On the occasion of International Children’s Day, Terre des hommes organizes two soccer tournaments in Tirgu Jiu (May 30th) and Craiova (June 1st) to help children extract meaningful lessons from games and sports that can be then extended to social life. Thus, 144 children from Gorj, Dolj and Olt will play football and “5 balls”, scoring when they play fair and winning when girls hit the goal.
Organized under the “zefiR” project, the social inclusion events will facilitate the psycho-social development of children aged 10 to 14 years, coming from 8 communities where Tdh is already implementing educational programs: Bumbești-Jiu, Polovragi, Baia de Fier, Târgu Cărbunești (Gorj county); Grădinari, Slatina (Olt county); Amărăștii de Jos, Ocolna (Dolj county). Thereby, 16 players are selected from each community (144 in total) and will be joined – at the Craiova tournament – by another 16 children, beneficiaries of foster care. 96 adults (12 teachers and parents from each community) will assist at the activities.
On the playground, the children will form mixed teams of 8 members (of which at least 2 are girls) and compete through „fair soccer” as well as “5 balls”, following new rules: there are no goal keepers or referees, players cannot be replaced and boys’ scores are taken into account if, by the end of the game, the girls hit the goal as well – this rule is essential for social learning and teamwork. Before the match, the teams agree on 3 additional rules of fair play that they will stick to during the game. At the end of the match, the teams reunite in „the dialogue zone” and assess how much they’ve respected the agreements and how to ensure that all participants are involved in the game. Pre- and post-game talks are mediated by “teamers” (MGS animators) which observe and coordinate the play-rounds. Overall standings are determined by counting goals scores and extra points allocated for fair-play attitudes.
“The two psycho-social games, well cherished by children, develop cooperation skills and are specific to the «MGS – Movement, Game and Sport» methodology implemented by Terre des hommes. The special rule of goals scored by girls as a condition for team victory does bring some tension to the game. However, experience has shown us that, by sticking to this rule until the end of the game, both girls and boys are happy to have had worked in the team and reassess their appreciation on gender differences. Even at the last tournament held in Craiova on 17th of May, boys cheered when girls managed to score, while girls felt encouraged to take control of the ball and practiced dribblings even at relaxation breaks”, says Mihai Enache, Tdh’s coordinator of events.