Grassroots footie leagues really grow on you

Highlighting partnership, growth, and teamwork, Lessons From The Game is an ode to youth sports.

Simple, lyrical, and exceptionally effective, the ad starts with a close up on 12-year-old Finton, who reads out a letter to his 10-year-old self. British poet Mike Garry, helped re-arrange Finton’s own words into a beautiful poem, narrated by the young boy in the ad. Finton describes how he felt when he first started playing football, how he hated losing, how he would lose his temper. The camera pans out, and more boys come running, flanking Finton. But now, he says, he has a team, and they know winning isn’t the most important thing. Doing your best, trying harder next time, isn’t that what matters?

Celebrating the love of the game, the film connects small lessons from the pitch to the larger world, creating a call for a return to sport for even the youngest players. As nearly four thousand local clubs near closing, Nationwide Building Society hopes to jump start participation. VCCP created the piece and their in-house production company, Girl&Bear worked on the film. Greta Wynn Davies directed.