Sport must always be a game says Pope

(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 6 - Pope Francis on Saturday told tennis and padel instructors and players that sport is a game and that they should always strive to reman amateur.
    "The educational value (of tennis and padel) lies precisely in the way the game is played," the Pope said during an audience in the Vatican to 6,000 people from over 30 countries taking part in the sixth International Tennis and Padel Symposium in Rome.
    "Everyone should be encouraged to enjoy sport for its own sake, for the excitement, enjoyment and recreation it brings. This is the gratuitousness, the spirit of gratuitousness with which we must play," Francis continued, adding that competition is healthy as long as it remains part of a "game".
    "Once competition becomes everything, various forms of self-assertion take over and end up ruining sports, so that it becomes no longer educational, but exactly the opposite," he said.
    "Always keep this in mind: let my tennis, let my padel, always be amateur, amateur; don't lose this dimension," continued the Pope, also reminding the instructors present of their role as educators and not just as a "teacher of techniques".
    "I encourage you to continue to give attention to this educational dimension," he went on, saying it involved finding "the right balance of offence and defence".
    The annual Internazionali BNL d'Italia international tennis tournament gets underway in the Italian capital on Monday.
    (ANSA).