Srebrenica: Boys and Girls from Poletarac Kindergarten Take Their First Basketball Steps

Following yesterday's story about the basketball workshop at the Poletarac kindergarten in Srebrenica, which has basketball hoops but no rims, Sarajevo journalist Almir Panjeta, who wrote the story, was contacted by a friend who will buy the rims, a friend who "jumped in" with a ball, and on Thursday, together with friends from UNICEF BiH, they will bring rims and a ball to Srebrenica, reports the Patria news agency.

This is a story about the little ones from Srebrenica.

The little ones from the Poletarac kindergarten in Srebrenica, in a small column with their teachers, come to the playground where two basketball hoops have already been set up and where their little-big coaches, girls and boys from the Basketball Club 'Guber', are waiting to show them the basics of basketball. The demonstration class is part of the project 'Through Sports for a Better Future', which is implemented as part of the activities of the 'Birač Region Development and Cooperation Project' funded by the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and implemented by the United Nations agencies UNDP, UNICEF, and UNHCR.

-I have been training for several years in Guber, my friends Tijana, Nadia, and Milica are also in the club, and today I am here as a coach for the little children and I am glad I got this opportunity, I think it will be fun, Jovana tells us. She is nine years old and says her favorite basketball player is Bogdan Bogdanović.

Her friend from the club, Vukašin, disagrees with Jovana about the choice of the best basketball player and claims that Steph Curry is the best.

-I have been training for a year, and it's great, I love basketball and I am glad that today we will teach the children to play and shoot at the basket, Vukašin tells us.

The little ones are already curiously crowding around the hoops and are impatient to take the ball and shoot. They divided into two groups, lined up, and one after another, with the help of the little-big coaches, throw the ball towards the rim. Some cannot reach, so the older ones lift them so they too can feel the magic of basketball. The smiles and happiness on their faces after scoring a basket are immeasurable.

-My name is Tarik, I am five years old, and soon I will be this many years old! Tarik tells us, showing the number six with his fingers.

He is among the more active in the group, says he likes basketball and is impatient to shoot at the basket again. They are playing on the hoops that the organizers brought for the workshop, and behind the kindergarten are old hoops that have no rim.

-You see, this used to be a basket! Tarik shows us and says he will ask the adults to put the rim back up for them.

With Tarik is Damjan, who tells us that he is also five years old, but that this is not his first time playing basketball.

-I played before, then stopped, now I will start again, he tells us and waits in line behind Miljan, Amar, Lazar, Helena, and the other little basketball players.

-As far as I can see, the children are having a wonderful time, they are enjoying it! Sport is useful for children, it's excellent that they got this opportunity, it's better for them to play basketball and do sports than to be on games, Snježana Todorović from the Poletarac kindergarten tells us.

Long-time educator at Poletarac, Dragana Milinković, is also satisfied with the smiles on the children's faces, saying that concrete activities always make the children happy.

-We are happy to have support from UNICEF in this way, for the children to participate directly and for their benefit. Any professional will tell you how important early growth and development are and how important it is for children to acquire positive skills during that period.

Recently, we also had a workshop on healthy nutrition here as part of the project 'Choose Right, Grow Healthy', which is also supported by UNICEF, and you can see, a fruit snack was prepared for the children after the workshop, not snacks, Dragana Milinković explains. She adds that she hopes the old hoops in front of the kindergarten will be renovated so the children have an additional activity in the yard, and that cooperation with the basketball club will continue.

-If only they would visit us like this once a month, it would be of great benefit to the children, she adds.

p>-This is something new for the children, they are having fun and you can see how happy they are, adds Nermina Avdić while preparing a fruit refreshment for the children.

The workshop is coming to an end, but the little ones do not give up, nor do their little-big coaches, among whom is Rastko. He is 10 years old and has been training basketball for three years.

p>-They were good and obedient, it was great coaching them! The children accepted basketball very well, they tried to score as many as possible, and it was a nice experience! Rastko says.

Dragan Bibić, a coach at KK Guber engaged in the project 'Through Sports for a Better Future', says that through the project, along with the children already involved in the Club, more than 150 children aged five to 10 have passed through.

p>-I am glad we have the opportunity to bring basketball closer to the youngest, preschoolers, and today the children from the Club are here to act as coaches and bring the sport even closer to them and interest them in basketball. During the project, besides working with children, we also worked with parents to raise awareness about the importance of sports for children, Dragan Bibić tells us and adds that sports activities in the Birač region will not be suspended after the project ends, and that a Sports School is already being prepared, which should start operating in Bratunac and Srebrenica in September.

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