Taller Olímpico: Creando Paz

Juan Sebastián Sánchez , Colombia

Juan Sebastián Sánchez founded Taller Olímpico: Creando Paz to empower youth, using sport as a means to solve conflict and learn life skills, reaching 520 young people to date. Taller Olímpico: Creando Paz, which translates to The Olympic Workshop: Creating Peace, is a project that aims to bring new sports to communities. With the help of a team of sports trainers, Taller Olímpico goes to schools based in deprived areas with disproportionate levels of poverty, crime and drug dependency to reach at risk students. Trainers deliver a day-long event to allow children to experiment and learn about different sports, as well as practice them. After the session, Taller Olímpico leaves behind a sports kit that allows students to continue practicing the new sports they have learnt about. The equipment used is of the highest quality as it is designed for pedagogical purposes, and it includes nets, shuttlecocks, rackets, hockey sticks, hockey balls, shin guards, handball balls and some cones. With the help of the Sports Federations, schools are able to form sports clubs to continue the take up of a selected sport after the Taller Olímpico workshop. One sports club has successfully been created with its own teams for handball and badminton, and another two clubs are in the process of formation. Juan believes that access to sport brings new possibilities to the communities reached, helping to bring the community together to solve conflicts and learn new skills. After attending the One Young World 2017 Bogotá Summit, Taller Olímpico achieved more visibility in Colombia, bringing more credibility and allowing it to grow.