(MissionNewswire) The Real Madrid Foundation’s international coaches recently traveled to the Don Bosco Akosséwa Youth Center, which facilitates the Salesian social-sports school for soccer and basketball in Lomé, Togo. They developed a course for educators focused on designing training tasks. During the course, Salesian staff members were taught both tactical and technical content and how to put these together during training for students. The training initiative aimed to deepen the understanding of teaching sport methodology.

The Salesian socio-sporting program in Togo provides comprehensive education. As part of the Real Madrid Foundation’s “They play, we educate” program already operating in Salesian schools across the globe, participants receive nutritional, family and psychological support, regular health checkups, the opportunity to participate in social and educational workshops, gymnastics, crafts and reading, and citizenship activities. Training sessions on topics such as health, hygiene, values, and the prevention of alcohol, tobacco, and drug abuse are also provided.

The socio-sports school in Lomé was founded in September 2015 and currently provides education for 610 children. All of the youth come from family backgrounds with low resources and a high degree of vulnerability. The school aims to give the participants the necessary tools to develop in society and improve their living conditions. Within the area of the school, nearly 50 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.

“Sports programs teach youth both on and off the field,” says Father Gus Baek, director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Learning and playing team sports encourages leadership skills as well as teaches youth to work as part of a team. Students also learn important social skills and have opportunities for growth and maturity.”

The collaboration between the Salesians and the Real Madrid Foundation has been very successful, granting more than 2,000 youth and vulnerable children the opportunity to participate in similar programs around the globe. Currently, there are 17 socio-sports schools across 12 countries on three continents.

More than 80 percent of Togo’s rural population lives in conditions of poverty making the country one of the world’s poorest, according to UNICEF. Children in the country suffer the most, with close to 50 percent of those living in poverty under the age of 18. One in eight children will not reach their fifth birthday and the number of children who drop out of school because their parents cannot afford to educate them is high. Children are also often forced to work in exploitative and dangerous conditions to help support their families.

###

Sources:

Real Madrid Foundation – The Real Madrid Foundation promotes sports planning in Togo

Salesian Missions

UNICEF – Togo