Sport the focus in Inter Campus Nicaragua

MANAGUA – Inter Campus training sessions take place multiple times a week in Nicaragua’s capital at a site made available by the country’s Ministry of Sport.

Imagine a huge space set aside for numerous different sports. You have a baseball field to one side with a team playing what for now is still the national sport. Elsewhere there’s a running track where some teenagers are preparing for sprints. Young disabled athletes are also catered for, with some visually-impaired runners being assisted by their guides.

In the centre of it all there’s a regulation-size football pitch where a hundred girls and boys in Nerazzurri shirts are playing all at once, divided into four groups with as many coaches.

Six-year-old Jorge comes bounding onto this wonderful scene, grabbing our attention and exclaiming: “Ciao, I speak Italian. My mum comes from Italy.”

From that moment on, Jorge is our Spanish teacher and improvised translator of such football terminology as ball, football boots and scoring a goal. The local coach Arquimedes has also benefited from young Jorge’s linguistic talents and picked up a few words of Italian.

Some parents had come to watch their kids in training and were sitting on the stands beside the pitch. After the session had finished, they came over to exchange a warm greeting.

As we were leaving we noticed some boxing teams warming up and the pugilists high-fived the Inter Campus youngsters who were fascinated with their gloves.

Bringing different disciplines together is another important aspect of integration.

11.03.2016