Imagine kicking soccer balls at an 18-foot-tall dart board, dodging giant exercise balls while dribbling through a maze of cones, a catapult launching soccer balls from 40 yards away and shooting through seemingly peanut-sized targets. Daunting, sure, but add in a teammate and it becomes an exhilarating afternoon of cooperation.
As the official sponsor of teamwork, the National Peanut Board hosted an event in which players from Colorado Rapids Youth Soccer Clubs competed in team-based soccer challenges. What ensued was a fun day of collaboration, cooperation, plenty of peanut butter and a surprise ending.
Teamwork is vital in soccer. No one knows this better than those who have played at the highest levels of the game, like Landon Donovan.
“In soccer, it’s so much more instinctive, so there’s a real human connection that happens that you can’t manufacture, you can’t fake,” Donovan told The18 earlier this year. “If you care about the guy genuinely, and you’re willing to help him when he makes mistakes and visa-versa, that’s when you get teams that win championships from my experience, and that’s why soccer’s so unique.”
With that in mind, the National Peanut Board and The18 hosted a teamwork challenge in which four teams of two competed in four events to determine who had the best teamwork. The National Peanut Board had already worked with American stars such as Donovan, Weston McKennie, Sydney Leroux and Jordan Morris, so now it was time to turn to future American stars, as players from the Colorado Rapids youth clubs were invited to take part at Foothills Sports Arena in Denver.
Read the full event recap here.
