Hello Boo-tribuners. I don’t come over here and post too often these days, since I am mostly focused at Euro Trib. But over the last few months I have been working on a research topic that may be of interest to some of you. My research examines how sport and play activities are being used by international organizations to help children and youth overcome trauma from disaster events. I am now close to completion on that big report, but this fall I was asked if I would be willing to write a shorter overview paper on the topic, for a conference in early December. I did that in collaboration with another person who is researching in the same area. And if you are interested in the topic, or just curious about what a fellow EuroTribe member is doing, here it is (it’s a pdf): Overcoming Trauma Through Sport, by Henley & Colliard
I have worked for over 20 years with people who have been traumatized in their lives, but this project was the first time I saw how sport is used to help kids with trauma, and it turns out to be a real new area of practice and research. The conference it will be presented at is the: 2nd Magglingen Conference on Sport & Development in Magglingen, Switzerland.
As it is, I have discovered that the whole field of “Sport and Development” is new, and there are some real interesting projects being done, where sports are used for “peace-building”, for overcoming racial divides, for education about HIV/AIDS, for getting street kids off the street, and so forth. Here is a website that can connect you to the area of Sport and Development (and I have been informed they are about to upgrade to a more user-friendly site soon). Sport and Development International Platform Also, if you want to look at some of the other papers that will be presented at the Magglingen Conference mentioned above, just follow the links to that page (there is an excellent paper I can recommend about “Gender Equity and Sports” by a Marianne Meier…a very important and interesting overview).
Okay, there you have it…enough shameless self-promotion…but if I can answer any questions about the work that is being done in this field, please feel free to ask. Thanks!
In my larger paper that is on the same topic, only with more depth, I explore some programs that occurring in the world. To mention just two that really impressed me: One is in Zambia, where the HIV/AIDS pandemic has taken the lives of so many adults, that over 40% of the population is age 15 or younger. Many kids are orphans or double orphans, and have ended up on the street. There is a program there that uses football, theatre and music to pull the kids in, then once they get involved the program offers them health services, tries to connect them with family or find a home, and get them into schooling. It is really growing, and the football teams are quite good…the kids are real motivated to play well and beat teams consisting of players who are not homeless. Now non-homeless kids are wanting to play on thier team, which is breaking down the stigma that exists about their situation.
Another program is the Peres Center for Peace, which has developed football schools for Israeli and Palestinian girls. The girls are first taught to play within their own communities, then once a month girls teams from each culture are brought together, where teams of mixed Israeli and Palestinian players are created to play together. Then they picnic and socialize afterwards. These girls are real heroes, as they have played their tournaments even just after conflict occurred close to where they play. From what I hear, attendance has been almost 100%.
And lastly, you remember the whole Beslan incident of last year, where that school was attacked and many children, teachers and parents were killed? There has been a sport building constructed their, and sports provided such as wrestling, wilderness training and horse-back riding (to mention a few), and these kids are really being helped by these programs work through their trauma and stress.
There are many, many more programs out there…its pretty amazing and interesting to read about the creative ways sport and play is being used to help children.
Someone asked me over at European Tribune if it would be alright to share my paper with someone he knows who works in the field. My response is yes! Please feel free to share it with anyone who might find it interesting.
By “football” I assume you mean what Americans call soccer, which has really caught on as a kids’ sport over here in the states over the past two decades or so, with thousands of boys and girls involved in locally-run leagues. 🙂 (Personally, I think one of the reasons it’s so popular is that it does work well for both boys and girls, and has relatively low equipment and facility costs to participate, compared to, say, American football.)
It’s good to hear some good news. Anything that helps kids get past the trauma and fear they’ve suffered, and build a sense of community and connection with other people, adults and other children alike, is a good thing. Especially the combination of sports, theater and music — those are all cooperative efforts that draw kids together, and give a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction from participation in the group.
Thanks for reporting this. (I’ll try to look at your paper later, must run to work now….)
Yes, soccer. Actually, at this point the paper is more focused on team sports than theatre, music, and the more simple play activities…but these are just as important. It would make my paper way too big, is all. It is really good stuff, very new, and very hopeful…
diary it sounds very positive, however the way sports is MORE important in many ways at the school level is very disturbing to me. Sports is given more attention that good grades and many parents think a child’s ‘touchdown’ is far more important than a failing grade.
I have a nephew who was really into sports all through school. And his parents only focused on him getting into the PROS. This boy can barely read and write. He was never good enough to even get a sports scholarship and now he can barely keep a job. That’s traumatic too.
In the sports an development field, pro sports (or any sports heading in that direction) are called “elite” sports. Sports and development is about fun and about healing, not about liete sports. And it is not meant to replace school at all, and in fact, in some places (like in programs in Zambia, Ethiopia and Uganda, for example) sports can be a “hook” that draws street or poor kids in, and then once they are involved in sports and connected to the program, often are convinced to start or return to school. The whole idea behind “psychosocial sports programs” though, is not winning or losing, but about connection, participation and healing (of some sort).
Oh, and respond to the end of your note…sadly, way too many kids hold out hope to become pro, when in reality it is such a small percentage that ever makes it that far. It is sad, and can be traumatic, if a person’s sole hope was that, and they failed, with no other options planned…
Speaking of hopes for the elite leagues, I remembered this article from Common Dreams: How Baseball Strip-Mines the Dominican Republic. Which is very different from what you’re doing. These camps take that dream of professional riches and glory to the most exploitive extreme — treating the kids as potential commodities, not individuals to whom the camp owes any responsibility.
(This is not intended as a comparison — I’d much rather see kids playing sports just for fun and physical exercise. The programs you’re writing about are intended for the well-being of the kids themselves, and that is a wonderful and marvelous thing in itself.)
This is most interesting. Thanks.
Two experiences come to mind. A friend who runs a summer program for children from mixed socioeconomic groups described the difficulty the kids had with an hour long free play time. The kids from the more affluent socioeconomic group didn’t know how to organize to play and the kids from the lower socioeconomic group didn’t know how to play the same games. Both were dependent on adults organizing them and mediating.
The second was something I read about a before school program organized for overweight kids. (Sorry to not have a reference.) This program included a few athletic kids as well, chosen for their agreeable natures. After being introduced to a variety of games, the kids themselves were allowed to choose what to play. This was a different experience for most of the overweight kids. It took them a bit of time to learn to be the ones to choose what to play. Not surprising, once they took on some “ownership” their participation increased and they began to look forward to the morning’s games. Oh, and the kids lost weight – surprised?
I can see the value of introducing sport games to kids. And I can see how organized play, games with rules, would be a relief and a contrast to living in chaos. It seems to me very important that at some point the organizing and play gets turned over to the children.
IMO, a great deal of learning has been lost through our organized children’s sports. Discussion on what to play, mediating disagreements, rejection of those who do not play “fair” (as opposed to those who do not play well), “sides” constantly being revised, older kids introducing/teaching younger kids the game – all of these end up in the hands of the adults with children just being players and observers. There is a kind of passivity in the children. And the commercialism and consumption are sickening.
Passing the local parks in the summer, I never see children playing “pick up” games. Basketball may be the one exception.
I see lots of possibilities in sports AS play, but cautions are needed.
Excellent points and interesting to hear about these programs. And someone is listening. I just received an email from someone who oversees programs in Uganda, where they run a soccer program with equally mixed boys and girls teams, and where no points count until a girl scores, and there are no referees…so must resolve any disputes themselves. There are program monitors available who will help mediate, but the point it to get the kids working on resolving differences and on empowering girls more.
Also just received information of a program that is trying to organize sports in the refugee camps in Darfur, and they are seeing a real need for girls and women’s sports, so are starting to focus on that…in a region where women never have played sports. The importance of this is not just about sports, about empowering women.
It goes on and on…many interesting, fun-focused, kid and girl (and woman) focused programs. But also great to hear of sports programs in the US too. And yes, I too noticed that it seems kids just don’t play teams sports that much after school (when that was THE thing for me, when I grew up).
Have you ever heard of the Homeless World Cup? It’s an international soccer tournament with homeless participants and it’s done to improve awareness of homelessness issues but also as a way to boost self-esteem. I heard a great story on the CBC about it and I think they said that around half of the participants went on to get a job and almost all of them improved their lives in some measure after participating.
It totally makes sense to me that it would be beneficial to participate in a team sport. You get to experience a sense of cooperation and can get a real sense of accomplishment.