'Reflect and Learn'

[Phil]

The Match of Our Lives’ tells how football training makes a group of young footballers in Mauritius fit for life The Match of Our Lives. The story follows a group of boys who come together to form a football team.

The content begins at 33 minutes and 50 seconds on the film (on the link above). A clip of this part of the film is shown on the link below. 

Guylene brings the team together after they have lost their game 6-0. It would be very easy for the young boys to feel sorry for themselves, but Guylene leads them in a different direction. They come together in her house after the match. She inspires them and holds them together. She gives us a wonderful example of how to help others to reflect on their experience.

The clip captures three important ideas about reflection:

1. Guylene congratulates the team, and then she comes to the point. “Now tell me the problem. Why did you lose the game 6-0?” She does not hide the fact that this was a large defeat. The boys cannot hide from it.
2. Guylene then asks the team what they are going to do to get better. Their response is to look outside themselves for a solution. “We need a trainer. Someone who is not from Lafayette.” Guylene pushes that idea to the side and challenges them to think about what they are going to do. “And you? What must YOU do by yourselves to reach their same standard?” This change in directions leads the boys to think about what THEY are going to do.
3. Guylene finishes the reflection on a positive note. “You should applaud yourselves,” and so they do. This joyful group is in stark contrast to the dejected set of boys we see at the start of the clip.

There is a fourth point to make. The reflection does not need to be a long and painful process. Guylene does not allow the boys to wallow in their defeat. She challenges them and pushes them into a productive line of thinking. I am lost in admiration.

[Yamini Suvarna]

The journey metaphor is also so great. The journey in the bus to the match, the journey within the team to grow and the journey through SALT and Constellation that all of us have embarked on. Thank you so much for sharing this