Barça Foundation shares FutbolNet stories
FutbolNet is being consolidated in Catalonia as a leading methodology, with proven effectiveness as a tool for social development and gender inclusion. FutbolNet is a project that is bringing results, year after year. Barça Foundation highlights 4 success stories to showcase these impressive results.
FutbolNet is a methodology for social intervention created by the Barça Foundation in 2011. The methodology uses football and other sports-related activities as tools for reflection and agents of change to improve the life of children and young people who are in vulnerable contexts. The methodology meets in ”new reasons to laugh and feel loved”, ”learning more about yourself and how to express yourself”, ”finding a place in which you can feel free” and ”learning to interact, lose shyness, and share.”
Xavi, the strength of a Lion Cub
In April of 2015, the FutbolNet methodology was adapted to create a sports initiation group for children and young people with disabilities, aimed at promoting sport as a way to improve and develop their abilities. Xavi is 8 years old and goes to an inclusive school. Due to his illness, his body is a little swollen, his muscle tone rigid and he gets far more fatigued by any physical activity than other children his age. However, all this gets put aside when he moves on the pitch.
Xavi started playing at FutbolNet two days a week but had to slow down due to the accumulated tiredness, and a lack of concentration. Since then, he only participates on Thursdays, but according to his coaches and teachers, he spends the week eagerly waiting for the day in which he plays with his friends to come around.
”Thanks to his Colleagues, he has forged a new path”
Today Xavi is a fundamental part of the group. The most surprising thing about his story is that thanks to his attitude and especially due to the palpable affection of his teammates, he has set off on a new path. Maintaining a smooth conversation with Xavi isn’t easy, but his emotional ability is so intense that it is impossible not to empathize with him. His character and the feeling of being loved has had such an influence that his future is not which appeared predestined for him. He is an example of vitality, of positivity and of strength.
His doctor has told the family that practising sports has led to a marked improvement on his motor skills level. It has also given him new reasons to laugh, and to feel loved.
Kshitiz, from the Kingdom of Gods to El Raval
Kshitiz is a Nepalese child who aspires to be an engineer. He is fifteen years old, and he retains some of the extreme timidity he had when he arrived in Barcelona in 2013 from his homeland, Nepal “The Kingdom of Gods”.
He transmits an eastern calm and a kind of profundity that generates confidence. He speaks slowly, but with an assured tone. He does not seem to be intimidated by the conversation. When he arrived in Catalonia, he enrolled at the Miquel Taradell Institute where most of the students came from Pakistan. Despite his shyness, he learned their language in a very short time, in order to be able to communicate.
“FutbolNet helped me to interact, to learn the rules of the game, to lose my shyness and to share. Now I participate with the group without feeling different to them.”
Kshitiz also speaks Spanish and Catalan. “You don’t have to be in a hurry, it’s about enjoying things, acting calmly, and watching everything that happens around you. I miss some Nepalese customs, but I am happy here. Thanks to FutbolNet, I have also learned to respect my parents more,” he says.
Kshitiz’s parents run two vegan restaurants and work many hours a day. Activities like FutbolNet have contributed to family stability and tranquillity, since their parents know that their son is not being neglected, and that he is also learning and enjoying himself at the same time.
Salma is like Themis, the goddess of justice
Salma was born in Córdoba, Argentina. She is thirteen years old, but one would say that she is older judging by her maturity and serenity. She has been participating in FutbolNet for a year. She was encouraged to join by a group of school friends. She has been living in Barcelona for five years now.
“I want to be an attorney. I would like to help build a fairer society, and work for the rights of citizens,” she says.
FutbolNet has allowed her, in a relatively short time, to find a place in which she can feel free. Within every human action, freedom is where our humankind can raise higher. Salma could fill the checkbox of stereotypes of a very talkative and highly prepared Argentinean. Nevertheless, Salma’s sensitivity reflects how, to get here, she has had to go a long way.
At first, she had problems integrating, but those issues have already been overcome. She participates in FutbolNet and in a theatre group.
“I like the teamwork at FutbolNet, the relationship that is created with my colleagues, and the values that are transmitted to all of us. I like how we work with humility and also ambition. One of the things that I have enjoyed most is learning how to resolve conflicts.”
Salma speaks perfect Catalan and feels integrated and surrounded by friends. Her attitude is positive, and life has taught her that everything has to be made out of love, otherwise is not worth it.
A Robin Hood on the pitch
Alex Fonseca started participating in FutbolNet four years ago when he had just arrived in Catalonia. He is now 18 years old and shows great care and consideration for others.
His adaptation was difficult, as his mother stayed behind in Venezuela. He still finds it hard to talk about those tough times, but thanks to his coaches and the team around him, he has found a place where he is listened to.
Alex never behaved disruptively, but he felt very lonely. At FutbolNet he was able to play the sport that he liked the most. He found a new family and new friends. Alex is one of the participants most involved in the project, as he decided to stay on as a mediator after his graduation.
“Playing sport has given me a new family, and a place where I can be listened to.”
The education team value his work at FutbolNet very highly. He is very responsible and takes his position as a reference for others very seriously. He is studying Humanities and wishes to dedicate his future to professions that put him to the test physically in order to help others, as he believes in his personal qualities of tenacity, consistency and empathy. FutbolNet has offered him the space he needed to relate to people in a positive way, learn more about himself and express himself in difficult moments while enjoying sport.
