This summer I’m joining my wife on her sports project, which includes running 10 km track – every day.

While I prefer doing the 10 km cross country (admitted – I have a lot of pain after that), rather than on a sports ground in endless circles, I took joy in seeing that in the evening more and more people come to the well equipped public open sports ground and do there all kinds of exercises.

I spotted one guy who arrived with his bike and drove to one remote angle and did his gymnastics and then exercised his tricks with a soccer ball. He was all by himself, no other guy involved.

40 years ago in my village in Germany – when you went to the soccer field about a mile away – you always could meet at least one people what was playing there with a soccer ball. So for sure when you went there, you could team up and play. And I know it was like that everywhere in Germany, and likely all across Europe.

In the years after 2000, I noticed this is not anymore the case. Boys are not playing soccer anymore outside. They have other interests.

So, I felt back in good times when someone showed up on the soccer field with a ball just like that last week.

I also noticed three guys together on track, one of which was heavy overweight, whereas the two others were fit. All in their mid 20s. It seemed like the two fit ones were coaching the overweight one to make sure he was doing his tracks round without interruption. And they succeeded with it. Later I found they must have been doing also boxing because they had the equipment – at least the two fit ones. Seems the overweight one had two very good friends taking care of him and his exercises.

Guessing from their language, they might have come from Brazil … .