What is surprising me the most by now, during my “Erasmus for young entrepreneurs” experience in the field of sport, are the differences between the sport clubs in Italy and Denmark, where I’m hosted for the Program.
Today I wish to talk about the volunteering in particular. In Denmark in fact volunteering is really important. It’s perceived as community commitment and has a long history. People finish to work around 4.30pm generally and then almost everyone is busy with some volunteering activities.
Talking about the sport clubs, volunteers have different ages and roles. There’re parents of the kids playing and elderly people. They both help with logistic and refereeing. But there’re also young people being coaches for the kids playing. The youngest coaches are about 13 years and beside being good players, they behave as role models for all the kids. The youngest players in the club is 5 years old.
Sport in fact is not only about developing the motor skills, but also a tool for fostering social inclusion, intercultural dialogue and leadership. Things TIK Volley is deeply aware of, and is attempting to focus on a lot. The area where TIK Volley is located (in Høje-Taastrup), this is even more important where since the sports club is located in a area with a high percentage of migrants and immigrants. In some of the schools here the 90% of the kids are immigrants or second generations. Thus public and private institutions dealing with education are investing a lot of energies and money for supporting the integration and fighting the social exclusion. It means there’s a particular approach also in teaching sport to the kids and raising coaches, able to perform as nice role models.
