I came to play - Basketball Camp

A project related to the establishment and development of a sports and peace education program

Building "Bridges" and Transcending Boundaries through Power of Sport and Play

Vision

Instilling values and connecting identities through the power of sports and play

Mission

Raising public awareness and improving the lives of children in the region.
Using the sports as the common language for peace, friendship and sportsmanship

Values

Fair play, Teamwork, Respect, Commitment, Compassion, Leadership, Optimism, Joy, Integrity…

Project

The camp is designed to bring together a group of young people whose love of sports/basketball transcends the recent histories of the region. Positive messages about working (and living) together, leadership and leading a healthy, drug-free life will be infused into the basketball instructions.

Afternoon sessions of the camp will include motivational speeches and interactive games to reinforce these messages.

The camp will also include daily workshops and seminars designed to promote leadership, conflict resolution and living a healthy lifestyle.

Seminars will also demonstrate the capacity of sport to transcend boundaries and bring people together while teaching good messages to the campers such as the importance of education, tolerance and understanding.

Through the inspiration, sportsmanship and structure of play and competition proposed peace education program will mount a serious effort to make a difference in the lives of the young people in the region, promoting a certain sense of respect for the game, for the rules, the body and the opponent.

Using sport of basketball, program will help the campers in developing fundamental life skills like learning to better understand and respect diverse cultures and religions that make up their local communities; and by working together to solve problems, overcome obstacles and accomplish common goals.

Camp schedule is designed for 10 days.

Please take a closer look at a full project design together with the sports camp set up, its conflict resolution conference, complete list of speakers, camper workshops and seminar schedules (its academic rationale) in this PDF file.

Brief project description in Serbian: Pregled programa na srpskom.

Our Team

Mihajlo Delić - Project Manager (Sports Humanitarian Organization: PLAY)

Team "Fractal" - Project support, partnership and logistics

Partners

Sports Humanitarian Organization: Play

As an international language, sport should be considered as a practical means to communicate messages of peace and help find non-violent solutions to problems.

UN report "Sport and Millennium Development Goals"
UN Task Force on Sport for Development and Peace

Sport can play a role in improving the lives of individuals, not only individuals, I might add, but whole communities. I am convinced that the time is right to build on that understanding, to encourage governments, development agencies and communities to think how sport can be included more systematically in the plans to help children, particularly those living in the midst of poverty, disease and conflict.

Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations
Olympic Aid Roundtable Forum, Salt Lake City Olympic Games 2002

Sport can help to reduce aggressive behavior, can strengthen self-confidence, can teach tolerance for others and can teach youngsters about responsibility. The youngsters in Stuttgart have taken to the project.

Dominik Hermle: Organizer of the youth sports camp "Midnight Games" in Stuttgart

Sport and leisure are essential for the survival of all children. Indeed, when it comes to helping child refugees, sport and leisure are irreplaceable as methods of rebuilding shattered lives.

Sadako Ogata, High Commissioner of the UN Refugee Organization UNHCR.

Sport offers a valuable tool for preventing violence and promoting social integration. But this work is important in that is brings children and young adults into a community with standards and values, encourages them to live out stabilizing influences and makes a large contribution to the developing and stabilizing the personalities of young people.

Germany's Board of Sporting Youth

Sporting activity offers an excellent way of positively promoting characteristics such as self-confidence, discipline and teamwork. As a basketball player with international experience, I know that cooperation is needed to win a game and to make one's mark as a valuable member of a team. It has provided a way of establishing social contact between the young people, creating mutual respect and giving them a little bit of enjoyment. The sporting event is a magnet for all sections of society and is used as a forum for entering into dialogue about economic development, reconciliation, social problems and illnesses. The entire region looks forward to this event.

Acuil Banggol heads the organization called SUPRAID
and is responsible for the sports camps "Olympic Games in war zones"

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Contact

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