[Sport] Much more than winning: Sport as an educational engine

[#Wittels-]

Have you ever witnessed a father or mother scolding their child for not playing well? Do you know a young person who has not dared to practice a sport for fear of being told that it is exclusively for boys or girls? Have you seen humiliation or insults to kids in a game? At Soria Noticias we immerse ourselves in the sports universe of the quarry to analyze these issues.

Soria bets on sports. This relationship, which makes the province better, has left hundreds of pages full of successes, both individual and collective. Athletics World Champions and Olympic Games medalists of the stature of Abel Antón or Fermín Cacho; or feats in football with Numancia, in volleyball with the Duero River, or in figure skating with Héctor Díez in the European Championship, show how well things are being done in the province within this world.

authorized voices

But how do you get to these levels, even more so in a territory with so few inhabitants? The answer is clear: taking care of the base. Sports practice is encouraged from below, with thousands of federated children in the clubs. The provincial deputy for sports, Gustavo Marín, and the councilor of the City Council of the capital, Manu Salvador, also highlight the role of women's sports in recent years, "the number of athletes has grown thanks to entities such as San José, Río Duero or Sporting Santo Domingo”.

In that, to continue advancing, both stress the importance of continuing to work, from their institutions, to carry out meaningful camps, attract Spanish championships or take care of the facilities. “Everyone will not be able to have an international success. The main thing, in these cases, is that they enjoy sport from a very young age”, explains Marín, because it is health. However, the representative of the provincial institution also points out that certain aspects must be improved. He believes that a way must be found so that "rural homegrown players have the same chances of practicing the discipline they want as the rest".

With this institutional point of view, another of the aspects that emerge with greater importance within this report is psychological, and how sport can influence when it comes to shaping the personality of players at younger ages. In this sense, Nora Barranco, a sports psychology professor, associated with the UVa on the 'Duques de Soria' Campus, gives us certain clues: “At an educational level it directly affects. When we do sports, we secrete a series of substances that reduce anxiety, a situation that makes our attention more effective. In the same way, they can extrapolate the tenacity with which they play in their teams to the school environment”.

At the same time, it highlights that this universe influences them when it comes to learning values. In this regard, Barranco emphasizes that athletes like Rafa Nadal, Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi have been an example for an entire generation, setting themselves up as role models in terms of effort and work to reach the top. In short, this professional of the human mind points out that these activities are more related than we think to the conductive, cognitive and social levels (the latter in relation to meeting more people and making more friends as children).

Nobility
From this, we dive into our first block, related to the nobility within supposedly violent disciplines. Here, the president of the Numancia Boxing Club, Reda Brahmi Azouiar, recalls that, "despite the fact that this discipline was frowned upon before, because the trainers were not qualified, we have evolved a lot, especially when it comes to working with children" . In this direction, he emphasizes that from a very young age they are taught that it is a form of contact, "although many times it would not be missing, since most of them tend to be very calm, sporty and know how to separate themselves." In this case, the representative of the entity affirms that this sport serves very well for "the educational part, by reducing anxiety in training."

In the same way, but in another discipline, Erika García, a player for Alevín A from San José, explains that the role of coaches is essential to eradicate violence in soccer, “teaching us to be good and educated people, to develop a fair game and to treat the teammates of the other teams and the referees well”. Precisely, among those technicians is a multifunctional, Manu Salvador (player and coach).

With numerous experiences behind him, Salvador thinks that, through sport, violence and other activities are avoided: "While you do something positive, you stay away from things that at that age can be problematic." In this sense, he advises against punishing children by not attending training sessions or matches because, "in addition to the fact that there is time for everything, here we promote values such as effort and punctuality that can come in very handy."

respect the rival
On the other hand, another issue that is gaining a lot of prominence in recent times within youth sports is the number of goals or baskets. In this regard, there are more and more voices that ask that they stop counting from a certain number as a way of respecting the rival. In this case, our psychologist shows that at these ages "you have to be consistent with the fact that what is promoted is enjoyment, cooperation or camaraderie, it cannot be that the most important value is the goal". Being in favor of setting a limit, this coincides with the statements of Erika García and Jonander Hernández, a member of Calasanz, who stress that counting should stop "because if not the other team will be upset and pass it on very badly, losing so much, which they don't deserve”.

For his part, the figure of the referee has a lot to say on this issue, being in charge of validating the goals. In this context, Víctor Romera, a member of the Soriana Delegation, considers that after 12 he cannot go up to the light: “You have to find a formula so that they do not leave sad. Here the result is the least important. My soul falls to the ground when I see them leave crying and unmotivated. Within the range of possibilities, the CSB player, Jara Guallar, proposes to do something similar to what happens in the children's basketball categories, ceasing to count baskets from 50 points apart, "all to prioritize the enjoyment of the Players Present".

After this alternative, Guallar herself stays with us to talk about another very hot issue at the moment: the existing prejudices in sport and the labels attached to certain practices. In this regard, it should be remembered that not so many years ago it was very difficult to find a boy in skating or gymnastics, while it was also extremely rare to see girls in soccer or basketball teams. However, fortunately this trend has changed, definitively incorporating women's sport in the province. For this reason, Jara, Erika or the boxer who is only 8 years old, Iris Martínez, show their joy at "seeing that more and more girls are taking the step, creating authentic families". However, a more than authoritative voice, the coach and coordinator of the Soria Gymnastics Club, Virginia Hernández, indicates that there is still a long way to go, since, "for example, in the case of rhythmic there are no international men's championships."

Despite this, from the Soria entity they opted for this genre, currently having four male members whom colleagues such as Noelia Colás consider essential: “It cannot only be a sport for girls due to flexibility. They have very good abilities to perform.” With all this, a clear example of breaking barriers, eliminating any type of label is the brand new skater from Soriano, Héctor Díez.

In this regard, this World and European champion alludes that it is true that when he started most of them were girls, "but that didn't matter to me because the only thing I focused on was a sport that I liked, regardless of the general trend that existed. We all have the right to enjoy the modality we like”. Through this allegation, we immerse ourselves in another of the factors that can most affect young people: the behavior of parents in the stands.

Parents
On this, there is no better voice than that of the referee, with 20 years of experience, Víctor Romera. This, after having experienced "unfortunate" episodes in various Soria fields due to the attitude of relatives in the stands, emphasizes that "this behavior must be eradicated as soon as possible, and kicked out of the stadiums because they are only going to insult and provoke ”. In accordance with these statements, the psychologist affirms that "children can take these examples, imitating the behaviors of some figures that will be one of the most important in their lives."

For all this, our five young athletes, Erika, Jara, Noelia, Iris and Jonander, show their rejection of these attitudes, asking that they be allowed to enjoy what really matters, which is nothing other than what happens on the fields. of football, of the tracks or of the tapestries. In this way, all of them dream of following in the footsteps of a Manu Salvador or a Héctor Díez, no longer for breaking down the door of professional sports and succeeding, but for the values of effort, camaraderie or respect that they have promoted in their respective careers. . Getting to the top is not as important as enjoying a path that will be essential when it comes to training the people of the future. In it, family members, coaches and referees will continue to be essential.

 

Link: https://sorianoticias.com/noticia/2023-05-05-mucho-mas-que-ganar-el-deporte-como-motor-educativo-99924