[WITH INTER CAMPUS IN THE ORPHANAGES OF VORONEZH AND BABROV]

In the (very) cold morning air, the boys and girls chase happily after a ball as they do all over the world. It’s only with a closer glance that you see they’re more timid and sometimes leave the game for no obvious reason. Therefore, you can see that the children from the Voronezh and Babrov institutes are not just orphans but they’ve also been the victims of traumas which have harmed their ability to socialise.

Here Juri (a blonde Italian coach with a Russian name? The kids are incredulous!) and Roberto (Certainly an Italian!) look to involve the kids in fun games while paying attention to those who are more timid or who struggle in dealing with others. As ever, the small miracle of Inter Campus repeats itself as obstacles are broken down, including psychological ones and by the end everyone takes part enthusiastically and at the end they want to take a picture together as they dab for the camera.

Here, around 500 kilometres from Moscow towards Ukraine, around 50 boys and girls train each week and enjoy themselves thanks to our coaches Alexei and Vadim along with Proud Partner Pirelli Tyre Russia.

There is a possibility to expand the project to other schools. The aim is to boost integration and also involve deaf and dumb children in a organisation of families from Voronezh who can benefit from organised sporting activities as our coaches teach that 80 per cent of learning in football comes through seeing and imitating. The project is always on the mach as can be seen from old murals in the city which read ‘Davaj, Inter Campus’.

24.10.2017