Future champions
Latest CSR project involving more than 860 students in the region of Itajaí, Brazil is pushing school grades up.
In the middle of a blue-coloured mat stand a young boy and girl, each proudly wearing pristine white trousers and jacket closed off by a grey belt. They bow towards each other respectively before practicing judo throws.
Following her training, the girl, called Lara Gabrielli, says excitedly:
“You must pay to participate in most sport activities; here I can train for free. If I didn’t come I would probably be at home watching TV. My grades are now better because I need to keep them up in order to attend training. I would love to compete one day!”
Gabrielli is one of the 868 children and teenagers currently enrolled in the Future Champions program, launched by APM Terminals Itajaí in the second half of 2015. Through this program, APM Terminals works in partnership with local associations and projects that offer sports activities – judo, handball and tennis - to children from vulnerable communities.
The activities are organised before and after school in training centers in the Itajaí region. Some centers also organise trainings on Saturdays.
“This program has been running since June 2015, and we are already so pleased with the positive impact it is having. Our aim is to continue this CSR project next year and expand it to surrounding areas of the other five units of APM Terminals in the country” said Michele Cardoso, Communications Specialist of APM Terminals Brazil, who has been managing the Future Champion project in collaboration with Gabriel Guarnieri, Corporate HSSE Coordinator, APM Terminals Brazil.
This program has also brought to light talented, promising players – for example, out of 150 students that participate in trainings organise by the Association of Friends of Handball, 15 girls are already playing in high performance teams.
As for judo, the sport is having a positive impact on the behaviour and self-esteem of practitioners.
“The practice of judo positively influences the behaviour of children, as it is a sport based on respects for one another. We have also seen an increase in their grades at school. This is significant because discipline is essential to improve judo performance,” says Matheus Almeida, judo coach at the Judokas Association of Itajaí which trains 237 children in four different centers as part of the Future Champions program. A similar trend has been observed by the Parque Dom Bosco which organises tennis trainings and closely monitor the academic performance of the 60 students participate.
