Japeri Golfe Rio de Janeiro

Golf School

[vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]Socio-educational Impact: the Japeri Golf School was named by the R&A, the highest entity in world golf, as a model for social inclusion through sport. Since it opened, the annual average has been 120 pupils. Most of them show improvement in terms of behaviour and performance at school. The project’s outreach goes far beyond golf lessons with a concerted effort to get children off the streets and provide them with a healthy environment focussed on education and citizenship. The free benefits provided include: equipment to practice and compete, educational support and environmental preservation lessons, balanced nutrition, physical training, preventive dental treatment, the opportunity to travel to compete in other states and countries and the possibility of qualifying as future athletes.

To join the project, the children and young people have to be resident in the municipalities of Engenheiro Pedreira or Japeri and attend school, with proof of attendance and of satisfactory performance. The children start their lessons from the age of 6 and can stay until they are 18. Beyond this age, some are integrated into the project to help the instructors and take part in preparatory training for tournaments. Both girls and boys are accepted and train together with no gender distinction, which is already a huge step forward in a sport that continues to have a patriarchal image, despite the large number of women players.

 

International Tournaments and Rankings

Japeri Golfe constantly has pupils listed in state and national rankings. It has represented Brazil in the sport’s most important junior championship, the Junior British Open, in England, in addition to competing in international tournaments in Portugal, Chile, Paraguay and the United States. In fact, as a measure of the Golf School’s success, it was this excellent performance that won a week’s training at the David Leadbetter Golf Academy in Florida for two of the pupils.

 

The Japeri Reality

Japeri Golfe is located in a city with one of the lowest Human Development Indexes (HDI) in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Shortcomings in vital areas such as health, housing, education, formal employment and citizenship, along with high rates of violence and alcoholism are features of the municipality. But for 120 boys and girls this reality is being transformed, thanks to the project, which has already helped around 400 children. At the very least, bringing what is considered an elitist sport to this scenario of poverty and lack of public policies can be considered unconventional. But the fact is that the experiment has shown good results. In addition to an obvious improvement in academic performance, Japeri Golfe pupils are among the best amateur golfers in the country and there is a long waiting list of children and adolescents who seek to transform their dreams to reality.

 

 

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