Outcasts United, a book that is not particularly well known, illustrates how refugees from around the world formed a soccer team named “The Fugees.” While hinting at the impact the community they created had on the U.S., Outcast United reveals how these refugees progressed together.
 
Discipline and Obedience
Throughout the book, the importance of discipline and obedience is particularly highlighted. From the beginning of the story, when Prince has kicked off the team for refusing to cut his hair, we see that coach Luma is a highly disciplined person. Even though she knows that Prince is a very talented player, Luma is unwilling to sacrifice the rules for short-term success. As a coach, she realizes that team growth depends upon individual players eliminating their pride. In fact, as the book makes clear through its insistence on collective effort, the value of star players in sports has been overstated in recent years. Soccer, for example, is supposed to be an eleven-man sport, but whenever people mention a team, they always think of their star players rather than their teamwork. The same goes for basketball. People sometimes even use the number of all-stars on each team to compare their relative strengths. Historically, many championship teams have won without recognizable stars, and the secret to their success has been strong discipline and high obedience to the coach.
 
Leadership and Respect
The Fugees would not have improved or achieved success without Coach Luma. Although Luma is portrayed as overly strict, all her decisions are made for the good of her players, both on and off the field. There are many descriptions of how she helps the players off the field. She treats her players like her children, which earns her their respect. This aspect of the book reminds me of the movie Coach Carter, which depicts a coach whose concern for his players likewise extends beyond the limits of the field and includes athletics and life. Like Coach Carter Luma genuinely wants to bring hope and change to kids who otherwise have little future. Oftentimes these days, leadership is thought of as being popular. Truthfully, Luma and Coach Carter are not liked by all of their players. But the point the author is trying to make is that leaders succeed not by being popular or ensuring the team wins all the time; leaders sincerely want what's best for everyone and want to make everyone better. That's the kind of leader and leadership that everyone should respect.
 
Community and Teamwork
The players on the team were not destined to meet. Soccer, like a magical elixir, creates an entirely new community for them. The most important aspects of a community are unity, cooperation, and dedication. The more members of a community are able to work together and sacrifice, the more fun they have and the stronger they become. According to the book, many players come to view the team as their family, and they are willing to make appropriate sacrifices for the sake of the team, doing things they would not otherwise be good at. The irony is that refugees even know that the team comes at first, while those who are pampered in real life are not willing to sacrifice for the collective. In the contemporary world, team conflicts are often driven by ego, and the concept of community is not as valued as it once was, especially in countries like China. This is probably why the contribution to the community has always been one of the objectives measured in the U.S.
 
To be fair, this book easily resonated with me. Although I am neither a soccer player nor a refugee who came to America after hardship, as a basketball player myself, the scenes in the book always seem familiar. The coaches who are overly strict on the court but close to us off the court, the comrades who sweat together and compete on the court, and some players who disobey the coaches and get kicked off the team, all seem to depict not only the Fugees but all people who love team sports. What we learn from the refugees can be summed up as follows: discipline and obedience, leadership and respect, community and teamwork, may all be depictions of those who love team sports. The author uses real stories to show us what team sports are really like.
 
That's probably why I love team sports and love this book.