Buenos Aires - Tokyo, bridging the Olympic Games
Argentina
A 2 years project to teach table tennis and the Olympic Values to targeted participants by weekly classes from trained coaches.
- Give possibility to play table tennis to young people from impoverished areas or with a disability that normally wouldn´t have the possibility.
- Create empathy in young slums inhabitants towards Youth Olympic Games and its participants.
- Use the game of table tennis and the Olympic Values to work on social and educational topics with the project beneficiaries.
- Create interest of the targeted people and their families to attend and watch the Youth Olympic Games.
- Promote a message of inclusion of the disadvantaged groups such as slums inhabitants or people with a disability.
- Connect Argentina and Japan in all possible levels from governmental to community.
- Use the YOG athletes as role models for the youth.
STAG, Global Sports Development Foundation (GSD), Japanese Table Tennis Federation, Embassy of Japan in Buenos Aires, Argentina Olympic Committee, Buenos Aires Youth Olympic Games 2018 Organising Committee (BAYOGOC), Argentina Table Tennis Federation, Argentina Table Tennis Federation for the Disabled
Context:
Buenos Aires hosted the 3rd Youth Olympic Games in 2018. The Olympic Village and many sports venues are close to slums in need of urban development, like the table tennis venue in the northern suburbs of Buenos Aires. Life in Argentinian slums is characterized by deficient formal access to basic services like water-supply, waste water connection, electricity, garbage collection etc., high density of population living in precarious dwellings in an illegal occupied area, high rate of unemployment and/or informal employment, high rate of drug addiction, violence, etc. Many inhabitants, especially the youth are living without personal motivation for a better future, living day by day. At the same time, Argentina is a very centralised country with lack of opportunities for persons living in the different provinces. And last but not least, Argentina has a big Japanese community offering to link the project with Tokyo 2020.
Expected outcomes:
- Having increased the interest of the community in table tennis and the YOG through the weekly table tennis sessions, the bimonthly tournaments, the education about the Olympic Values, the assistance at the YOG and social and print media campaigns.
- Having taught the Olympic Values to all estimated project participants.
- Having taught table tennis basics to all estimated project participants.
- Having involved the social environment of at least half of the project participant (friends, families) through bimonthly double tournaments.
- Having created the basis that each location continues realising table tennis sessions after finishing the project (that is to say that they are motivated to do so, have the necessary equipment, at least one possible motivated project leader is detected and trained in each location)
- All participants have experienced exciting Youth Olympic Games, with a vivid exchange between elite players and project beneficiaries.
- Having created the interest in the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Our Sponsors
