The World Cup is in full swing and with the United States not in the tournament, many Americans are left searching for a team to root for. I was rooting for Colombia because I have family there. When Colombia fell in the penalty shootout to England, I was left without a team. Then I came across the story of star forward Kylian Mbappe of France. The 19 year-old Mbappe shocked the Argentinians, who many thought were going to win the tournament, with 2 goals in France’s 4-3 win, becoming the 1st teenager to score multiple times in a World Cup match since Pele in 1958. Then Mbappe did something incredible. He pledged the entire bonus that he will earn from the World Cup to Premiers de Cordee, a French charity that organizes sports for children with disabilities. Mbappe, a regular ambassador for the organization, will donate about €20,000 per match starting in their next match, as the bonus is only paid now that France advanced to the quarterfinals and for every match after. France faces serial biter Luis Suarez and Uruguay in the quarterfinals on Friday at 10:00 AM.
Reading about Mbappe’s charity is making me root for him and France to win the tournament. The more games that France wins in the tournament, the more money Mbappe gets to donate to this very worthy cause. If France wins the whole thing, Mbappe wins an even greater sum, all of it to be used to give people with disabilities places to be kids like any other child. While we celebrate greater inclusion for people with disabilities being helped along by people like Kylian Mbappe, we cannot help but remember those who were not granted inclusion into the world itself. I read this story and I remembered my own experiences with wheelchair racing, wheelchair basketball and the like. What Mbappe’s giving, and indeed the charity itself shows us, is that we are all people with beautiful fulfilling lives and the full potential of all of us only requires somebody choosing to include us to be unleashed.
Source:
About The Contributor
