Football talk with Inter Campus Venezuela

CARACAS – Despite the difficult situation Venezuela finds itself in as a nation, with weekly rationing in place for the most basic goods and endless queues of people waiting to make their purchases, Inter Campus’ work in the eastern Caracas district of Petare continues unabashed.

Aside from the usual training drills, the local custom is to pause for a few moments at the end of each session to reflect among friends on the values of sport. Each team chooses a value for its name – collaboration, loyalty, friendship – and these then become then subjects for the discussion. How did we collaborate on the field? Were we loyal to our team-mates? Have we shown friendship even to our rivals? The instructors observe quietly as a frank, open exchange of views is had.

The best part of the whole affair is the way each person makes their contribution. Far from speaking all at once or shouting over each other, the youngsters use the football itself to denote who can speak: the person with the ball says their piece then chooses someone to pass it on to, thus allowing a new opinion to come to the fore. It’s a fast-paced exercise, the ball zipping about as if it were still in play.

It’s a fantastic idea from a fantastic group of people. Well done!

04.04.2016