The day began with a greeting from Fr Xabi Camino, Delegate for Youth Ministry in SSM, who thanked the 64 participants from different parts of Spain for their presence and encouraged everyone to continue the Salesian mission of educating and evangelising through sport.
An address by Fr Fernando García, Provincial of SSM, then followed, entitled: "Sports and the Preventive System", during which the Provincial shared a series of guidelines, rules and orientations that must be "the ‘Our Father' in Salesian clubs and playgrounds". He therefore insisted on the importance of Salesian sport as an educational and pastoral tool, as part of an educational and spiritual project and as a fundamental element of the Salesian identity. He stressed the role of the Salesian playground as a place of evangelisation and encounter, and indicated the different values that sport can transmit: the value of processes with respect to the desire for immediacy, the importance of rules, a healthy realism, a sense of belonging and even self-improvement. Finally, he warned of the dangers of an approach that does not focus on sport in its truest essence: those cases in which sport becomes a consumer product, an elite and exclusive sport or, worse still, a vehicle of violence.
Subsequently, Verónica Muñoz, guidance consultant at the Salesian Ciudad de los Muchachos Centre in Madrid, illustrated her presentation: "The sports coach as educator", in which she provided the public with a series of psycho-pedagogical tools for daily work with teams, players and even families. In this regard she insisted on the importance of the role of the coach in the eyes of young students because, often forgotten, coaches are an important reference model for them.
Finally, to conclude the official reports, Jesús Rivilla, Doctor of Physical Activity and Sports Sciences, Olympic medalist with the Spanish handball team, took the microphone to talk about "The power of communication in sports and educational leadership". He stressed the importance of knowing how to communicate and what you want to communicate, and delivered a phrase-reflection that a coach should never forget: "If you only know how to train, in truth you do not even know how to train", thus highlighting that it is always necessary to carry out integral training which takes care of the individual in every way, and without ever forgetting that, at least in the Salesian perspective, it is always about education through sport.
After the group photo and lunch, the participants were divided into two groups to participate in two different workshops: one on first aid in sport and the other on sport management through a management platform – both highly appreciated by the participants.
At the end of the work, those present were divided into two groups, led by their respective coordinators – Mario Fernández (SSM) and Diego Pérez (SMX) – for a moment of dialogue, evaluation and requests, as well as to talk about possible projects for the future of Salesian sport in Spain.
The conference ended with the thanks of Fr Camino and the coordinators Pérez and Fernández, all three unanimous and in agreement in the desire to encourage the participants to continue to do what they already do: build and educate through Salesian sport.
https://www.infoans.org/en/sections/news/item/20647-spain-continuing-to-build-and-educate-through-sport#sigProId142bb97c16
