Kayla Fus
Dr. Idol
YOUT 220-001
10 April, 2023
Youth Culture Experience
I live in Lynchburg and have gotten the privilege to continue to watch my little brothers
play their games while I am in college. My 12 year old brother has flag football games every
Sunday, and I attended this past Sunday and really chose to watch the environment he is in every
week for practice and games. It is a broken environment. He used to play for a league for our
church and has recently aged out of the league. It is eye opening. I look around and I see boys
playing for different reasons. Playing to impress girls, to do well for their fathers, and some
playing because they truly love the game. I watched as the boys interected with each other. If one
made a bad pass, or dropped the ball, his teammates would react. They would scream, or place
blame. In contrast, if the team did well they were excited. I watched as the boys took what is
supposed to be just a game, into something very serious. The teams’ coaches are colleged aged
boys, they didn’t have as much experience as other coaches. Their opinions were more
passionate, more immature. They took things play by play, whereas an experienced coach may
not have. I looked around and watched as many parents were heavily involved. As a middle
school boy, this flag football game should not be life or death. But I sat and watched many
fathers yell at their boy for playing in the game. I also watched as a lot of moms were gathered
and gossiping about certain players on the team. I looked around and saw brokenness in this
world. The whole environment is so different from the league he was playing for at our church.
In a worldview, nothing is centered around Jesus. They are there to win, and to play well. As an
older sister, I was proudly watching my little brother play. He was able to get a pick six in this
past game and we were so proud of him. I watched as he celebrated with his teammates, as we
have taught him to be excited, but not conceded. The way he grew up playing sports was a lot
different than most of his teammates. His coach knows that my brother attends church, and who
he is and asked him to pray before the game. Yes, many of these people are broken and are not
centered around Christ, but that doesn’t mean we can’t bring light into their dark worlds. Overall,
I think going to the game with open eyes was all new to me. I noticed more things and was able
to view public games in a new light.
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