Projeto social de padel e suas contribuições na vida de escolares

Abstract

This study is mainly about social sports projects, more specifically, the sport modality of Paddle as a social project. Social projects are those that include solidarity plans and actions to improve aspects of society, usually aimed at children and adolescents in social vulnerability, with emphasis on those associated with sports activities. In the context of this research, the sport modality of Paddle is on focus, inserted in a social project developed in the southern border of the country, on the border with Argentina. In this sense, the objective of this research was to investigate the development of a paddle social project for schoolchildren and its contributions in their lives. The present research is located in the domains of the qualitative approach and, in relation to the objectives, it can be classified as exploratory. The target audience were 35 children from a state elementary school, aged between 10 and 12 years old. Data collection was carried out through participant observations, recorded through a field diary and semi-structured interviews. For data analysis, content analysis was performed. As a result, it was observed that one of the main contributions of the “Citizen Paddle” project is the possibility of developing social relationships and the issue of friendship bonds, as well as making students feel part of the sports environment. So, they can play the game and learn the Paddle modality based on specific skills. It is concluded that the project democratizes the access of public-school students. It allows the appropriation of knowledge about the sport and promotes the sport in future events.