Barack Obamais looking to empower young people with the help of Manchester United and England soccer star Marcus Rashford.
“If I had had more talent, I would have probably preferred to have been a professional athlete like Marcus, but I wasn’t strong, fast, quick enough or gifted enough,” he added. “For me it was basketball. That was my true love.”
Marcus Rashford playing for Manchester United.Giuseppe Maffia/NurPhoto via Getty
Obama moved on to discuss issues such as the importance ofgiving back to your local communityand the positive impact of reading, both of which are detailed in his memoir,A Promised Land.
Last year the soccer star drew on this tough life experience to spearhead a high-profile campaign addressing the issue ofchild food povertyin the U.K. during thecoronavirus pandemic.
His efforts directly prompted British Prime MinisterBoris Johnsonto fund a project providing meals to 1.7 million vulnerable children in the U.K. More recently, the star striker has founded a food education project for children calledFull Time Meals, which is based on the principle that “No child should ever have to go to bed hungry.”
President Obama Play Basketball With Wounded Soldiers.Getty
“From what I have read about what Marcus is doing, he’s taken his own experiences and he’s realized, ‘Well, look, I’ve now been blessed. I now have the good fortune of being this prominent footballer and people pay attention to what I say. How do I give back?'” said Obama about Marcus’ inspiring community work.
“Like Marcus, I think we all find our own paths to that kind of service, but if enough young people do that, that’s how progress gets made,” he added. “That’s how things move forward.”
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Obama continued: “As I point out in the book, it’s not like I always made the right choices. When I was a kid, I was a lot more interested in girls and partying and basketball than I was in having a social impact. You are constantly learning and finding out what’s meaningful and important to you and to others. And how can you create a life that has purpose and has meaning.”
He quipped, “Marcus is way ahead of where I was at 23. I was still trying to figure it out.”
Rashford, whose bookYou Are A Championalso aims to inspire younger generations to make their voices heard, described the experience of talking to Obama from his Manchester kitchen as “quite surreal,“The Guardianreported.
“It wasn’t long before I realized just how aligned our experiences as children were in shaping the men you see today — adversity, obstacles and all,” he added. “I genuinely enjoyed every minute of it. When President Obama speaks, all you want to do is listen.”
“I grew up in an environment where people just accepted what they were given,” said Rashford. “I was lucky enough to have two older brothers who just loved football and my vision of football growing up was it doesn’t matter your color, or where you come from, or your religion. If you work hard enough and put the hours in, then you get what you deserve.”
source: people.com
