At Street Soccer Barcelona we want to expand our capacity to reach young migrants and/or those at risk of social exclusion. We will open a new training day in community spaces, so that for two hours, young people between 15 and 18 years old can play soccer. Through sports practice they will interact with peers with whom they share a reality, establish social-affective links, increase their self-esteem and gain self-confidence.
We request support from GlobalGiving to cover costs in material and human resources.
Regarding material costs, the aid will be used to cover the rental of the field, as well as the purchase of soccer balls, bibs and water bottles. In terms of human resources, they will cover the work of the coach who will organize and develop the weekly training sessions, as well as part of the work carried out by the Coordinator of the entity. Including the monitoring of each of the young users, in coordination with the social entities that make the referral of these young people.
The financial resources available to Street Soccer Barcelona (SSB) are funds or donations in kind, public and private.
SSB meets periodically with the entities to assess the impact that attendance at training and sports practice has on the personal situation of each one of them. We will also use our own funds to cover the dissemination of the activities
carried out through social networks and the website. Through Nike, football boots have been obtained so that all young people can ensure their participation in the training sessions, and through the supermarket company Consum, snacks are obtained (juices and energy bars) with which the sessions are closed. Also, with support from Barcelona City Council, other necessary materials were purchased (pivots, fences). Impact
After five years of work, several social organisations have shown interest in referring young people to Street Soccer Barcelona so that they can enjoy a space to practice sport. Until now, depending on our capacity to accommodate, we have been working with young people of legal age, from eighteen years old onwards. However, for a few months now, social entities that work with unaccompanied minors have contacted us to see if we could receive boys/girls and adolescents with whom they work. The demand is growing and we believe that it is important to be able to meet it. Expanding services and starting to work with a new age group is always a challenge that requires a lot of planning and support, always with the idea of doing it with the highest quality of care that we can offer them. At the project launch level, the appropriate arrangements are being made with the social entities that send the young people, including the preparation of individual files that will later allow for individual monitoring of each of the young people. The rental of the field and facilities (changing rooms) has also been arranged to ensure that the young people are in a comfortable and safe environment. As regards sports practice, at SSB we work to organize the wo-hour training sessions in the most entertaining and attractive way possible. Planning
sessions based on cooperative games and exercises in which to work on the capacities of flexibility, strength, resistance, speed, prioritizing contact with the soccer ball.
We plan to carry out an evaluation with the young people four months after starting the project, to assess the need for changes that improve their experience.
Unaccompanied minors who arrive in the city of Barcelona have few spaces to do sports, have fun and play. They spend most of their time training or fulfilling the obligations that come with living together and the routine in the centers. At SSB we have the experience that being able to meet to practice sports, to play what for many is their favorite sport, soccer, has many benefits, at an individual and collective level. It improves their mental health, through the sport itself and through socializing with other people with whom they share reality. It also increases their self-esteem, accompanied by a team of professionals who know the importance of positive reinforcement. We seek that teamwork and respect between colleagues also help them find the balance with which to face the rest of their week and the challenges The training sessions will take place at the municipal field of La Satalia, in the Poble Sec neighborhood, Carrer de Margarit, Barcelona.
We are talking about teenagers between 15 and 18 years old and those over 18. In the case of unaccompanied minors, these are boys and girls who are under the guardianship of social organizations.
There are social workers who work with unaccompanied minors. They will participate in the training sessions as players, although occasionally they may also help to organize and develop the exercises that are carried out, acting as volunteers. Older youth will also participate who regularly come to train at SSB at the same time and who are expected to accompany the minors, serving their behavior and attitude as a vital reference for the newcomers. We consider this interaction to be
potentially very interesting because it can generate strong bonds of trust that help the younger ones to feel safer and supported, not only during sports practice but also by establishing very positive socio-affective relationships for
the minors.
Street Soccer Barcelona has public and private funds, which have been increasing little by little in recent years. Since this year we have a part-time person who, in other tasks, is in charge of fundraising. Our policy is to grow in line with demand and always maintaining the same quality of care. In order to continue with this project, we will look for new sources of funding but we will also launch a membership campaign to broaden our social base and allow us to have more stable financial resources. On the other hand, for next year we will also study the possibility that the entities that refer the young people
can contribute a small amount of money to ensure the sustainability of the activity.
At Street Soccer Barcelona we work with several social organizations in the city of Barcelona. Most of these entities carry out their work of welcoming and accompanying migrants. So far, the entities that have asked us to be able to receive the
minors they accompany are Save the Children and Fundació Idea, but there are also other entities that refer young people to community spaces, such as Accem, who have also expressed their interest in their minors, those under their guardianship, being able to participate in
these community spaces.
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