If you were a child in the early 2000s, you will appreciate the fact outdoor games were the in thing in children. Though computer games were also available, kids in every bloc could meet up every day during holidays and after school in certain locations for chitchats and games. Parents knew where to look first in case the kids got late for dinner, or something happened that could put the kids in harm’s way. In most neighborhoods, play places were characterized by abandoned facilities such as an old basketball pitch, low lying grass and some poorly maintained benches on which the kids could sit on. Additionally, these places provided hideouts from the normal neighborhood routines.
My neighborhood was not different. Outdoor games were every kid’s daily need beyond shelter, food and education in our neighborhood. Our space was an old community football pitch whose last maintenance date could not be traced in the last two decades. The ground was partially covered with artificial grass which had started to lose its original shape and appearance due to poor maintenance. There were patches that were not covered, and the demarcations meant to be used by football players were all wiped out. On the edges of the pitch were benches fixed permanently for use by the players and the teams in play. Following the opening of a modern football pitch one mile away, the community pitch received no attention by the authorities as the new pitch provided many modern facilities.
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The community pitch was commonly referred to as The Bridge. A look at it would give the impression that the pitch had its days of glory. Our parents, who have lived in this locality for more than three decades always narrated of the tournaments that the pitch hosted between teams from different neighborhoods in our city. Apart from the football pitch, The Bridge had a full basketball court on one of the edges. Though the court never held any tournaments, locals used it to perfect their basketball skills with a few of them pursuing professional playing in other gyms. Most of them that used the court had no intention of playing professional basketball.
The Bridge also had two complete dressing rooms with closets and bathrooms meant to be used by players when there was a tournament. Similar to the state of the pitch, the dressing rooms were forgotten, and no water was running in the bathrooms anymore. The doors and windows were also broken, allowing access by anyone. In one of the dressing rooms was a portrait of the most successful football team from our community, with their names are written on the wall. The portrait was drawn on one of the walls. Unfortunately, the portrait had also lost shape, and during our childhood days, it was difficult to identify correctly any member of that team from the picture. The status of this football pitch in the 2000s was sufficient evidence of how value gets lost once something better emerges.
I grew up with a group of nine other kids from my neighborhood. We attended the same school, same church and also spent most of our time together including playtime. Every day after school, my friends and I had to make a stop at The Bridge for a game of football or basketball for the boys or skipping rope for the girls. Sometimes, we could just hang around at the pitch watching others play, cheering our friends or just talking as time passed by.
The Bridge had five fully grown trees that provided shade. Though the trees were not there in its prime days, they had grown to full capacity and provided home to Altamira oriole species of birds. The birds are a spectacle. They have a bright orange plumage, with black upper back, scapulars, lores, throat and the tail (Beals et al, 2017) . A large population of these birds had built nests in the trees at The Bridge Every morning, the songbirds could be heard from miles away, bringing life to the dying field. Unfortunately, some of the boys would climb up the trees in an attempt to catch one of the birds and eventually end up destroying the nests. This appeared fun, and the boys competed on who will be the first to catch a bird to keep as a pet as the girls watched from below. Unfortunately, during my entire childhood, no one was lucky enough to catch a single bird.
Sometimes we would find ourselves hovering in the changing rooms with no specific agenda. The old changing rooms were rumoured to harbour criminals terrorizing the neighborhood at night. Due to our curiosity of wanting to know what the criminals were doing inside these walls, we could sneak in from time to time but never found anything. For me, fear had taken a toll on me as I always feared criminals and other lawbreakers. This fear had resulted from an experience where a group of teenagers beat me and stole my twenty dollar savings I carried with me every day. The idea of having a similar experience made me fear to enter the rooms with my friends. However, after my friends had made several trips to the rooms and came out untouched, my fear levels reduced and soon after I could enter these rooms even on my own. These rooms later became our hideouts. Sometimes we could spend hours inside playing or hiding from our parents or older siblings.
Life at The Bridge was beautiful. Every season came with different activities at The Bridge. During winter, most kids turned up every day to play dodgeball with their colleagues. Winter dodgeball involves fighting with snow (Laughlin, 2017). The snow is soft and doesn’t hurt. Playing outside was not supported by our parents. However, the moment they go to work, kids would leave their homes and spend the day at the bridge fighting with snow. There were other more organised winter games such as rope tow which our parents had approved. The fun in it was the slip-sliding. The parents stayed on the sideline to cheer their kids as the kids worked towards beating their opponents. During the summer, the wide open spaces of The Bridge provided sufficient space for every kid in the neighborhood to play on. There were different groups of kids playing different games on the field, with no conflicts whatsoever from these kids.
On one corner of The Bridge was a pit that was poorly covered. The pit was initially emerged from a suspended sewerage construction by the city. The covers placed on top of the pit had become loose and lost their ability to hold weight due to the long period since their placement. This pit played a harmful role as more than 15 kinds broke their limbs after a fall into it. This leads to a public outcry by the community, protesting against the abandoned sewerage project. The pit was finally covered, and the city held culpable of negligence after the incidences of broken limbs became rampant.
The highlights of my time in The Bridge were the weekends. The Bridge, though it no longer hosted any tournament, was the source of life for every teenager and child in our locality during the weekend. There was a rise in the crime rate in the neighborhood originating from the rise in the number of school dropouts and also lack of extra curricula activities to keep teenagers and other young people busy. The rate of drug abuse among the youth was rising, with no proper means of curbing the vice available to the community. As a response to these two problems, community welfare organizations and other well-wishers developed programs that involved community barbeques, music extravaganzas, children games and other activities that brought the community together. During these moments, the whole community regardless of the age would show up at The Bridge to attend these functions. There were all kinds of foodstuff, and kids show that ran from Saturday midday, through the night to Sunday morning. In such events, no kid wants to get back to the house even when darkness sets in. Sometimes we would dodge our parents and hide so that we remain behind to keep enjoying the events of the night.
My childhood was full, courtesy of The Bridge. My first non-competitive basketball game was played at the bridge. Most of the times, we would play half-court games with friends who helped sharpen my basketball skills. The different functions organized by the different organizations helped keep the community together. The Bridge always remained at the heart of every member of the community. Many are the times that we reunite with our friends to reminisce about the escapades at this field. Though it had already lost its glory, it played a big role in ensuring that our childhood moments were memorable. It also rescued some of us from possible drug addiction or criminal life through the various programs undertaken on it. The city has since then embarked on renovations of the field to improve its conditions. It has however remained to be a community utility facility, but the number of children has reduced owing to improved computer-based games that keep most kids indoors.
Reference
Beals, S., Weidensaul, S., Dumbacher, J., Flannery, M., & Wigham, L. (2011). Nests: Fifty nests and the birds that built them .
Laughlin, K. L. (2017). Dodgeball .
