Young Indigenous Women Empowered with Basketball

Report of the activities in LA SELVA LACANDONA; in the Municipality of Margaritas, in Chiapas, Mexico, from October 2021 to February 2021

In the place occupied by the community of Nuevo San Juan Chamula, Chiapas, basketball training sessions with young indigenous women continued, where 7 teams were formed and established, training days were established where the girls received certain activities to reinforce their physical activity, complement their basketball training and know the rights of women.
During training it was possible to observe the dedication to this sport and something very important to have a space of healthy coexistence and empowerment, since within the community many times the sports spaces are for men, however this experience opened the possibility of sharing these spaces to benefit of the young indigenous women of Nuevo San Juan Chamula.
After this, the tournament was held with the girls where now if they could exercise what they learned during training and thus reward the first 3 places in order to continue motivating them to practice this sport, above all they know the importance of leadership in women, to have the initiative to follow your dreams and leave your fears behind.
We carry out these activities in order that young indigenous women know the importance of their rights and enjoy this sport through training and the final tournament.

Report of basketball activities in LA SELVA LACANDONA, in Chiapas, Mexico from October 2021 to February 2021

To continue with our interest with the young people of the highlands, it was carried out with the health protocol, that is why in San Juan Cancuc a weekly training was established for this, meetings were held with the authorities of San Juan Cancuc to designate a space only and exclusively for the training of young women; In the case of Chenalho, we were on the municipal basketball court in the morning so that training sessions were not interrupted by games played by local teams. A total of 24 trainings were carried out with the participation of our 93 women from the different communities (Chilolja, El Pozo, San Juan Cancuc cabecera and Chenalho), with no absence, on the contrary, 10 more girls were incorporated in Chenalho, 5 in the well, 4 in Chilolja and 2 in San Juan Cancuc, managing to have 114 women, for this, 5 lightning tournaments were held and for this 10 women's teams were formed, highlighting their commitment and desire to continue participating. The girls show their commitment to training since they have mentioned that only when we arrive will there be space for women's training because the authorities do not care about women's basketball. Other girls comment that now with the suspension of classes it helps them a lot to train basketball to find a space free of pressure and to be able to exercise as they did in physical education classes. Cinema-debates are very important pieces to continue strengthening and empowering women, so we give them tools so that they can continue fighting for the right to be heard and taken into account.

Links:

• http://www.chieltik.org

• Reporte_febrero_2021.docx (DOCX)

Young indigenous women Empowered with Basketball 

Report of activities in LOS ALTOS DE CHIAPAS; at the Municipality of San Juan Cancuc and Chenalhó, in Chiapas, Mexico

In March we concluded with the consolidation of a basketball team in San Juan Cancuc and Chenalho, but the pandemic made us stop carrying out these activities for the care and health of everyone. It was until the last days of August that the team returned to the activities and within them is the work with the young women of the communities, the team has two great basketball players that allowed us to retake the teams to give them the follow-up they deserve in the following communities: Chenalho, Municipal Headquarters; Chilolja; The hole; and the Municipal Head of San Juan Cancuc.The trainings are on Tuesdays and Thursdays, managing to train 40 women in Chenalho, 18 women in El Pozo, 20 women in Chilolja and 15 in San Juan Cancuc, taking a total of 93 young women.Apart from the training sessions, they receive Cinema debates with the themes of Gender Violence, youth participation and leadership. So far from August to October we have held 9 sessions without interruption and maintaining the attendance of the 93 women in the 4 communities of Los Altos de Chiapas.

Report of activities in LA SELVA LACANDONA; at the Municipality of Margaritas, in Chiapas, Mexico.

The young women have been meeting to give them leadership sessions with gender issues, decision making; As well as sexual and reproductive health, with 10 members due to the sanitary measures derived from the covid-19 virus, each team is shown the videos in relation to the aforementioned topics at the end of the projection, an analysis and reflection about The topics covered and later in the afternoons is the training of the teams, duly with the corresponding sanitary measures.Consecutive free throw practice, 3-player evasion, teamwork exercises and skills strategies are being worked on.We are working with two teams per day and each team is made up of 10 players, of which we have 20 training girls. This makes the exercises fun as the number of students helps us to perform the activities better. In this activity, the principal of the campus supports us by lending us the basketballs, cones, hoops and the physical education teacher in free moments that he also supports us in providing asesories of this sport.