My three years of formation in Lavigerie House Jinja and PCJ has
been greatly influenced by sports, particularly football in which I fully
participate. Formation in this house involved listening, practice, focusing, endurance, patience, punctuality and team
work (community life). I have experienced all these aspects in
football sport. Football is a team sport in which there must be team or
community. For any good results in a football match, there must be coordination
among the team members. This coordination does not begin during the time of the
game but during training. In a football team there is always different
capabilities, for instance ball control juggling and heading, hence players
have different skills. This difference in abilities bring about compatibility
and hence completeness of the team. This has helped me to learn to accept the
difference of the gifts among students and other people at large. This calls
for humility and patience knowing that some people can do certain things and
others cannot so I should not expect everyone to fit into my pattern of
life. Such attitude towards my brothers` abilities helps me to be
accommodative and understanding of other people.
Even though I learnt to play football as a young boy, I always do
practice in this sport to improve or learn a new skill in it. As the saying
goes “practice makes perfect” during this practice I get an
opportunity to concentrate and focus with ease because there is no pressure as
compared to when it is in a game situation. Hence, it becomes possible for me
to perfect the skill before the game. In formation, different duties are
assigned to me, take an example when am my house Tobie Kiza is on liturgy and
then my room is in charge, I will do adequate preparation and through such
preparation I discover some other things concerning liturgy the whole
process turns to be a learning process.
Last year at PCJ I happened to be the sports secretary. This
position really exposed me to sports and life both in formation and outside
formation. I learned many life skills through sports management and
participation at PCJ. I have developed strong communication skills as I addressed sports meetings and through
these meeting I have also developed an ability to persuade or influence others
or mobilize people and move them to act positively. Sports meetings and
encounter are quiet detailed therefore through these I have developed an
ability to pay attention to details and to be creative. Perseverance is a
virtue of a sports person and a leader. As a sports secretary and a football
player I had several unpleasant encounters during the sports meetings and game.
Because of this I had to be more patient and enduring and therefore I developed
quiet a high mental and emotional endurance and also problem solving skills.
Later on after the course of conflict transformation with Fr. Yago, I think I
can engage in a conflict transformation process in the sports field.
All the above skills which I have learned from sports
have really helped in information. Through endurance I have been able to
sustain time in different methods of prayer such as meditation and benediction
without any feelings of fatigue. Community life has been manageable due to
understanding and accommodating different opinions, ideas and personalities
from my brothers. Disappointments are inevitable in both formation and secular
life. Right now in formation I am able to accept challenges and different
disappointments. I really appreciate the gift and the talent of sports which
God has endowed into us for such purposes. I believe all people have different
sports talents therefore one has to discover it within him or her. I thank
other gifted people like Fr. Yago who come out to discover other peoples
talents through self awareness.
Peter Bwire