Finn Johnson was just 5 years old at the time he played his most epic soccer match (or as everyone else in the world calls it, football) with friends Hanro and Rohan van Rooyen by his side.

The kids were accompanying Finn’s mom Fiona Ayerst, a wildlife photographer, to a game farm called Indalu just outside their home in Mossel Bay on the Western Cape of South Africa.

While there are many animals on the reserve, Indalu is known for its elephants. And that’s precisely what made up the competition the boys faced a few years ago in their impromptu interspecies soccer match.

You heard that right – 3 young boys kicked the ball back and forth with some 3-ton pachyderms.

And commenters on the video were super jealous!

“I envy those children being able to play with a ball with an elephant. What a treat to be in the presence of one of these beautiful giants.”

“I hope those boys know how lucky they are,” said another viewer.

Shanti and Amari – who had been living at the reserve since they were rescued 4 years earlier – were the elephants who ended up losing 3-2 to the humans that day – but that fact that they scored 2 goals is impressive enough.

While the boys used makeshift goalposts, Ayerst stood nearby and recorded the match. And while her photography skills certainly made the footage great, she’s actually an underwater wildlife photographer, primarily.

Of course, elephants can’t jump – and trampling isn’t really a useful soccer skill – but they are pretty great at blocking. In fact, they don’t even really have to move around much to do it.

We’d be happy to recruit one as our goalie!

The fact that the elephants were able to kick the ball around is indication enough that this isn’t their first time on the “pitch.” Ball kicking can be used as an enrichment activity to keep the animals stimulated – and that’s certainly the purpose it served that day. In fact, it’s one of the exercises that park rangers use to prepare the rescued animals for visitors.

Guests to the reserve can stay on-site and are invited to roam the farm and meet and walk with the wildlife daily. During these walks, rangers inform them about the threats facing the animals.

Of course, that didn’t stop the boys from trying to win the game.

“It was a bit scary at first because the elephants were so huge but as soon as I started scoring goals and beating them I wasn’t scared anymore,” Finn said.

Those are definitely the words of a 5-year-old!

After the game, the boys can be seen being led away by a guide to continue their tour and the elephants happily follow along.

It appears they weren’t traumatized by their athletic defeat.

All that’s left is to figure out what kind of penalty this is:

This isn’t the only video you’ll find of elephants kicking around a ball online. In fact, it’s a pretty popular game to play with them.

After seeing them in action it’s pretty mind-blowing to think that people willingly slaughter these intelligent and majestic creatures for profit.

Be sure to scroll down below to watch a few moments of the game – the most impressive part of which is, of course, seeing elephants willingly kick a soccer ball!

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Source: StoryTrender via YouTube, Caters News Agency, Indalu Game Reserve