Why the name Second Touch

Football is often called the "Beautiful Game" due to the constant movement of the ball and the gracefulness of the players. 11 players per side share the ball, each unselfishly passing the ball with only “one touch” so that the ball continues to move as the offensive players probe the defense looking for the opportunity to attack and score. If any one player becomes too much of a “ball hog”, possessing the  ball for 3, 4 or more touches the whole games slows down as the other players wait to see what that player will do. Football can become a metaphor for the world and life. We are all part of a giant game of football each desiring to touch the ball, but knowing full well, that it’s in the best interest of the game, to think beforehand where we will play the ball, then gracefully and skillfully playing it to the open player. What if we live life in the same way, knowing in advance that all of the good blessings that come to us should be enjoyed only briefly and then passed unselfishly to the next open player?

This ideal encapsulates the concept of Second Touch – using a soccer jersey or cleats, or shorts, or a ball and then passing those items off to another to also use and enjoy. This keeps the blessings in motion so that many others can experience the same joy of playing. With this idea in mind, we’re initiating a program to collect old soccer uniforms, cleats and balls that will no longer be used by individuals on clubs and recreation programs here, so that we can send those uniforms and balls to teams in Africa. It’s important to collect many of the same uniforms, in various sizes, so that the second team to wear the uniforms can have the right size and all players can look “uniform”. Having a nice game jersey will be something that the African players can feel proud of and will help bring about team unity.  

If you’re interested in helping out with this effort, contact other parents on your son’s or daughter’s team to see if they too would donate their uniform at the end of the season. We’ll collect them all and then have them sent to Kenya or another African country with a team that is going over for mission work.

Thanks for keeping the ball moving and sharing the blessing!

Action step – let Sarah or I know that you would be willing to coordinate collecting uniforms for a team.