**Contest; Playing Along***

Special greetings to you my amazing steemians. We thank God for the gift of life. The year has been full of ups and down but we thank God for seeing us through. It is my prayer that He guides and protect us through the remaining days of the year as we gradually draw the curtain closed for the year 2024.

Thank you @sahmie for this contest.

What do you think makes a game or activity more enjoyable when everyone plays along?

To play long means to concur or cooperate to do something that other people wants. Sometimes, we often find ourselves in situations where we are left with no choice than to play along just to ensure that we keep the vibes and team spirit high.

For me, my favorite sport is the football game. Even though I don't play or hope to play at the professional level, football is one game I enjoy playing and watching so much. We have a community field where we play every evening during the weekdays and in the morning during weekends. I've sustained countless injuries at the cause of playing ranging from a broken arm, a compound fracture on my ankle, a dislocated knee, amongst others and not to even mention the so many bruises sustained. But in all this, I never quite playing.

What makes this game very interesting and more enjoyable is the fact that everyone on the pitch plays along. We all have different positions on the pitch that everyone occupies and we all know our roles and responsibilities. It is always a team play and the fact that everyone knows his roles makes him put in his best to ensure that his position doesn't suffer flaws. We are always enthusiastic while playing. We give in our best to see that our team wins. The joy and happiness can only be best imagine when my team scores and gets to win at the end of the day and because of this, we all ensure that we play along and play as a team.

Have you ever been in a situation where someone didn’t play along? How did it affect the experience?

Yeah, on several occasions we've had situations where some of my team mates didn't play along. They refused to play according to the coach's instructions and we paid heavily for that cos we ended up being defeated and knocked out of an important tournament. They had their friends and family members around so instead of playing to instructions, they tried to show their skills just to impress their friends and families and most often they loose possession of the ball to our opponent. Mehn... It wasn't a good experience for me cos my hopes were high, my spirit was at the zenith but then, I came crashing down after loosing that match. My soul was shattered, I was very bitter, I slipped into emotional eating cos mentally I was stressed. All this happened because a few of my teammates didn't play along.

How do you think playing along can help build stronger friendships or connections?

In playing along, there is usually this form of communication between the parties involved. Even if at that time they seem not to understand each other, but as time goes by and the communication tempo is maintained, trust me, the vibes will start flowing freely and the connection will start building up leading to a strong bond in that friendship.

Have you ever played along with a joke or story even when you didn’t fully understand it? What was that like?

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Ha ha ha ha... Yes ooooh. On several occasions I've played along a lot of stuffs that I fully didn't understand.

First was when I was a kid, my dad asked me to go get him something from his briefcase. As at then, I don't know what a brief case was and I decided to play along. I went to my dad's room and started seraching for what I don't know. After searching frantically for several minutes, I came back and told him I didn't see any briefcase. My dad just smiled and explain to me what a briefcase was and how it looks like. Mehn, I was a bit embarrassed but at the same time happy that I learnt something new.

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Second was in my elementary school, I didn't know that the word "restroom" is synonymous to "convenience". So when my friend requested we go use the restroom during break, I thought restroom was another name for canteen or some kind of relaxation spot. I played along by telling him to just go alone cos I've got a few notes to jot down. It was much later I got to discover that "restroom" is not another name for "canteen" but "convenience". I has happy I played along cos I didn't made him know that I didn't know what a "restroom" was.

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I also remembered vividly on one of my hangouts with my friends. Instead of ordering for my usual fried rice and turkey, I decided to listen to one of my friends who suggested I try something different. I saw them ordering Amala and Ewedu (a Nigerian native dish). I also ordered same. Aaaaaaah, it was my first time tasting such. To be honest, I always close my eyes each time I'm taking it into my mouth and I drink almost a full cup of water after each swallow. Of course I had to play along and told them it was the best dish I've ever tasted. It was a funny experience altogether.

Guys, @ashley-p @owalama @ibrahim I'll love to hear your take on playing along.

CC: @goodybest