Young fans of professional baseball, basketball, hockey, and soccer already know their favorite teams depend on the skills of foreign players like Brazil's soccer star, Neymar. Franklin Foer's personal interest in soccer led to the international perspective he describes in How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization. As an example of the way globalization should work, Foer points to the Barca soccer club of Barcelona, capital of Spain's Catalonia region and the 1992 Olympic city remembered for the archer who lit the games' flame with a burning arrow. Reflecting Barcelona's history as a Mediterranean trader willing and able to make a deal with foreigners, Foer holds up Barca as a model of nationalism without enemies or the desire to dominate the world. On the other hand, Foer criticizes multinational companies that use soccer in advertising campaigns that target all consumers alike. He believes globalization needs to respect each country's national character.
While all sports may not lead to a theory of globalization, in years when the summer and winter Olympics are televised, young people may develop an interest in sports other than soccer, football, basketball, and baseball. Little girls start to dream of taking their places on the world's figure skating stage with South Korea's Kim Yu-na or becoming gymnasts like Gabby Douglas. Young boys set out to compete around the world like Apolo Ohno or Michael Phelps. If true to the goal set by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the friendly competition of the modern Olympiads can help create internaitonal goodwill and lead to a happier, more peaceful world.
Not only in Olympic years, but every year, sports can draw kids into the potentially friendly and peaceful world of international competition. Flags, foreign languages, and local landmarks are on display at numerous events such as the Australian Open tennis championships, World Grand Prix auto races, the America's Cup, and Tour de France cycling races. Sumo wrestling, native to Japan, now has competitors and fans from the U.S., Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Russia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Bulgaria. Those who watch the professional women's golfing tour know up to 40% of competitors come from Asia. On the sidelines, no country has a monopoly on producing professional coaches, scientists developing growth hormone tests, engineers revolutionizing athletic equipment, or, yes, noisemakers for cheering teams to victory. Investigations involving Lance Armstrong and Marion Jones revealed how important the role of non-athletes is in exposing cheaters and leveling the playing fields in the Olympics and other sporting events. On a lighter note, thousands will be grateful to the inventor of the new maraca-sounding caxirola that will replace the annoying vuvuzela at the 2014 World Cup soccer matches in Brazil. In short, there are many roles for children who gain global awareness because of their interest in sports.
The recurve bow was created by the Mongols to make archery easier for horseback and on certain terrains. The recurve bow spread quickly through the known world and reached North America soon. It is the basis for the modern compound bow, which many professional competitors and bowhunters use today. This is another example of how "sports" spread.
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