Sports without borders will strengthen children’s self-confidence in Tyresö
Cooperation is now starting among Sports without borders, Wallenstam and Tyresö Municipality in order to strengthen children’s self-confidence and reduce social exclusion in Tyresö. The methodology is about letting sports become a way into the community for children and young people. During 2019, Sports without borders worked with 18,900 children at 90 schools in six municipalities around the country. Now the activities have also started in Tyresö, where Wallenstam has about 240 rental apartments and a further 221 in production.
“There are many children in Sweden who do not see opportunities for their future. These children face a higher risk of ending up in unemployment and of social exclusion. I arrived in Sweden as a seven-year-old and grew up in a deprived area where it was hard to see opportunities for the future, where sport became a force for change. At Sports without borders we are working to strengthen the self-confidence and self-esteem of childen and young people and we are very happy to now be up and running in Tyresö̈,” says Admir Lukacevic, founder of Sports without borders.
The basic concept of Sports without borders is to introduce meaningful recreational activites at physical education classes, during breaks, after school and during holidays so that children can do something meaningful. As a result of this initative, Admir Lukacevic as one of hundreds of nominees, received a royal award in 2008 for his work for children.
The activities are built on collaboration among municipalities, schools and associations. The first to start the collaboration with Tyresö Municipality are Njupkärrs school, a compulsory school up to grade 6 with about 300 pupils and Nyboda school, a grade 4-9 school with just over 400 pupils.
“It feels really great that we in the school have the opportunity to contribute to the important work of creating meaningful leisure time for our pupils. Active leisure time gives children and pupils the space to grow, something that we know can also provide positive ripple effects in terms of knowledge development,” says Johan Ahlkvist, Compulsory School Manager in Tyresö Municipality.
“It is really great that Sports without borders is now up and running in Tyresö where we are currently building 221 rental apartments and are planning further housing. We are working broadly to combat social exclusion and we believe that sports have an important role to play. Contributing to youth activities, safety and security is part of our social engagement and means that our support for Sports without borders feels very natural,” says Elisabeth Vansvik, Communications Director at Wallenstam.
“Our methodology is based on seeing, praising and affirming every child through credible role models ‒ with the ambition that they dare to participate actively, dare to fail, dare to create social relationships and dare to say no. Children that feel well also perform better at school. We want to help more children to meet their learning targets and see opportunities for the future,” says Admir Lukacevic.
For further information:
Elisabeth Vansvik, Communications Director Wallenstam AB (publ) tel. 46 31 20 00 00 or 46 705 17 11 38
Wallenstam is a property company that manages, builds and develops properties for sustainable living and enterprise in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Uppsala. The property holding is valued at around SEK 52 billion and the customer base consists of just over 9,000 households and 1,000 enterprises. The total lettable area is around 1 million sq m. Wallenstam is self-sufficient in renewable energy through its own wind turbines in operation. The company’s B shares have been listed on Nasdaq Stockholm since 1984.