Make a Difference and Participate on September 17, 2015
Soccer News: The mission of Make Your Own Ball Day is to use a ball to help kids create, connect, give, appreciate, and play. MYOBD promotes and supports the passions of kids for sport and uses soccer as a platform for change.
Mark Spiegel is the founder of Make Your Own Ball Day. Spiegel was born in Lee’s Summit, Missouri on the historic Florence Avenue. While growing up in a football family, Spiegel found soccer to be his passion and followed it to Butler University where he played center-mid for the Bulldogs. A traumatic brain injury cut his collegiate playing career short yet spurred on his pursuit of coaching. Spiegel has been fortunate enough to travel the world and in his adventures realized that he communicated best when playing soccer with the locals.
Spiegel is the Academy Director for a club on the south side of Indy called South Central Soccer Academy where he teaches 8, 9 and 10 year olds the game he loves.
The goal with MYOBD is to teach and promote not only the love of the game, the skills and, fundamentals needed to play it, but also bigger life lessons like character, leadership and service. This day was created to get young players to slow down for a second and think about how lucky we are. To get them to remember that soccer is just a game and that the world does not revolve around us.
The day has its roots in an invitation to go overseas and serve at some orphanages in Uganda through Mark Spiegel’s church. While the trip for him eventually fell through, Spiegel was impacted by the research, the discussions, and the videos. Then at while coaching at South Central Soccer Academy, Spiegel witnessed an abundance of material to the point of excess. A boy showed up to training with a brand new soccer ball because he had lost his at practice the night before. Spiegel had found the ball left at the fields and had it waiting for the player at training. The player now had two soccer balls while others had none. The idea was born.
Two weeks later, the eight, nine and ten year old players at SCSA came to training with a homemade soccer ball. They had watched the same videos of kids homeless and playing on the street that Spiegel did and they discussed them with their parents as they made their own ball. At training, the free play atmosphere was complete with the players playing barefoot with the misshapen soccer balls. Music accompanied the night to make it more fun and the night ended with a talk about gratitude, thankfulness, giving and perspective. The conversation had begun and the ball was our chosen language.
The first ever “Make Your Own Ball Day” was held in September of 2012.
Since the first Make Your Own Ball Day the excitement has picked up steam each year. The coaches call it “The Greatest Night of the Year” and the kids follow suit. The parents seem to understand the vision and have sent emails filled with videos, stories and pictures of them creating the balls with their players. This event has become a catalyst for the community and culture of the clubs that participate as young players play with old and girls play with boys. We have also witnessed friendships made between parents of kids on different teams within the same club.
The making of a ball makes us think about the game and what goes into it. And Spiegel challenges you to make a ball and not play with it. It is impossible to resist the game.
“The day is one of joy, said Spiegel. “Kids have the pressure of it all stripped away for a moment and as a coach, you are reminded that this is just a game. We have learned a lot from this event. We have learned about the power of invitation.
We have learned about the power of a ball and the language we have in common with those around the world when we have it at our feet.
We learn to play. We learn to give back. We learn that without action following truth, lives are not changed. We have learned that it is alright to be a kid for the day. We have learned that challenging kids of any age to think about hard issues is possible and is beneficial. We have learned to give. We have learned to make a ball, make a friend and make an impact.
Share your photos/videos using #YSMMOYBD or #YSM2015
