Within the "Sport of all – neighbourhoods" competition of "Sport and Health", two projects were approved in Bari, one of them to the Redentore Amateur Sports Association (ASD).
The Salesian Redentore work, the project's implementation site, is located in the Libertà district of Bari, on the eastern outskirts of the city. The district, with around sixty thousand inhabitants, has three characteristics: the lowest age of birth in the city, the largest multi-ethnic population and the highest percentage of minors undergoing criminal proceedings in the whole of Apulia.
"Don Bosco said that Salesians must turn wolves into lambs and lambs into shepherds: this educational path often begins with sport" explained Fr Giuseppe Ieva, Salesian and president of ASD Redentore, leader of the project. "We are the ‘armed arm’ that every day, also thanks to the ‘Redentore‘ project, “The sport that re-generates smiles and life”, deals with with young people, and at the Redentore we gather young people and also volunteers. The Salesians have been in the Libertà district for over a hundred years: if you go past the Redentore you see the kids with a ball, then sport becomes an educational tool to produce good Christians and upright citizens."
The project includes sports courses for children and young people, specific activities for "over 65s", including people with disabilities. The side activities, on the other hand, support study, outdoor multi-sport summer centres, food education and film groups, and also involve the volunteers of the Universal Civil Service.
According to the Councillor for Sport for the Municipality of Bari, Pietro Petruzzelli, the "Sport and Health" project encourages sports practice, "from basic motor activity, to competition" he explains. "Everyone who goes through the oratory learns to practise a sport, but not only that, they do it through building up a community."
"‘Sport and Health’ is a Ministry of the Economy plan which began four years ago with the aim of financing projects on basic sports, correct lifestyles, sport in schools and social sport" said Francesco Toscano, Director of "Sport and Health Puglia". "In Puglia we have invested over five million euro in projects in high-risk neighbourhoods. Six more projects will soon start in the prisons, one of which will concern the juvenile prison in Bari. The Sport a Scuola competitions have been very successful, this year involving 530 school groups and three thousand classes that will carry out the planned activities."
"Today we are presenting a project in continuity with the times, given that the Constitution has recently incorporated the social value of sport" said Ciro Bisogno, president of the Salesian Youth Sports Clubs of Italy. "Through the Sports and Health project, the involvement of local associations becomes essential to give substance to activities. Two projects accepted in an area like Bari are relevant: the ASD Redentore affiliated with our PGS institution responds to an educational emergency that should not be underestimated and that through sport can be curbed. Bringing the youngsters to the oratory, to a sports centre can take them off the street and its consequences. Thank you to those who have had the sensitivity to translate into words what had been financed and that will help regenerate the fabric of society."
Renato Cursi, Executive Director of Salesiani per il Sociale APS, who sees to the communication plan in the project, stressed how "networking, which stems from the important experience of the Redentore in Bari, builds bridges and relationships in the territory for the benefit of all."
"We work better together" concluded Ruggiero Russo, a planner at PGS Italia, who wrote up the project. "I want to talk about the dream, because we started from here, from the heart that regenerates smiles and life. The Libertà neighbourhood is an important neighbourhood in the city with a difficult social scene, so it was necessary to play sports there. Through our project, a winner in the “Sport of all – neighbourhoods” competition, we propose to use sport as a tool to build educational bridges with a very important network of collaborations. Bari is the only city that has won two “Sport and health” projects because there has been a strong awareness of networking: together we work better."
