The projects
The Centro Educativo João Paulo II, active in Brazil since 2000, is committed to supporting the growth of children and teenagers living in difficult socioeconomic situations on the outskirts of Salvador De Bahia. The organization provides young people with educational and school support, alongside cultural, recreational, and especially sports activities. Fondazione Milan supports the sports programs of the Center and the training of local coaches, allowing everyone to practice various sports for their personal, professional, and social growth.
Among the many sports activities offered by the João Paulo II Educational Center, the initiative called MIRIM stands out. In Portuguese, this term translates as “small” or “nascent” and refers to children in the early school years, aged between 6 and 8. These young people need to experience a wide range of motor skills and have fun through playful and pre-sports games. With this goal in mind, it is suggested that students practice two sports per cycle, exploring all the sports offered. This approach allows students to develop a wide motor repertoire, facilitating a more conscious choice of the sport they identify with the most in the future.
The Centro Educativo João Paulo II is located in a peripheral region of the city of Salvador, the capital of Bahia, where living conditions for the population have always been characterized by high mortality rates and child malnutrition, lack of infrastructure, absence of schools, and places for children’s recreation. Alongside classes with teachers graduated in literature, mathematics, physics, computer science, and pedagogy, the Center offers extracurricular sports activities, organized by sport and age group, such as indoor soccer, handball, basketball, karate, and dance. Sports translate into a highly educational experience, through which children learn teamwork, fair play, discipline, self-control, determination, grit, as well as intelligence applied to the knowledge of rules, strategies, tactics, and specific techniques of each discipline.
The project is dedicated to 30 boys and girls aged 6 to 8.
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A small gesture is enough to contribute to the realization of projects in support of the most fragile and marginalized children.
