Marina Izidro: Wishes for sport in 2023

In 2023, I want women to continue occupying spaces in sport that until recently weren’t even offered to them. May female participation continue to grow in newsrooms, may we have more and more narrators, commentators, referees and assistants, coaches, professionals in technical areas at clubs. In the coming year, the Women’s Football World Cup in Australia and New Zealand will bring more visibility, but it will not be something one-off and inspire boys and girls.

As interest in the sport begins in childhood, I hope that parents increasingly take their sons and daughters to watch and practice it. The so-called “transformative power of sport” is not a catchphrase, it really exists. It teaches children, from an early age, values ​​such as discipline, knowing how to win and lose (something so important nowadays), team spirit, determination, honesty, in addition to making a fundamental contribution to health, education and culture.

For this to happen, I have another wish: that our governments invest in free public access to sport, and any measure can make a difference. Whether conserving a square where it is possible to practice physical exercises, a soccer field, a volleyball court, an athletics track, the bike paths of neighborhoods, cities, states. And that those who have power thanks to our vote also think about sectors like security and transport, so that people can go and take their families with peace of mind to stadiums, arenas, gymnasiums.

I wish good management to the future Minister of Sports, Ana Moser, who helped Brazil win the first Olympic medal in women’s volleyball, bronze in Atlanta in 1996, and who will have the immense challenge of restoring the portfolio to the status of a ministry after he was demoted to special secretary by the government. And that federal investment is not focused only on high performance, but mainly on the base, on school sports, so that we have more chances of having many Anas in the future.

And as the peak of an athlete’s career is to compete in the Olympic Games or a World Cup, I hope (and this is difficult, I know) that organizations and entities that decide which country will have the enormous privilege of hosting major sporting events take into account criteria technical, human, sustainability and legacy in their choices, and who are not guided in the short term by power and greed.

Finally, the last item on the wishlist is about idols. This week, we say goodbye to one of the biggest of them. Pelé, a boy from humble beginnings who became a king through talent and hard work, transcended sport and did more for Brazil’s image than any ruler.

For many of us who are out of the country, it is so comforting to hear “Pé-lé” with an accent and always followed by a smile when we say we are Brazilian, as a way of starting a conversation with a stranger.

Most foreigners may not be able to speak Portuguese, but the whole world can say “Pelé.” And this connection with the side of football that worked instantly brings us back to that pride of being born in Brazil, even at times when we doubt it a little. Therefore, I would like us to reflect on who we “elect” as our idols today, and that they know the responsibility of the place they occupy, as Pelé always did. Happy 2023.