By Norma Sá, project coordinator at Promundo-Brasil
The ball is the central meeting point. Boys and girls gather around her, run, jump, dribble and throw her into the net. They want to play a game that cannot be played alone, a game in which, to achieve the objective, you need to be part of a group, team, team, whatever name you can give to this gathering of children or teenagers. And if the game is not played alone, it is necessary to relate to others, preserving this relationship so that future games can happen.
This is how it happens in “Practicing Sports, Winning in Life”. Conducted by Promundo in the community of Guararapes, Rio de Janeiro, the project involves children and adolescents in sports, Portuguese and Mathematics tutoring classes and educational workshops on gender.
When we arrived at the community, the court was there, the boys and girls around it. There was even a ball, even if it was old and well-worn. But the game didn't always happen or, at least, it didn't reach the end of the matches, because fights and disagreements took over the court. The girls couldn't even get close to the ball. Without seeing their differences and without respecting each other, personal offenses and insults were constant and verbal violence often took place physically. Individualism prevailed over collectivity.
The intervention in the community court was linked to a union of efforts by many, especially the physical education teams and educators and, of course, the children and adolescents. We put on the field not only the techniques and tactics of different sporting practices, but relationship mechanisms for life.
We share experiences and information, we support boys and girls in a positive and constructive way, dialoguing and considering each person's experience in building a group identity. We add educational and dynamic activities to the time spent practicing sports, in a safe space for reflections on inequalities and the reproduction of violence.
While the transformation of relationships was concretely perceived; from stopping physical aggression to greater participation in debates, where children and adolescents could speak and listen; the growth in the presence of girls and their insertion in the sport was noticed.
The widespread belief that girls are not “good” at playing games was gradually denaturalized, jointly dismantling a series of stereotypes about women, their abilities and capabilities. Bringing girls and boys together to play on the community court brought the challenge of understanding differences and also what makes us close and equal.
The development of children and adolescents is strengthened when the meeting maintains a space of trust, is collaborative and encouraging. And the ball can then be split.
Want to know more about the project?
Click here and check out the video “Bola Dividida: Educação e Esporte para a Igualdade”, which brings in the voices of the children and the project team the experience in the communities of Guararapes and Maré.
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