NEW YORK CITY September 23rd, 2009
We love soccer (football to the rest of the planet)…and drool at the prospect of going to next summer’s World Cup match in South Africa. For the clueless, it’s kinda like watching a live, chess match on amphetamines…with a ball, players in snazzy uniforms without padding, a green field, lots of noise, and a clock counting UP.
Traffic is tied up in NYC with that UN Conference…but better for us, was what went on at former President Clinton’s Global Initiative confab at the same time.
BECAUSE-
USA’s National Team Captain and one of the two main reasons to see the LA Galaxy play (David Beckham being the other one, duh) Landon Donovan---joined by…
World Cup vet former Premier Leaguer/ Fulham - Brian McBride (with a cool bar named after him London too),
and Jorge Campos, a Mexican team legend who has worn those fab colorful shirts…
joined another team of sorts… the one with Visa-that developed and launched a new FIFA ™World Cup-themed video game that teaches kids financial literacy in a fun way. And it costs users nothing...!
Unbelievably, money management is rarely (ever?) taught in schools…and this interactive game (try it gratis at FINANCIAL SOCCER or FINANCIAL FOOTBALL)
--asks multiple choice (hard to easy) relevant questions ...that get the brain cells going. We have Ivy Leagues degrees including a pricey MBA…and had to pause for some.
Hint: do not space out and lazily scroll over the letters of the question…or your “choice” is made for you.
We ranked in the “WORLD CLASS” division for 18 plus…but the game has three in total…for kids as young as 11.
Our choice of opponents (Tuvalu)…and choice of play time set us up for a challenging match. Instant feedback kept us in the game, mentally speaking...a good thing.
We hope all kids (and their teachers- who can download pdf files full of info in the “pre game” section) get it right, eventually, 100% of the time…
CUZ’ all kids should know this stuff and grow up being productive…after all, our social security system is a pay in pay out deal. A good question come to think of it.
WORDS: Judith Ecochard
IMAGE: FINANCIAL FOOTBALL BETA SITE