After long months of lockdown due to coronavirus, we all miss our daily activities a little bit more every day. Futsal is no exception. School weeks at Rangjung Yeshe are intense with a lot of studies, readings, quizzes. On Friday night, however, it is futsal time, our very much needed appointment to conclude the week well. Futsal is great for body and mind. Playing one hour is enough to free the mind from the stress accumulated during the week, and to rejuvenate the body after a week sitting on the floor.

   But if you ask me why I love it I would answer that for me personally futsal is even more than that, for at least two reasons.

  On the one hand, it helps me realize how competition can become a very polluting state of mind. I started playing at a very young age, I played in clubs for a number of years where the atmosphere was dominated by competition. Instead of having fun while training, many young kids wanted to become somebody thanks to football. I never dreamed to become a successful player, maybe because I was never good enough. Whatever the reason, I was just enjoying playing and soon realized that competition would have only taken the fun out of the game. Every game I play now reminds me that, at the end, fun is just playing without thought of competition.

  On the other hand, what I probably enjoy the most is the freedom of playing futsal because then I am just a football player. Yes, while playing the game, the labels that we use to define people in our daily life which at times create discrimination and suffering, are simply not relevant anymore. There is no white, no black, no Buddhist, no Christian, no rich, no poor, no student, no teacher, nothing, it doesn’t matter, we just want to play football. Everybody is the same on the football pitch — we are a team and we cooperate. And amazingly, out of this freedom genuine friendships are born, which continue well beyond the hour we play. 

Matteo De Micheli