- As part of the Summer School, the two entities emphasize integration regardless of origin, gender and functional capacity.
A commitment to promoting diversity in sport and integration regardless of factors such as origin, gender or functional capacity, has been the foundation of the collaborative activities carried out during the month of July between Fundación Cepsa and Club Baloncesto Santa Cruz in the Summer School, held at the Tomé Cano Nursery and Elementary School in the capital of Tenerife.
The head of Fundación Cepsa in the Canary Islands, Belén Machado, highlights that this year the emphasis has been placed on instilling values in the Summer School’s young participants through a program of talks in tandem with the traditional activities of the summer program. “In addition to playing sports, enjoying, playing, learning, and living together, they have absorbed the stories and experiences told by several athletes, in an effort to foster respect, tolerance, solidarity, and empathy in children,” she says.
For his part, the manager of Club Baloncesto de Santa Cruz, Alberto Déniz, maintains that “at the request of Fundación Cepsa, we have implemented a social program this year, which has led us to broaden our horizons by instilling values related to diversity and inclusion in children”. He believes that the collaboration of Fundación Cepsa has been fundamental in “instilling diversity and inclusion in the children and, thus, raising their awareness on the types of issues that need to be addressed”.
Along these lines, in addition to sports practice, group activities, competitions, and free-time workshops, the school has held several talks on diversity and inclusion in the field of sports.
The first of these, held in collaboration with Asociación Coliseo, was attended by 9 migrant minors who arrived in the Canary Islands from Africa a few months ago in a dugout canoe. In this case, they shared their experience, the reasons that led them to leave their country, as well as their experience in Tenerife, focusing on the integration process they have undergone to overcome initial barriers, such as language or the customs of a country different from their own.
The perspective of athletes with functional diversity was another topic on display during a meeting with the players of the Adein Wheelchair Basketball Club, who explained and demonstrated that there are no barriers in sports. They encouraged the children in attendance to play a game in which all the players moved around the court in wheelchairs.
Coach Pedro García Rosado, who has immense experience in women’s basketball, gave a talk on the importance of women in sports, highlighting the usual barriers that girls encounter when starting out and the positive changes that are taking place while encouraging those present to continue practicing sports.
Héctor Sánchez, coach of Joventut de Badalona, held a session aimed at young coaches and volunteers at the Summer School, focusing on training methodology and group management for young players, especially for children carrying emotional stress due to family conflicts or lack of resources.
Another of the actions deployed within the Summer School, in collaboration with Asociación Padre Laraña, awarded scholarships to five children to allow them to enjoy this summer program.
The Summer School joins other collaborations that Fundación Cepsa and Santa Cruz Basketball Club held throughout the year, such as the Fundación Cepsa-Club Baloncesto Santa Cruz Basketball School for children or the mini-basketball summer camp at the end of the school year. Likewise, when the pandemic is no longer an obstacle, two clean-ups are planned for beaches and ravines with the 250 children from the Basketball School and their families.