Social Sports School
One of the association’s longest-running programs, having been implemented since 2013 in partnership with the Real Madrid Foundation
About the program
The aim of the Sportive Social School is to facilitate access to education for children from vulnerable backgrounds through sport and to prevent them from dropping out of school. The annual beneficiaries of the program are 115 children, aged between 6-15 years (grades 0-VIII), from vulnerable families living on the outskirts of Bucharest.
The main activities we carry out in the Social Sports School:
Weekly sports training (football, athletics, dance, multisport)
Psychological counseling of children and parents
Socio-educational activities: visits to museums, theater, cinema, creative workshops, recreational games, music studios, ping-pong, cinema, dance, story clubs and many other activities.
Participation in sports events: friendly matches between children's teams, mixed friendly matches between children and adults or with company employees as professional role models, participation as spectators in important sports matches
Participation in sports championships: Copa Alma, an annual competition organized with social sports schools from all over the world
The activities follow the methodology developed by the Real Madrid Foundation, through which we promote 7 essential values for our beneficiaries:
In the entire philosophy of the social school, we aim to develop positive behaviors in the relationship with colleagues, parents, but also with school representatives (teachers, principals).
In sports activities, we always support the creation of mixed teams, as well as the involvement of children with special educational needs (SEN), in order to offer them a healthy model: acceptance of our differences, collaboration for a common goal, the benefits of teamwork and the positive effects brought by sports activity in our own and collective performances.
Equality
Autonomy
Teamwork
Motivation
Self esteem
Health
Respect
The activities within the Social Sports School are possible thanks to the financial support provided by the sponsors who have joined us in the 9 years of the program’s existence and the institutional partners who facilitate children’s access to gyms and other locations: Bucharest Sector 3 City Hall, DGASPC Sector 3 and DGASPC Sector 6, DGASPC Sector 2, Mexico Secondary School, School no. 55 and School no. 153.
What impact does the program have in the children's lives?
Some of the results we are happy to share with you
- The children participated in numerous sporting events and important matches: football matches: Romania-Norway, Romania-Sweden. Old Boys Rapid-Influencers charity match, Romanian Cup. Friendly matches between groups of children and adult volunteers from companies, between children from the Social Sports School and other children’s clubs.
- We constantly provide training to the coaches involved in the program, according to the methodology offered by the Real Madrid Foundation;
- The children enjoyed exchanges of experience abroad with children and coaches from social sports schools from other countries.
- For example, between April 5th-9th 2018, seven of the most dedicated children of the Bucharest Social Sports School lived an unforgettable experience in Madrid. They participated in various sports and educational activities, including visiting the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, watching the Real Madrid – Atletico Madrid match in the VIP area, visiting the Microsoft Center where they had the opportunity to take the Minecraft Hour of Code course.
- They also enjoyed the opportunity to train in Real Madrid City and play a friendly match with the children of the Majadahona Social Sports School, with whom they share the values and educational methodology. To enjoy their free time is in line with the health value promoted by the Real Madrid Foundation, the children rode their bikes in Retiro Park and, from an educational point of view, visited the cities of Madrid and Toledo with local guides, thus understanding the history of places and buildings representative of the host country.
Our beneficiaries had 7 participations in the annual Copa Alma sports competition organized by the Real Madrid Foundation, where social sports schools from all over the world are invited. The Copa Alma competition held annually has a system of development based on the working methodology of the Real Madrid Foundation. The final score of each match is not the one on the field, but one composed of several parts (score, notes from the coaches in relation to respecting the FRM values, the notes given by the children, reciprocally, regarding the way in which they behaved on the field, etc.). It is a tournament that is not based only on the spirit of competition. The Real Madrid Foundation wants to highlight the qualities of each child, that’s why the purely football score matters only to a small extent.
What the beneficiary children say about participating in the activities:
What those who got involved in activities with children say:
Support the prevention of school dropout through sports
Donate monthly to support the Social Sports School's operations.