A total of sixty boys and girls participate during this month of July in the first inclusive campus held on the island of Tenerife under the umbrella of the CB Canarias Foundation, a first-time experience that unites young people with and without disabilities in a space where basketball is one more tool for inclusion, fun and empathy.
Several groups of young people express themselves freely in the facilities of the Sergio Rodríguez Pavilion in Santa Cruz de Tenerife under the watchful eye of a group of people doing their gym routine behind a shop window, oblivious to what is happening there which, from their position, seems confusing, but on the other side there is perfectly ordered chaos.
On the court, boys and girls without disabilities and others with physical disabilities and in wheelchairs or intellectual disabilities or with mental health problems jump from one activity to another, from drawing, dodgeball or karate workshops, but above all basketball.
Several monitors belonging to the CB Canarias Foundation are in charge of this, who work directly with users from different associations on the island to offer this first inclusive experience, the result of collaborative work carried out over the last three years that, among other achievements, has managed to create the first adapted and federated basketball league in the archipelago.
The coordinator and coach of the CB Canarias Foundation and the Association for Social Dynamization and Inclusion (ADDIN), Daniel Ruiz, explained to EFE that thanks to this relationship “the feeling that there is a limit to inclusive sport on the islands has disappeared”, so much so that this campus that “seemed impossible a few years ago” has ended up being a “success and a benchmark at the national level”.
An idea that starts from “rethinking the focus of these types of activities” with the integration of 30 “boys and girls without disabilities”, has continued, ten from ADDIN, another ten from the Tenerife Inclusive Sports Association (ADEIN) for wheelchair basketball and ten from the Association of Parents of Autistic Children and with Behavioral Disorders of Tenerife (Apanate).
A chorus of realities that has resounded within the pavilion every morning since the beginning of July, during which the campus will expand, but which reaches its peak on Fridays, when all children are given a wheelchair adapted for basketball, whether or not they have mobility problems with their legs.
Once everyone is located, the ball begins to bounce and everyone competes on equal terms in an environment that is common for some, but new for others, which pushes them to improve themselves and understand others, regardless of the situation of each one, an idea that all associations seek to promote and defend.
This has been indicated to EFE by one of the founders of ADDIN, Luis Rodríguez, who has indicated that the entity seeks to “promote social inclusion through sports and leisure”, through sports “such as basketball with the support of CB Canarias and futsal with CD Tenerife”.
In addition, he continued, to the “work with people with disabilities and mental health problems”, another type of “casuistry originated by social exclusion” is added, in short, an “integrative vision” that has its “greatest expression on this campus”.
2023-07-24 02:04:22
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