the right actions off the field. We would play great soccer but would not have any 'luck' on the field.  WNE Men's soccer may be known for our success on the pitch but it is the kamma-like believe that influences our actions off the field that I feel directly correlate to this success.

Citation:

  Nhá̂t, Hạnh. The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy & Liberation.     New York: Broadway, 1999. Online.