Bullying in school

Back when I was in elementary school, I unfortunately noticed a good amount of bullying. Everyday at recess, we would always get everyone together and play soccer. We would all circle up and decide who the captains were going to be and then start to pick teams. One of my classmates was a little overweight and had a hard time running up and down the field a lot of times. He knew he was overweight but this didn't stop him from wanting to play with us because he loved soccer so much. He would always wear soccer jerseys to school and talk about the games that were on TV the night before. As we started to pick teams each day for recess, he would always be picked last and sometimes the captain would make a face or noise of disgust when they had to have them on their team. When you would look at his face, he would never look upset about being picked last because all he wanted to do was to just be able to play. But as soon as people started to make the faces and noises, i could see that it took a toll on him a little each time. Each day of recess would go by and the same thing would happen each day. Except some days when we had an uneven amount of kids, they would tell him that he had to sit out because in order for the teams to have an even amount someone had to. This made him upset because of how much he looked forward to playing soccer each day. He didn't have a lot of friends so when he had to sit out, he would usually just sit alone and watch, rather than going to play something else with other kids. I felt like by this happening each day, it was taking away his love for the game of soccer. He wasn't the type of kid to go to the teacher and tell on the kids who were making fun of him. In this situation, he had no power at all because of him being outnumbered and not willing to stand up for himself. All the power was in the hands of the kids who would pick teams, laugh at him and make jokes about him. Even though he wasn't the best person physically to choose on your team, he knew more about soccer than all of us combined probably. The situation only existed in the first place because nobody wanted to be the one to stop it or say something.

 I remember one day, he asked if he could be a captain and almost everybody started laughing at him. This made me upset because he found the courage to ask if he could and everybody just laughed. After seeing that, i thought to myself that maybe i can do something to change things around. I was a pretty quite kid back then and never really wanted to be a captain because i didn't like being in the spotlight choosing my friends over others. But the day that kid asked to be the captain and everyone laughed, i saw an opportunity. After everybody stopped laughing and they were deciding who would be the captains, i raised my hand. Some were shocked to see me do that but i had a good relationship with almost everyone so they weren't going to shut me down. As i started to pick my team, i choose some of my closest friends first and then very shortly after, i choose the kid who would be bullied and picked last all the time. I could see his eyes open really wide and shocked he was being picked in a position that wasn't last. Other kids looked at me in shock and confusion as to why i did that and i didn't say anything or do anything. I just acted like it was a normal pick. We would end up loosing that day of recess and kids came up to me saying things like "why did you pick him", "We lost because he was on our team", and "How could you choose him over me". I would just ignore them and laugh a little because i knew what i was doing and others didn't see it. As the next couple of weeks went by, i would try and become the captain each time i could. Some days i wasn't able to because they wanted new people and those days he was chosen last again and again. Everyday i was a captain, i made sure to pick him pretty early because i knew it was going to make his day.