The journey I have had on this Health and Sports Science study abroad in Santiago with Universidad de los Andes has been an amazing experince! Since part of our cultural immersions have to do with this discipline, I have mostly talked about the food side of health and the Chilean food culture. However, I have also been given a taste for sports and found this be the perfect time to talk about the importance of soccer (futbol) for many countries, especially Chile.
The first week here I quickly learned that soccer was an important part of culture. It is on many of the TV stations and always playing at various restaurants and bars. Even the children in school are allowed to pull out their phones and watch soccer in class. Thus, my immersion into a culture that values soccer for more than just the game itself began.
The first major experince I had with soccer here was watching the paralympic soccer practice session. It was humbling to see a game that went beyond physical disabilities due to cerebral palsy or as a result of traumatic accidents. These paralympic athletes we skilled and talented at sport even if they may have had some set backs when compared to other athletes with no physical disability. For these young men, it was apparent that this brought them energy and confidence in themselves as an elite athlete.
My understanding of soccer and it's role in Chile became deeper through a lecture we had this week from Professor Cristobal Benavides. The most significant understanding I gained from his lecture was how soccer is a sport that crosses and sometimes overcomes socioeconomic barriers. The teams bring the best players together, no matter the where they live or how much money they have. This is similar to what I have seen sports do in the United States. Furthermore, Cristobal explained how people from any socioeconomic class play soccer in Chile. The game may look different at times, with less players or maybe the ball is made out of many socks and there are no cleats or shin guards, but it is still fundamentally played the same. Don't touch the ball with your hands and score some goals. I know this is breaking soccer down to the very basic, but sometimes that is all people need to play to get through the day and have a good time.
We later went to a stadium for one of the club teams in Chile.: Colo Colo. As I visited Colo Colo stadium, I learned even more about the commitment to the sport. The sport is so serious that barbed wire separates the home and visitors teams and there are barriers between fans, super fans, and opposing team fans. I also learned that the mascot is a Mapuche, an indigenous person of Chile.
I know some of you are waiting to see how this relates to food. Like my last post, I saved it for the end. The most interesting thing I have learned about how food and sports relate is that eating and drinking during soccer games is not common. At home during an athletic event, countless vendors sell pretzels, beers, sodas, nachos, and hot dogs. In Chile, they don't nearly have as many places in stadiums to purchase food and alcohol is not allowed in the stadium because it could lead to negative outcomes (chaos, fights, and other things of the such). Though this is very different from home, it is quite refreshing because sports are more focused on the actual game rather than the social aspects associated with spending money on food during games. From this perspective, I would say that Chile does not focus as much on the profits that can be made from food and entertainment during games as we do in the United States.
Maybe I will watch more soccer once I get back to Dayton!