Wednesday, October 26, 2022

Remembering my son's multicultural youth football team in Riehen, Switzerland

My son Miles played junior football at Amicitia Riehen for eight years (from the ages of 6 to 14). The players and coaches spoke Basel German all the time, but many of the players spoke other languages as well: High German, English (American, British, and Irish), Turkish, Serbian, and perhaps one or two others I have forgotten. Once, the coach took advantage of one player's English and asked me to shout out to him that he should try to score directly from the free kick he was about to take, so I shouted, "Shoot for a goal!" And the boy took aim and fired a perfect shot just under the crossbar. (Andrew Shields, #111words, 26 October 2022)

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