The most important lesson sports teaches us as human beings is teamwork. Sports brings people with different backgrounds, ethnic groups and races together to play as one team. A good example would be the Olympics where Brazil welcomed over 10,500 athletes from 206 countries. On an international playing field where all the rules are universally understood, the Olympic games are a true representation of peace, unity and solidarity. As International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said during his speech at the UNGA in New York in November 2013, “Sports is truly the only area of human existence which has achieved universal law.” Bach added “We are all the same and respect the same rules.” Sports is prescribed by psychologists all around the world as a great cure for stress. Exercise, experts say, reduces the level of hormones in our bodies helping us to be happier and healthier. Sports has also helped foster acceptance, understanding and inclusion while empowering people with disabilities through different games like; handball, hand cycling, wheelchair skateboarding and so many others. Athletes around the world have contributed to charities and some have even founded their own organisations that have helped millions of people, some of those foundations include; Lebron James Family Foundation, Tiger Woods Foundation, which are aimed at helping children access basic needs such as education, food and healthcare. Serge Gasore a former athlete, Genocide survivor, as well as the founder of Gasore Serge Foundation, has made a big impact on the country, where his foundation, also a local NGO, has organised a variety of programs like the annual 20km Bugesera race, inter community hub for children, Bugesera Women Cyclist Club and so many others. His foundation also gives loans to small families to help facilitate their daily needs. When asked why he chose sports as a medium of extending his help to the public, he said, “Sports is a language of its own that everyone understands, it promotes a special kind of unity where everyone abides by the same rules.” He added, “My background in sports helps me understand these growing athletes and provides them with all necessary equipment.” In his speech ahead of the landmark 20th Anniversary Laureus World Sports Award, in Monaco in 2000, former South African President Nelson Mandela said, “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair.”
