Initiation and Junior Level
Sport Initiation Centre (CIE)
One of the biggest legacies of the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games is the mainstreaming of sport at the national level. Therefore, Sport Initiation Centres (CIE) have come about as a critical tool for this process.
Sport Initiation Centres are gymnasiums built so that children and young people may be prompted to start practicing several Olympic and Paralympic sports. The project anticipates the building of CIEs throughout the country, which is the result of over R$ 900 million in investment.
Municipalities that took part in the programme were able to choose between three CIE models, depending on the size of the plot of land they had available to house the facilities, which cover areas of 1,600m², 2,750m² or 3,700m². The architecture and engineering projects for the CIEs are provided to the municipality by the Ministry of Sport.
The smallest CIEs will provide children and young people with suitable conditions to practice 13 Olympic and 6 Paralympic sports. The biggest centre will have structure to cater for 16 Olympic sports, as well as the other 6 Paralympic sports of the other CIEs.
In total, CIEs will have structure to cater for the following Olympic sports, distributed according to the size of the centre: athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, fencing, futsal, artistic gymnastics, trampolining gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, handball, judo, weightlifting, wrestling, taekwondo, table tennis and volleyball. The Paralympic sports on offer are: wheelchair fencing, judo, powerlifting, table tennis, sitting volleyball and goalball.
» For more information on CIEs: http://www.esporte.gov.br/index.php/cie
Athlete in school (Atleta na Escola)
It might be impossible to measure the full effect that the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro may have on Brazilian society. For the first time in history, a South American country will host the biggest competitions on the planet and the fact that Brazil was chosen, has driven several sport focused federal government programmes.
Therefore, one of the most important legacies the 2016 Games will leave for Brazil is the mainstreaming of the idea that sport can, indeed, change the lives of thousands of people. This does not mean that every young Brazilian will become a high performance athlete. But it does mean that the 2016 Games will have the power of radically changing the way in which our children and adolescents see sport in their lives.
With this in mind, the federal government implemented the Athlete in School (Atleta na Escola) programme, with a view to democratising access to sport throughout the country. The initiative encourages the practice of sport in schools among basic education students. In addition to stimulating the development of a school athlete, reinforcing sport related values in them, such as discipline, perseverance and loyalty, the Athlete in School (Atleta na Escola) programme intends to identify and guide young talent.
In partnership with states, the Federal District and municipalities, the programme focuses in two areas:
- School Games – competitions that will identify talent in athletics
- School Sport Nucleus (NEE) – aimed at honing young talent identified at the School Games
School Games
The School Games are the main instrument to encourage children and young people in the country to practice sports. They are made up of four consecutive competition stages. They are:
a) School stage: conducted in all schools that want to take part in the programme, as long as the Education Secretariat has signed up to the initiative;
b) Municipal-regional stage: conducted by municipalities with 100 thousand inhabitants or over and by states in towns with less than 100 thousand inhabitants, through a regional set up to be defined by the state government;
c) State stage: conducted by the state government;
d) National stage: conducted by the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB).
Each stage works as a qualifier for the next phase. Therefore, only the best athletes of each state reach the national competition – the School Youth Games -, staged by the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) in September (for students between 12 and 14) and November (students between 15 and 17).
How to take part
Before a school - at the federal, state and municipal level, as well as private - may take part in the Athlete in School (Atleta na Escola) programme, the Education Secretariat of their respective state or municipality must have signed up for the initiative. They may sign up for the programme at: http://simec.mec.gov.br/
After the Education Secretariats have signed up for the programme, all schools may also do so at: http://pdeinterativo.mec.gov.br/
It is important to point out that the State and Municipal Education Secretariats must sign up for the programme in order for the school to take part in the competition.
» For more information http://www.atletanaescola.mec.gov.br
Second Half (Segundo Tempo)/More Education (Mais Educação)
The Second Half (Segundo Tempo) programme was designed in 2003 with the aim of democratising access to the practice of sport in the country. The idea behind the initiative is to promote the full development of children, adolescents and young people, thus, enhancing quality of life and citizenship in socially vulnerable areas. Since then, the Ministry of Sport has strived to integrate its educational sport policy with the current national educational policy, with the aim of encouraging the practice of sports in schools.
Rio de Janeiro’s bid to host the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games referred to the impact that the Games will have on youth and education as legacy:
The Rio 2016 Organising Committee will help the federal government in its commitment of offering all Brazilians access to the powerful tool of education and sport. Among specific initiatives, the following may be mentioned:
- The increase of the Second Half (Segundo Tempo) programme (PST), an initiative that has the support of the United Nations and provides access to sport to currently, one million children from public schools. From 2009 to 2016, PST will continue to increase until it reaches 3 million Brazilian children.
- Investments of over US$ 400 million are going to be made between 2009 and 2016 in a federal programme (More Education/Mais Educação) aimed at funding the building of sport infrastructure in public schools. Physical education and sport teaching methods will be enhanced, which will reinforce the main goal of mainstreaming physical education and sport lessons in all schools."
In 2009, the Ministries of Sport, Education and Culture started to work together, integrating their policies. Therefore, the Second Half (Segundo Tempo) programme was brought into schools together with the More Education (Mais Educação) programme. In addition, the Second Half (Segundo Tempo) programme started working with the Ministry of Defence, which manages the Armed Forces in Sport (Forças no Esporte) programme. The action resulted in even more young people being involved with sport in the country.
The result of this integration is that, not only have targets established in Rio de Janeiro's bid book for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games been met, they have been widely surpassed.
In relation to infrastructure related investments, also anticipated in the bid book, over R$ 700 million have been employed in building new sport courts in schools, as well as roofs over already existing venues, totalling 10 thousand courts.
