In the informational text “Soccer Speaks Many Languages,” Dianna Greers discusses how a young refugee, Innocent Ndayizeye, is able to connect with others through soccer. In “Laura’s Key” by Anne-Marie Reidy, the author shares the story of a young girl who feels defeated after her experiences with her 6th grade soccer team. Consider the different ways that sports bring people together. How did Innocent’s and Laura’s experiences with soccer change their points of view about themselves and the people around them? How did soccer help Innocent and Laura both overcome and persevere through challenges.

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Explanation:

Sport is a unifying factor among people of different family, ethnic, cultural and national backgrounds. Sports make people forget their differences and strive to achieve a singular goal, victory. Members of the same team in a sporting event forget all their differences and work together to come out victorious. This can be seen from the way the kids of Tutsis and Hutus played soccer lovingly together disregarding the fight between the two groups.

Innocent and Laura's experiences with soccer caused a great change in their lives. Soccer gave them the privilege of friendship which made them better individuals in their careers. The friends Innocent made at Iowa taught him how to speak English quite well and how to play American games. This friendly encounter gave Innocent a bright future. Laura who also suffered neglect from his school's team, Los Halcones, was helped by her friends to improve her skills. She found encouragement in the presence and support of her friends and soon became a better player.

Innocent and his parents were refugees in Mkugwa, but he was not dejected because he spent his time playing football with his friends. When his family relocated to America, they faced the challenge of not understanding their language but on getting to school, playing football helped Innocent to overcome this challenge. His friend taught him how to speak this language and communicate properly with it. Soccer also helped Laura never to give up in challenges. She put in all her best into practice and rehearsals based on the advice of her mother and the presence of her friends in her practice made her to overcome the challenging times and become a better person.