‘Millions of smiles’ from InterCampus Romania
With the ‘Millions of Smiles’ tournament, the second edition of the InterCampus Romania series came to an end at Slatina recently. The special project was launched in July 2008 in collaboration with F.C. Internazionale Milano, Pirelli and Comunità Nuova.
For three days, over 250 children played in football matches that took place on pitch two of the 1st May Stadium, plus recreational activities organised in parallel with them. Fun was assured for the smallest children, who enjoyed karaoke competitions, a puppet theatre, cartoons, clowns and face paint.
‘Millions of Smiles’, made possible by the work of volunteers from various Italian associations, the trainers of F.C. Internazio nale Milano, representatives of Comunità Nuova of Milan, the William Tyrell Foundation of Slatina and employees of Pirelli Tyres Romania, is the event with which InterCampus Romania celebrated a year of sports-recreational activities organised for more than 80 children from various social environments. For more than two years, the children have learnt to work as a team and integrate themselves into an organisational system through football, as well as gaining experience in social values like collaboration, friendship, loyalty and other important qualities.
“The ‘Millions of Smiles’ tournament is the concluding event of the second season, during which over 80 children have been involved in football and relating to each other”, said Luca de Vecchi, a Comunità Nuova representative. “To see their high spirits, the will to play together, to get to know each other without prejudice, makes us believe that the substantial objective we set ourselves with Pirelli and InterCampus of integration through sport is also possible in Slatina”.
“The InterCampus staff has experienced these three days with great satisfaction, establishing that not only the children have made tremendous improvements on the pitch in this sports season, the greatest pleasure was to see how much they enjoyed themselves, thanks also to the activity of animation”, declared Annalisa Novembre for InterCampus. “We would like to thank Pirelli, which has supported this event, the NIP volunteers and Comunità Nuova, Bambini in Romania and the William Tyrell Foundation, who allowed the hundreds of children to enjoy a unique experience and give us thousands of smiles”.
A spokesperson for the volunteers of the Bambini in Romania association said, “For us, the importance of the event was the collaboration between the various Italian and Romanian associations more than anything else, having the mutual objective of creating a joint moment of festivity and integration in the Slatina area. We have seen great potential in the event, which we hope can be exploited and increased in the years to come”.
Fourteen teams from sports clubs in the Olt region and InterCampus competed in this year’s football championship in the various age categories for children born in 1997-1998; 1999; 2000-2001.
Categories: External Community Group Sustainability