Youth Exchange Arnhem- 4 countries, one common interest| Football
Since Saturday 8th of July, 23 young people and 9 staff leaders from 4 different countries are in Arnhem, the Netherlands, taking part in the EFDN one-week Youth Exchange “Breaking Barriers through Football”.
The participants of the exchange are all following different local Community and Social Responsibility programmes at one of EFDN’s partner clubs SL Benfica, Vitesse Arnhem, Vaalerenga Fotball and Mifalot and now get the great opportunity to spend one week abroad on a football-based exchange, jointly with other young people who are passionate about football.
“Breaking Barriers through Football”
During the entire exchange, football is and has been used as the key tool for breaking cultural barriers since the sport has proofed to have the power of addressing a wide range of societal issues.
Coming from very diverse cultural and religious backgrounds, the young people are all united by the common interest in football, making the exchange a fantastic opportunity to foster the understanding of cultural and religious diversity.
In order to strengthen the cultural understanding, each day, a cultural evening takes place at which the participants from the different clubs prepare a traditional dinner from their home country and organise an entertainment programme related to their culture. Thereby, all participants learn about the Netherlands, Portugal, Israel and Norway.
Joined by the common interest in football
By taking part in non-formal learning activities such as Walking Football, Blind Football and seminars, the participants are jointly working on overcoming invisible barriers in society and develop strategies on how to overcome them.
Additionally, a healthy lifestyle through sport is being promoted and the young adults learn to deal with the feelings of achievement and frustration.
Moreover, many activities are carried out, which encourage and motivate the young people to actively engage in their local communities.
Learning about the Netherlands by visiting the city of Arnhem
The exchange takes place in the surroundings of the trainings ground of football club Vitesse Arnhem. Next to that, the group had already the opportunity to visit Vitesse’ s stadium Gelredome.
Additionally, it is part of the cultural programme that the group visits the city of Arnhem to learn about the Netherlands.
On Thursday, the last day of the exchange, every participant receives the Youth Pass Certificate.
The exchange is co-funded by the Erasmus Plus Sport programme.
