Inter Campus, a celebration of football in Bolivia

COCHABAMBA – The Inter Campus team was accompanied by a warm Bolivian sun throughout its recent visits to the long-standing Ticti Norte site in Cochabamba and new Entre Rios centre in Sacaba, launched in February thanks to a partnership with the UNDP, the Casari Foundation and the Sacaba local authorities.

It was an enjoyable and rewarding week, with Inter Campus coaches Gabriele Raspelli and Paola Balconi introducing training ideas to the local instructors and children, who then showed great passion and endeavour in putting these into practice.

As is always the case, the most successful part of each daily session was the final friendly match, which kids and coaches looked forward to with anticipation every day.

In a wider sense, the Inter Campus Bolivia project is a great example of how sport can be used to help ordinary people and promote integration, collaboration and respect.

For example, since 2012 the Ticti Norte site has been working with 70 youngsters whose parents are locked up in the San Sebastian prison. They are accompanied to every training session by Sister Maria Angel, allowing them to escape the reality of life for a few hours.

These values – integration, collaboration and respect – were at the heart of the first Inter Campus Bolivia Festival, which brought children from Sacaba and Cochabamba together. The children were organised into mixed teams for a special match and, as is always the case with Inter Campus, the result was far less important than seeing the youngsters fulfil their right to play.

21.10.2016