“The best training a child can have is to be informed about and empowered by their rights”

Although traditional sports practices offer children an environment for developing physical, psychomotor and social skills, increasing self-confidence, team work and relationship skills, these practices, however, have ignored a possibility of introducing a human rights-based approach into societies developing projects. There is evidence that a traditional sports field has not always been a safe and supportive environment for children: child athletes report increased levels of anxiety, experiences of physical, mental or sexual abuse in the sports arena, and/or group alienation and stigmatization.

United Sports Cyprus, Kateryna Biloruska Foundation and the Commissioner for Children’s Rights in Cyprus launched the B-RIGHT project, which includes a series of basketball activities dedicated to promoting children’s rights

B-RIGHT offers coaches and physical education instructors to introduce short, simple and easy-to-use basketball exercises that can be applied both in formal settings and during training. It is specially designed for children aged 9-12, but can be easily adapted for younger or older participants. This program based on a creative interdisciplinary methodology, seeks to combine sport and human rights issues, not neglecting sports skills development.