How does Sport – Bridge to Education transform young bodies and minds?
During Dr. Rutie Pilz-Burstein’s tenure as General Director of the Wingate Institute, (the National Institute for Physical Education and Sports in Israel), she witnessed the positive impact of physical fitness and sport on the body and mind of children and youth.
After retiring, Rutie established Sport – Bridge to Education as a way to change the trajectory of life for some of Israel’s most vulnerable children and youth. The sports excellence programme focuses on young people who have suffered extreme hardships and aims to build their character, social skills, self-worth and self-esteem. It also teaches essential life skills such as self-discipline, goal setting and dealing with both success and failure.
The programmes take place within villages for youth-at-risk and those who wish to join must pass a selection process to demonstrate that they are serious and dedicated. Each (youth) village focuses on a specific sport such as cycling, volleyball or fuchiball (Brazilian volleyball). There are three training sessions a week and each participant is required to attend every session.
Training sessions go far beyond the sport itself. Coaches talk about the values of sport such as discipline, motivation, and teamwork. The children share and support each other’s challenges, and strong social bonds are built up over time. They also participate in competitions in their various fields.
The incredible impact of this programme is clear to see. Graduates often continue with their sporting prowess with excellent results. They choose to live healthier lives, avoiding smoking and drugs. They demonstrate remarkable self-competency and self-efficacy. And they make ambitious and successful career choices. This innovative platform for empowering at-risk children and youth truly transforms lives.
Every story matters
MEET MICHAEL
“I came to the village (youth-at-risk home) in grade 10 at the age of 15 after being on the streets for a long time, literally on the streets. I was involved in all sorts of trouble and exposed to things no kid should see. I did not attend school for a long period.”
Michael grew up in a religious home and when he decided to leave the religious lifestyle, he found himself homeless.
Through the Welfare Department, Michael was sent to a youth village. He heard about the Sport- Bridge to Education programme and was interested even though he didn’t really have any experience in sports and had never heard of the Brazilian game ‘fuchiball’.
He passed a selection process to be accepted into the programme. “In my childhood I’d never experienced ‘excellence’. So here, for the first time, I realised that I have to work hard and prove myself to stay in this special programme”.
Michael started to change his habits. “I had to quit alcohol and drugs. You can’t do sport; you can’t be excellent if you keep those bad habits.. He would go to bed early in order to be up at 6am for the morning training. Michael admits it was not easy in the beginning and it was hard for him to resist temptations. In Grade 11, it suddenly clicked for him and he became one of the top fuchibal players. He got the opportunity to train with the best players on Tel Aviv beach and they ‘adopted’ him to help with his training.
The programme also encouraged Michael to be more serious about his studies and against all odds, he completed his final exams and was recruited to a top military unit of the army. His relationship with his family also improved and they came to his ceremony after completing his basic army training, which was a very significant event and somewhat of a miracle after everything he’d been through.
