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The first few months of lockdown were especially tough on sports fans, with covid-19 putting everything on hold. Competitive fixtures are back now, and with them instances of athletes reaching out with messages of hope and support. Here are four recent sports videos that caught our eye.
A rooftop rally with Roger
In April, 13-year-old Vittoria Oliveri and 11-year-old Carola Pessina became viral sensations when they played a tennis match across rooftops during lockdown in Finale Ligure, Italy. An even bigger surprise was in store for them when Roger Federer dropped by unannounced at their home. You can see this play out in a charming video sponsored by pasta brand Barilla, as the girls play a rooftop game against their idol, take selfies and sit down to eat, you guessed it, pasta.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxJ4Z56mglM
Reaching out to fans
Since they won their first league title in 30 years, heartwarming videos have been emerging from the Liverpool Football Club. Missing celebrations by fans owing to the pandemic, the club has been doing what it can to show support. June saw a charming 7-minute video of Liverpool players like captain Jordan Henderson and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain chatting with elderly fans, and their carers, across care homes. Some of the delighted fans were dressed in vintage club jerseys for the iPad chat. They discussed football, with some Everton fans even telling the Liverpool players to change clubs, but they also talked about missing their families, and mortality. Over the past week, the club has sent the Premier League trophy around city hospitals as a gesture of support for medical staff. Expect a sweet video soon!
Azam talks to Afsar
A couple of months ago, a video of eight-year-old Samiya Afsar batting in the nets at Lahore’s Kinnaird College Academy went viral. Fellow southpaw Kumar Sangakkara warmly praised her technique in a tweet but the happiest consequence for Afsar was a video call from her hero, Pakistan batting mainstay Babar Azam. Their 3-minute conversation is a delight, with Azam telling Afsar she drives better than him and giving her tips on how to play the pull shot. It ends with Afsar showing Azam a portrait of him that she made and wishing the team best of luck for the England series.
The athlete never stops
There’s something about Nike advertisements making a statement. The sportswear company’s new “You Can’t Stop Us” promo salutes the spirit of the athlete and their commonalities: be it LeBron James and Megan Rapinoe or Rafael Nadal and Cristiano Ronaldo. Masterfully edited, with a dynamic split-screen series that details 36 pairings of athletes and relates the kinetic movement of one sport to another, the advertisement consolidates the support many athletes have shown for the Black Lives Matter movement by taking a knee. Narrated by Rapinoe, the video features 24 sports.
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