(ANSA) — ROME, MAY 6 — Pope Francis on Saturday told tennis and padel teachers and players that sport is a game and that they should always strive to become amateur again.
“The educational value (of tennis and padel) lies precisely in the way the game is played,” the pope said during an audience at the Vatican before 6,000 people from over 30 countries attending the sixth International Tennis and Padel Symposium in Rome.
“Everyone should be encouraged to enjoy sport for its own sake, for the excitement, pleasure and recreation it brings. That’s the gratuitousness, the spirit of gratuitousness, that we have to play with,” Francis continued, adding that competition is healthy as long as it remains part of a “game”.
“When competition becomes everything, different forms of assertiveness take over and ruin the sport so that it no longer becomes educational, just the opposite,” he said.
“Always remember: let my tennis, let my padel, always be amateur, amateur; do not lose this dimension,” continued the Pope, also reminding the instructors present of their role as educators and not just “teachers “. of techniques”.
“I encourage you to continue paying attention to that educational dimension,” he continued, saying it’s about finding “the right balance between offense and defense.”
The annual international tennis tournament Internazionali BNL d’Italia starts on Monday in the Italian capital.
(ANSA).
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