Благодарим за хубавите думи на Флори и Деси!
Източник – http://sportpower2012.wordpress.com/?p=116&preview=true
Today I`m not going to write about the usual things. I`m not going to write about motivation, trust, success and so on. Today, I am going to tell you one different story. A story about the people who are usually neglected and the ones who find ways to show them they matter.
I was in 10th grade when I heard about this organization for the first time. I was really surprised when a friend of mine, who was already part of it, told me what they do and how they do it. I decided to join the organization because it was something different, interesting and valuable not only to me, but to the whole society.
The “DREAMS AND TEAMS” is a British Council project which runs in more than 40 countries since 2004. This is an organization in which participants receive leadership training through the discipline of sports. However, what is special about the Bulgarian branch of the organization, which was established in 2007, is that in addition to the leadership abilities that members develop, the Bulgarian participants are the only ones, who are also “able to achieve inclusion of children with and without disabilities in the one and the same “team”, which in the end makes “the dream come true” for all of them – not to distinguish between children on the basis of their physical or mental abilities.“
Enough with the facts. Let’s get on to the more interesting part. Before I first entered the room, where I had my first team meeting, I was quite nervous. I did not know what to expect – after all I had never talked to people with disabilities and I did not have any idea how to act or what to say. The only thing I knew from my friend was that these people are the same as us. However, as I walked into the room, I felt the atmosphere so relaxed, that I immediately felt on the right place. I saw many different people, but what was similar in all of them, were the smiles and happiness their faces emanated. People with and without disabilities were working together in harmony regardless of their differences.
I joined the group and received my leadership training during an organizational process for the annual sport festival for children with and without disabilities. Although all of the people were much more experienced than me, all were really helpful and kind, always trying to make me feel as comfortable as possible. One of these people was Desislava Koleva – a national educator in “Dreams and Teams,” a really positive and friendly person, who will tell us more about the characteristics of this amazing organization.
Desi joined the team 4 years ago as part of her education in the National Sports Academy. When she began her training in the organization she did not have a clear idea of what exactly it was either. However, the more time she spent on the projects, the more she realized how important the organization was. Now, even as it is not part of her education, she continues to dedicate her life to these benevolent initiatives and engages in helping all people feel worthy of themselves. “We aim to build some valuable qualities in the young leaders, to develop leadership potential, and good citizenship,” says Desi. Letting young leaders organize events at the end of the education on their own (including finding sponsors, attracting media, inviting guests, finding participants, and so on) contributes to the successful end of the program. What is more important, is the fact that most of the times, these events are of a sport matter. The question is why exactly sport, why not something else? And here is the answer:
“Sport is a universal means, which greatly contributes to the personal development of individuals. It is also a perfect means for communicating between children. And finally – the sport practiced by kids is extremely important.”
When the goal of children with and without disabilities, playing for one team is to win, they do not pay attention to the differences between them. They are simply concentrated on the game and instead of showing bias about stereotypes, they try to help each other and most importantly reach the victory together. This is how the differences are overcome by the universal communication called sport.
However, to work with people with disabilities is not that easy. It requires special training and attitude. What the most important thing is that one should never pity them. “We accept children [with disabilities] as normal, because they are normal. The fact that they have some kind of disease or disability does not make them different,” points Koleva. Being in the role of coaches, the young leaders and educators from “Dreams and Teams” navigate the kids and show everyone that we are all the same if we have equal opportunities. And still “the most important is that children learn most of the things when experiencing them, which means that we do not stay there and just explain theories, but rather every game is made in a way that they can learn from it. “ By the time children get used to the fact that they should cooperate with their peers with disabilities and at the end no one even pays attention to the differences – “this is really nice to observe, during the education,” says Desi with a bright smile on her face.
This is the way sport and these different coaches contribute to the improvement of the lives of the people, who we rarely treat fairly; people who we either pity, or simply ignore. Thanks to this great organization, people with disabilities can feel that after all someone cares for them and realizes that they are not some phenomenon, which should be researched, neither are they something special that we should feel sorry for. No! They are just humans, whom the destiny took something from. We should accept them in the way they are, because believe me or not, they can beat you in basketball!
