Giving kids the 'Right To Play'

I have just returned from the best training week of my life, and I don't just mean for the Olympics.

Somewhat strangely, it took place in Monrovia, Liberia, an area not particularly known for its table tennis pedigree. But for four sun-up-to-sun-down days in a row, I played nonstop and had more fun there than a kid with two lollipops in hand at Disneyland.

A big reason for this is because Liberia has some of the most enthusiastic "training partners" one can find. They let me join in on every game with welcome arms and smiles that can stretch across the Atlantic.

Never mind the fact that some were as young as 3 years old. I wasn't there to play table tennis.

I am an Athlete Ambassador for an athlete-driven international humanitarian organization called Right To Play. Lead by Johann Olav Koss, Norway's four-time Olympic gold medalist in speed skating, Right To Play has the mission of creating a healthier and safer world for children using the vehicle of sport and play.

Together with five international Athlete Ambassadors, most of whom probably will compete in next summer's Olympics, we traveled to Liberia to see the Right To Play programs in action, and the scene was more dazzling than a fireworks show. As a sports fan, I never have witnessed anything so exciting, and as a human being, I have never been so touched. This just shows how well sport, as a medium for entertainment, can be used to better lives, and it is this basic concept that initially drew my attention and interest to the organization.

Right To Play operates by building a team in each of the 24 countries it operates in and recruits and trains local volunteers as coaches. These coaches then go into their communities to teach and involve children in specially designed games. Right To Play games have the purpose of fostering healthy physical, social and emotional skills and behaviors, and the games fall into categories of mind, body, spirit, health and peace, each symbolized by the five colors of the Olympic rings.

The ultimate goal of a Right To Play project site is to empower the local community to continue and sustain the programs. The Liberia operation, less than 18 months old, already has hundreds of active coaches who give their time at least twice a week to engage some 20,000 children, bringing communities together like never before. For an area with an estimated unemployment rate of 85 percent, these volunteer coaches are inspiration personified. Playing games with 50 fifth-graders for an hour is taxing to say the least, and I'll have to keep these coaches in mind the next time I want to complain in practice.

For the children in Liberia, Right To Play programs give them an opportunity and a space to play, and in a way that benefits their lives. My heart wrenched at the sight of the bullet-ridden lamp posts that have yet to be replaced, a result of Liberia's devastating civil war. But it was forgotten amongst us all when dozens of happy and hopeful kids rushed toward our team faster than they could sprint to an unattended ice cream truck, inviting us to play with them.

Watching the impact of sport on the development of so many young children made me want to yell out a million thank yous to the sport gods -- and to Johann Olav Koss -- for supplying such effective means to reach out to kids in these disadvantaged regions of the world.

One day, I competed in a three-legged race with a shy 11-year-old boy in rural Kakata. We mapped out our offensive plan like a quarterback in a huddle: Our joined middle leg was to step out first on a "one" count, and then each of our free legs would skip out on "two." Soon, our rhythm was a natural jog and we finished with raised arms, excited to win our race.

At the end of a game, all the children join hands in a circle to discuss the merit, difficulties, and applications of what was just played. My new friend was not so shy now, having just been cheered on by all of his peers, and he spoke out clearly: "You will have a hard time if you don't communicate and cooperate with your partner -- but if you do, you can go really fast."

In a world that permits and sometimes even encourages a self-centered nature, I watched these children always want to pass the ball. The ability to pass the ball -- to "look after yourself, look after one another" as the guiding philosophy of Right To Play advocates -- will go a long way in this world, and in a realm that extends past sports and games.

So how was this my greatest week of training? Well, I was simply reminded why I'm an athlete. My thoughts, especially while here in Beijing, have been focused on the idea of making the Olympic team, and I've strayed from the spirit of sport.

It came back to me every time I heard laughter because of a silly game, every time a child's eyes grew like a waxing moon upon hearing a compliment from a Right To Play coach, every time fair play rules were followed, and especially that time when our Athlete Ambassador team of Olympians got schooled on a remote dirt soccer field by 10-year-olds.

We are so fortunate to have sport in our daily lives, and I'd encourage a quick reflection as to why we love to watch and to follow and to play. I forgot for a second, but I'm back: It's about fun, and development, and inter-connectivity, which can all lead to Right To Play's mission of a safer and healthier world.

I saw what sport can do, and I wanted to share it here. So let's also never forget how important it is that every child has the opportunity to reap all the benefits that sport offers, and let's see it through that every child has the Right To Play.