One World, One Game, One Goal: Football as a Catalyst for Youth Mental Health and Well-Being (Spotlight Sessions, ECOSOC Chamber)

The late session here in the Ecosoc chamber, highlighting the link between sports, youth, mental health and well-being.
Sports provides a unique space where young people can interact beyond everyday roles and differences, fostering connection, teamwork and shared sense of purpose.
Research consistently shows that participation in sports is associated with positive mental health outcomes, including great self-esteem, resilience, and life satisfaction, while helping reduce stress and anxiety and depression.
Beyond individual individual benefits, sports fortifies social connection, promotes emotional well-being, and encourages inclusion and community engagement.
As both physical activity and social force, sport can be powerful contributors to youth well-being, whether as a player spectator, or supporter.
Many young people find in sports a source of connection, expression and collective identity, making it an important entry point for promoting mental health, inclusion and positive youth development.
For the spotlight session this morning, the two rooms are being used simultaneously here in the Ecosoc chamber.
Our conversation is guided by the theme Youth Leadership, Connection and every day mental well-being through sports.
Over the next two hours and a half, we will hear from young leaders athletes, practitioners, researchers, and community organizations who are demonstrating how sport can foster belonging, resilience, meaningful relationship and hope while supporting young people mental health and well-being.
We encourage everyone to participate actively throughout the morning by engaging in discussions, joining the interactive moments and connecting with our speakers.
Before we begin a few housekeeping announcements, please place your mobile phones on silent.
Kindly remind.
Seated during presentations unless very necessary.
Today we are talking about mental health and touching on what could be a sensitive subject for many of us.
If during the session you feel you would like to step out and take a breath, rest or take a break from the crowd, our colleagues have designed a quiet space for you to enjoy, which is held at room B, running until 230.
Ensuring the safety of our conversation in this room is a responsibility of all of us.
If at any moment you want to discuss any safety issues or concerns, you can approach Godfrey, my colleague and friend, standing and waving here.
Or any other UN youth office staff in the room who are wearing blue jerseys.
We will conclude this morning programme at approximately 2:40 p.m..
And lastly, for those who are speaking, please be mindful of the time given.
We hope today's conversation inspires new ideas partnerships and practical action to strengthen youth mental health throughout sport.
To begin our programme, it's my pleasure to welcome Nina Brand, chief of the partnership, Advocacy and Communication Section at the United Nations Youth Office, to say a few words, please join me.
Welcome, Neil.
Thank you so much, Martin.
Good morning everyone.
I woo, I love the energy.
I have never been in this room in sneakers.
I'm really enjoying that part too.
I hope you're all well.
I know some are still waiting in line outside, but you made it.
And we're very, very grateful that you're here.
So welcome, everyone.
On behalf of the United Nations Youth Office.
Welcome to our spotlight session and welcome to One World, one game, one goal.
Thank you all for being here, which is very, very meaningful to us because you all believe in one simple idea that the the wellbeing of young people matters and that it is something we all have a role in shaping and supporting.
Today is about more than football, and it's more.
It's about more than sports.
It's really about connection.
So I also invite you to connect to the people around you and throughout the day.
Because when young people feel seen, supported, and feel like they belong, they are better able to learn to lead, to contribute and to thrive.
Throughout today's conversations, we'll explore how sport can help create those spaces of belonging, resilience and hope, and how together we can move from awareness to action.
So before we begin, I'd like to sincerely thank all our partners.
I know that many of you in the room today and all supporters, including our wonderful volunteers, the leaders of the Sustainable Development Goals, all of you have made this event possible and we are so grateful to all of you.
We really hope that today sparks new ideas, new partnerships, and above all, meaningful conversations.
It is now my pleasure to introduce Zahira Al Nahari, one of the young leaders for the Sustainable Development Goals and the founder of Shifa Art.
Please join me in welcoming Zahira for a conversation.
To help kick off today's discussion.
Zahira.
Hello.
Perfect.
Great switch.
Zahira.
It's a pleasure to be here with you.
I want to start with one question, which is really about the theme of our day today.
One world, one game, one goal.
Personally, what does that phrase mean to you? Amazing.
Amazing.
Nina, thank you so much for introducing me.
And thank you for having me here today.
It's a very lovely crowd.
Um, honestly, it's a very catchy title.
So when we say one World, it's the concept of the things that universally brings us together.
We're talking about sports, music, creativity, things that do not require any translation and that we all understand together And unfortunately, even mental health is a universal issue that we should address together as one world.
And when we talk about one game, we're talking about sports that teach us how to approach the game of life.
And if we look at challenges as levels within a game that we play, maybe it would make it easier for us to take it step by step.
And lastly, one goal.
The goal here is mental health.
And hopefully this is the starting point for those conversations for us to be inspired from each other's solutions and see how we could expand it to our communities.
You said that very beautifully.
Thank you.
Sara.
Um, one message we'll hear throughout today is that mental health isn't shaped by health care alone.
It's also shaped by our relationships, by our communities, our schools, and the spaces where we feel and where young people feel they belong.
Um, how have the different spaces you engage in helped you create that sense of belonging in your own life? Amazing.
That's a very important question.
Um, when we're talking about where I come from, so I work in healthcare and I work in the emergency department.
It's very stressful.
I was a junior doctor one day and I see junior doctors join the team now.
And it is a very stressful environment.
Um, so it's very important to make sure that there's a wellness department.
So in my hospital at King Faisal Specialist Hospital by kindred, we make sure that everyone has the access and the help they need so they can help the patients later.
But that's only that does not only confine to hospitals.
We're talking about schools, we're talking about communities.
So, for example, when we look at the activity that is done in school it should be an essential part within the educational curriculum.
Um so the W.H.O.
states that there's a baseline of 60 minutes where children and adolescents should play sports and 80% do not even meet that baseline.
So that's quite a concern.
Um, and to finish off with community, so with Shifa art, we reach out to the community.
We bring art and cultural experiences so that they can communicate.
They can feel a sense of belonging as well.
So if we come up with those creative preventive measures, we would not have to end up having cases where the only treatment or management is either through medication or through a healthcare system only.
Thank you so much.
That's a very.
Important point, and I'm really looking forward to hearing from many different partners today what these preventative measures can look like in the different areas.
Um and also very interesting, I didn't know that that 60 minutes of sports is the current recommendation for young people and everybody else I imagine, which we should all uh, you know, take away from this morning's session for sure Thank you.
Um, you know, I would like to ask you one, one last question, because you all may know that we are starting a big campaign this afternoon that is dear to our hearts.
Um, and we believe that we can start a movement on mental health and well-being one conversation at a time.
Um, what is one question you think we should ask more frequently? Um, I think we could ask a lot of questions, but if I had to pick one.
I think it's just asking each other, like, what helps you go through difficult times? Because the more we understand what helps a person to overcome those difficulties, the more we can assess each other.
So, for example, is it the support of your family? Is it hobbies that you have? Is it what more tools could we provide for young people so that they wouldn't have to struggle as much? It's very important.
I think sometimes we just we are afraid to ask, right? We afraid to ask when we see people who are going through something, because sometimes it feels like maybe we're overstepping or we don't have the answers.
And I think that's a very good reminder that something sometimes a simple question is the beginning of a conversation and maybe of a relationship.
So thank you so much, Sara.
It's a pleasure to have you, um, and happy to spend the day with all of you and engage and hopefully start a conversation.
Thank you again.
And Martin, back to you.
Please, everyone.
Thanks, Nina and Sara for such an inspiring conversation.
Um, we now begin segment one led by Grand Challenges Canada, featuring youth innovators who are using football and community based approaches to improve youth mental health across Ecuador, Senegal, and Colombia.
Please welcome our moderator, Erika Thesis and Gloria Boley, together with today, the distinguished speakers.
All right.
Good morning everyone.
Um, we're really glad to have you join us for this important conversation on youth mental health and the role that sport can play in helping young people thrive.
To begin, I'd like to thank the UN Youth Office for pulling off this incredible event and bringing together such an amazing group of people.
So I'm really excited to see what the rest of the day holds.
My name is Erica and along with my colleague Gloria, we're here joining you on behalf of Grand Challenges Canada, or also known as GCC.
In partnership with the Government of Canada, GCC invests in bold ideas with big impact and has supported more than 1600 unique innovations globally in more than 100 countries.
We're also pleased to be joined today by Isaac Caverhill from the Canadian Mission to the UN.
And he's here representing the Government of Canada, who have recently invested in GCC, allowing us to continue supporting innovative solutions that reach the people who need them most.
Before we begin, I'd like to briefly introduce the Being initiative GCC Youth Mental Health Program.
Being is a seven year initiative investing in youth led innovation for mental health prevention and promotion across 12 countries.
Our mandate is prevention, meaning that we aim to reach young people before distress escalates and strengthening the environments in which they live, learn and grow.
Being is a collaborative initiative that brings together global partners including Fondation Botnar, the UK's Department of Health and Social Care, the Science for Africa Foundation, Origin Global and United for Global Mental Health Young people around the world face growing mental health challenges and yet often lack adequate support systems.
At the same time, growing evidence shows that sport and physical activity, when intentionally designed, can be powerful tools for mental health prevention and promotion.
Before we dive in further and on theme with this session, we'd love to hear from the audience about the first word that comes to mind when you think of football and mental health.
Um, if there are slides on the screen, then there will be a QR code to complete a menti pool where you can share with us what what that word is to you.
And the results will be available later on our Instagram being initiative.
There you go.
Um, so among the innovative projects that the being initiative funds, we're seeing more and more sports based approaches that embed mental health programming in community settings where football and sport already carry a deep cultural meaning.
So today's session brings together three of those being innovators who are using football as a force for good in their communities.
They will share their experiences, lessons learned, and the impact they're seeing on young people's mental health and well-being.
I'll now hand it over to my colleague, Gloria Thanks, Erica, and thank you to our innovators for joining us today.
We have Catherine from Ecuador, Gustavo from Senegal and Pablo from Colombia.
And we're looking forward to hearing more about your experiences and the work you're leading in your communities.
So to get us started, can each of you briefly introduce yourself? Tell us who you are, where you're from, the organization you're representing, and how your sports based approach help overcome barriers faced by young people in your community.
So, Catherine, over to you first, and then we'll come to you, Gustavo and Pablo.
Of course.
Thank you.
Gloria.
Buen dia a todos.
Very.
Good morning everyone.
I'm Caterina Massara, and I'm part of the international team of the Football Plus Foundation.
Just in case.
So I invite you to use the translator, please.
Thank you.
Um.
And I currently head up the project that we're working on in Ecuador, in Guayaquil alongside the GCC.
So thank you very much for inviting me, Gloria and Erika.
It's a real pleasure to be here this morning.
I'd like to tell you that Football Plus is an organization that was born in Chile, in Latin America in 2008 And for more than 18 years, we've been working on this because we believe that sport and football can change people's reality.
We work in Latin America.
We also work in Europe and in Africa, promoting the mental health of children, boys and girls, youth and their communities through games and sport.
This year, our work was recognized by one of the biggest prizes in international sport, which are the Laureus Prizes.
And we won um, the sport for good prize as the best organization.
We're very grateful for that.
And this reaffirms our belief that football is a powerful tool for strengthening the mental health of youth in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Specifically, we are implementing a program in schools focused on promoting mental health and healthy school coexistence between students, families and teachers through football.
We have benefited thousands of children from vulnerable communities that face, on a daily basis the negative consequences of violence and exclusion in Latin America.
Thank you very much.
Thanks, Katherine.
Good morning My name is Gustavo Pizzi and I am the senior program manager at Tackle in West Africa.
We are an international sport for development organization delivering programs on mental health, sexual and reproductive health and gender equality across the African continent using football.
We work closely to young people and key populations in underserved areas where communities face high HIV prevalence, significant rates of gender based violence, and massive barriers linked to mental health, from heavy social stigma to limited clinical services and lack of professional support.
Conditions that make our programs both urgent and relevant.
Tacos methodology addresses three elements to promote well-being participation in sport, removal of judgment and stigma, and experiential learning through representation on the pitch.
And we do this by training local coaches to deliver football sessions with in-built health messages, addressing knowledge gaps and creating safe spaces where taboo topics can be discussed among peers.
By meeting young people where they love to be on the football pitch.
We are tearing down traditional barriers and building lasting community safety nets.
Thank you.
Good morning everyone.
I'm going to speak in Spanish to Katherine and Jose Pablo Gordillo.
I'm Pablo Agudelo and I represent Futbol con Corazon FC.
We're an organization that was created in Colombia, Barranquilla, which is where Shakira was from 19 years ago.
And we have had the opportunity not only to help more than 70,000 boys, girls and adolescents in Colombia, but also in another seven countries in the Americas, and most recently also in Spain.
We're very proud because we've been able to create protective environments for children and their families through sport.
Our mission is not to, um, find the nets, Messi, Cristiano Mara or other football stars.
The idea is to provide a safe space to these children, to their families, and for these environments that not only have to be safe environments in terms of security, but also safe environments in terms of their health, their well-being, their mental health, their environment.
And we are using the power of sport, specifically football, to achieve this.
We're very happy to be here with you with these other great organizations.
And thank you very much for inviting the FCC.
Thank you very much to all of you for being here.
Thanks, everyone.
It's so great to have all three of you here with us today, and to hear about the diverse context you work in and the ways you're using football to support young people there.
I would love to hear more now about the young people that that are behind the work and the impact that you're seeing firsthand.
So can you share a specific moment where you saw sport change something for young person in your community, not just physically, but in terms of how they felt about themselves and their future and what made that possible? So, Gustavo, let's start with you, and then we'll go to Pablo.
Sure.
Um, I'd like to answer this question by sharing a couple of quotes from our participants in West Africa And the first one comes from AWA, a bright 16 year old girl who takes part in our current football and mental health programs in Dakar, Senegal.
And this is what she recently told us.
My friends and I used to laugh at people at school who behaved differently just for fun.
We never thought about mental health.
Now we realize they might not be doing well, so we go and talk to them instead.
We try to understand if something is wrong.
That's quite a change of attitude.
And the second quote I'd like to share comes from one of our trained coaches, a Kishu.
He's an 18 year old young man delivering weekly sessions as part of our Self-stigma reduction program with key populations at high risk of HIV in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
And this is what he told us.
Most of these guys didn't know each other before I started running the sessions.
Of course, they didn't trust each other because we've all experienced discrimination and stigma.
It's not easy, but we bonded well as a group.
Now they get along too well, he jokes.
They tire me out as I'm trying to explain the exercise and deliver my message.
Every week after the session, we stay behind to play a match and then go and eat together.
To me, it's obvious that AWA and Kishu are doing more than simply playing and coaching football.
They are developing technical skills and building stamina, but they're also developing, developing empathy and building more compassionate and resilient communities off the pitch.
They are creating a multiplier effect.
What makes this possible isn't just sports by itself, but it's the way it's used and the conditions that are created around it.
Football as a social tool, as a tool for social change, offers an exciting and powerful platform for expanding mental health support.
It offers a informal, non-clinical setting where barriers can be taken down, such as fear of judgement, confidentiality and cost, which we know prevent young people from accessing vital mental health information and services Football is fun, it's social and very importantly, it's accessible.
As research on sport for development initiatives suggest, young people may come for the sport and stay for the support.
Gracias, Gustavo.
Thank you Gustavo.
I also have a video to show you.
I wanted to tell you a story.
When they invited us and they asked us if we could tell a short story.
Well, we're currently working on this project in Baranova, near Barranquilla in Colombia, and there's thousands of stories of young people in their families.
But I think the one that touched us the most was Sophie's story.
And she's the person that you're seeing on the screen and her family.
She's a girl that was a Venezuelan migrant, and she went to the Colombian Caribbean coast.
And right now, Sophie, when she started with us in our football schools, our transformational football schools, she suffered from a cognitive.
Issue and she had short term memory loss.
And this was having an impact on her academic, personal and family life and the way she interacted with her environment And it wasn't just affecting her, but also her family, in particular, her mother, who was her main carer.
And Sophie has a completely different reality now thanks to the power of football in FCC.
We'd like to underscore three things that football brings us.
That is something that really motivates us.
It's convening.
Power is very powerful.
Like Gustavo was saying, football has no barriers, and with the ball we can bring together easily 200 young people in ten minutes.
We don't need anything more than just a ball.
We have a universal language like was already mentioned.
We don't need to speak the same language to understand the rules and to share them.
But in addition to this universal language, after the matches, we keep talking to each other.
And this is the thing that football is bringing that it knows it, it doesn't erect walls.
Um, people share the fresh air, um, and sport and have conversations that otherwise they wouldn't have.
Um, and because of stigma and barriers, otherwise they wouldn't be able to have these opportunities.
So football has really become a powerful tool to bring people together, to talk to each other and talk about things that usually we wouldn't talk about with families, teachers, trainers.
And Sophie told me before she came that she wanted to send her best regards to you because sport is changing her life.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Both these are powerful stories and an example of how sports can shape not only physical well-being, but also improve people's confidence and belonging.
And Pablo, you mentioned that football is a universal language with a great segue into my next question, which is that football is a universal language, but it means different things in different communities.
How do you ensure that sports based mental health programming is culturally grounded, community led, and genuinely effective for the young people that you serve? Um, Gustavo, let's stay with you here, your perspective and then we'd love to hear from you.
Catherine.
Yeah.
Of course Thank you.
Gloria.
Ah, okay.
Uh indeed.
Efectivamente el.
Yes, indeed.
Football brings people together, but football alone doesn't generate change.
It's very important to consider this It is a universal language.
However, we need to work in a structured way in order for it to bring about the social changes that we want to achieve At the end of the day, we believe that the key to having a positive impact on mental health through sport is adapting the methodologies that we use to each and every culture, and to their social and educational reality.
First of all, we must involve communities, engage in participatory diagnoses, and bring young people together to make them part of how we design it, involving teachers, communities, and local organizations as important to understand what their real needs are, what their pains are what their interests are, and what they want to get out of it And this allows us to design a made to measure intervention to really reach the needs of our population.
Secondly, it's important to work with all of the community, working with youth, with youth.
We can't just involve young people if outside they're in an environment that doesn't protect them.
So we need to work with families, teachers and with adults who can ensure that their, um, mental health and their rights are safeguarded.
Now for teachers in Ecuador, we are training teachers in physical education.
We're organizing a training program to integrate our methodology in physical education and to engage in socio emotional training activities through football and sport.
We also believe that communities can become leaders when they share a common goal, and when they feel involved in the project.
In football mass, we've had many events, community events where the community participates in the organization of them and implementing them, and this creates links.
Working with children and youth and putting the emotional learning through sport into practice.
This strengthens the link and promotes healthy school coexistence that has a direct impact on the mental health of youth.
Finally, it's very important to involve different local organizations.
It's not enough to work with the football mass program in Guayaquil, Ecuador, for example we need to involve all organizations in order to bring about real structural changes that.
To provide more space for preventing mental health problems.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Catherine, we'd love to hear from you.
And yes, thanks, Gloria.
Um, this is an important question we ask ourselves regularly to make sports based mental health programs effective.
We can't simply apply standard curriculum to a community and expect it to work.
It has to be co-created, designed with the people it's aimed.
It aimed to.
It aims to serve.
So first, we understand.
We need to understand the local realities.
In the suburbs of Dakar, where we work, mental health is still a very sensitive topic.
Many people associate mental health with witchcraft, or the idea of being crazy.
We can't come with generic solutions.
They won't work.
So we first listen and learn and then we adapt to the local context.
We translate our materials into local languages and in this case, Wolof, which is the most spoken language in the area.
Senegal is a country known for La Taranga, which represents the shared values of solidarity, hospitality and community support.
So we build our programs on these existing cultural strength.
Second, programs need to be community led, so we work closely with our local partners to train school teachers, to become mental health coaches on the pitch.
So they are involved from the start so they can share their input, their perspectives, and help us adapt to their realities.
One of the main challenges they face on this program is managing crowded classrooms in public schools from 60 to 80 students.
So we adapt our training course to provide them with practical solutions and tools so they can address the emotional needs of the students and create these safe spaces.
And finally, we need to measure impact.
We are guided by indicators and we learn from our data.
We're not just playing football.
We're using football to create meaningful moments where participants and students gain mental health knowledge, challenge myth, and develop positive attitudes around mental health.
Our latest data shows that participants comprehensive mental health knowledge have increased from 3 to 20% after 15 sessions, and their ability to identify different services available linked to mental health on their, um on their communities have also improved from 0 to 66% after 30 sessions.
So for us, this is what makes football based mental health programs effective.
They are built with communities, not just for communities, giving young people a voice, strengthening local leadership and using data to ensure programs create meaningful and lasting change.
Thank you both so much.
It's inspiring to hear how rooted these approaches are in local realities and communities strengthen the impact as well.
Um, as we think about the future, we'd love to learn more about what you've learned along the way and, um, how to increase and amplify your work.
And that leads us to our final question.
Um, what have been the most surprising lessons learned? And what would it take to bring an approach like yours to scale? What would you need from policymakers, governments, and other young people to make this happen? Um, so Catherine, let's start with you on this one.
Yeah.
Of course.
Gracias.
Thank you for the question, Gloria.
At football Mass, we believe that one of the most powerful lessons that we've learned is that positive recognition has a clear and concrete impact on young people At football math, we are changing the rules of the game.
We don't use red cards or yellow cards like in traditional competitive football.
We instead have our own tool that we work with.
It's a pedagogical tool and it's our green card.
This is our very simple tool that recognizes all of the strengths and potential that our young people have.
And this has huge power.
This pedagogical tool allows us to recognize the strength and value of positive actions in the game.
We've seen how this approach of positive psychological strengthens empathy and the emotional regulation of our young players and helps them to learn to resolve conflicts in a positive way.
And this, without a doubt, has positive impacts on their mental health.
We've also learned that when we play sport it generates meaningful links during the game.
Sport becomes therefore a safe space, like Gustavo was saying, and in a safe space and inclusive space, young people can express themselves without being scared and feel valued.
And that's where their mental health and their wellbeing really starts to be strengthened.
And then another lesson is that young people need real opportunities to show leadership.
We need to give them the space they need to develop their potential and to play a leading role.
They need to be participating in the decisions that affect their communities, and achieving their potential involves listening to their voices and providing them a space where they can play an active role within our project.
Finally, just to scale up the approach, we must understand sport as a means, not an end in itself.
Like Gustavo was saying, we need to understand it as a tool that needs to be part of the whole ecosystem, the public and private ecosystem.
Since through sport, we can work not only on health and education, we can also address very different, a very different raft of issues such as gender, um, protecting the rights of our young people, human rights, education.
We can work on environmental protection.
And there are so many other things that we can address through sport.
But to do it, we need to consider football as a means, um, that goes through all of our actions.
So the idea is to build a multisystem vision of sport that enables us to articulate and link the different sectors that work with youth, but not only youth, their families, also to work together to the same goal, which is safeguarding the mental health of our young people.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Catherine.
Pablo.
What lessons have stood out for you most, and what did it take to amplify an approach like yours? Gracias Gloria.
Thank you.
Gloria.
Well I think in the world of mental health, which is a vast world in an FCC, we've learned to identify what the main tools are that we can work with, and we want to work mainly in the area of prevention.
And we, through prevention, managed to ensure that many of our young people don't fall into situations that could be difficult for them, for their families and their environment.
I think we've learned that in our social projects.
None of us want to engage in action with harm, but rather there is in mental health projects.
It's, um, a risk that you can cause serious harm.
So we are working on special curriculums to make sure that in our mental health work, we can have a truly positive impact.
And through this, we give them tools to them and their families to work better on their emotions, how to communicate and how to integrate this into a system that can really support them when we scale it up.
Gloria, if you were to ask me what we're asking from investors and decision makers, those of you here, we don't need a magic formula.
Like the others have said, we are there to work with communities and listen to the communities to see what they need and what they want to build, and then build on that, because often these magic formula formulas can cause more harm than they intend.
So what we're doing is working with them.
There's a lot of organizations that have a lot of knowledge, and we're joining them and trying to have impact because the young people that we work with need this type of project today, and we need physical infrastructure.
And, um, we're also in festing in um support infrastructure.
This is a real investment that on the long term brings about way more benefits than it does costs.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Both so much.
I think today's discussion has reminded us that supporting young people's mental health doesn't always start in a formal setting.
It can start on the football field through trusted relationships and by creating spaces where young people feel heard and trusted.
Thank you very much, Catherine, Pablo, and Gustavo for sharing your stories and experiences.
As we've heard, young people already have many of the many of the solutions and what they really need are opportunities, support, and investment to bring those solutions to life.
We invite you to connect with our innovators and the GCC team after the session to learn more about their work, the Being initiative, and explore how we can together work to continue to create environments where young people can thrive.
There will also be a QR code on the screen for more resources from these innovators.
Thank you all and enjoy the rest of the event Please join me in thanking Erica, Gloria, Pablo, Gustavo, and Catherine for sharing such an inspiring example of youth lead innovation from across three continents.
That was amazing, right? We now move to segment two, led by Priyanka from Ashoka, which explores how young changemakers are using sport to build belonging, challenge systems and create more inclusive communities.
Please welcome Priyanka and the young young changemakers.
Good morning everyone.
I can't hear you.
My gosh, let's try this again.
Good morning everyone.
Ah, that's more like it, I love it.
Thank you for joining our session.
My name is Priyanka Jaisinghani and I'm from Ashoka.
Ashoka is a nonprofit that supports and identifies leading social entrepreneurs.
Now, before you hear from us, we want to hear from you all our audience.
So we have two questions for you all to start our session.
Uh, can I get the slides up? Okay, so first question, let's go.
Let's travel through time back to our childhood.
Um, we would love to know from you all what is your most cherished sports memory.
And we'd love to hear from the audience directly We can get 1 to 2 people to kind of raise their hand so we can unmute in here.
Let's keep this these responses short though.
So think back to your childhood.
What is your most cherished sports memory? Can I get a few hands raised? Yes, Queen.
All the way in the back there.
Oh.
Ball and volleyball.
Oh yes I love this was a fantastic sport.
It's fantastic sports.
Love it.
Round of applause for her.
Yeah.
Okay, let's get one more response from the audience Um, uh, Queen next to her.
Your most cherished sports memory.
Microphone for the speaker, please.
Okay, I think we, I, we're only gonna keep to two responses, but I think what I'm picking up some sports memories that we all love either include those the essence of the sport itself or what sports gives back to us, whether it's the community, the people.
There's so much to love in sport.
Now let's go to the second question which we actually have a Q&A for all of us.
So we're going to raise our hands.
Um, so the question is, what do you think is the biggest barrier to sports supporting young people's mental health? Now there's four responses.
Um, a, it's too much focus on winning.
B coaches aren't equipped to support well-being.
C young people aren't involved in decision making and D not enough access to quality sport.
Raise your hand if you believe the answer.
In your opinion, there's no wrong answers.
It's a.
Raise your hands up loud and proud so we can see.
Okay.
Love it.
I see a few A's.
Fantastic.
All right.
Raise your hand if you believe B is the answer that you believe in.
All right, a few less hands.
That's totally fine.
Love it.
C raise your hand if you believe, um, young people are involved in decision making.
C oh, okay.
I'm seeing I'm seeing that C is is the one that we believe in, but they're all right.
And D uh not enough access to quality sport.
Awesome.
Okay.
Love it.
Thank you so much for sharing.
Now, the reason why we're asking these questions is because what we've seen and from different studies is that today, 1 in 7 young people globally experience a mental health condition.
But at the same time, we're seeing young people leave sport in record numbers, particularly girls, young people from marginalized communities, and those that never felt that sports was designed for them.
And we often treat these two crises as separately in silos.
Young person's mental health crisis and youth sports participation crisis.
But what if they're actually the same crisis viewed from different angles? Now, the question isn't whether sport is good for young people's mental health.
The question is, what kind of sporting experience are we creating? Because sports can be beautiful.
It can create and build resilience, confidence, connection, community purpose, but can also create pressure, exclusion, anxiety when it's designed around performance instead of people.
Now we know that one of the strongest drivers of young people's wellbeing is agency.
The belief that I have a voice I can influence and I can make a difference that is powerful.
And that's why today's conversation isn't about getting more young people into sport.
It's about reimagining sport as a place where young people don't just participate, they belong, they lead, and they discover their own capacity to create change.
Because we all know, especially from the hands that I've seen risen up for number C, when young people believe they can shape the world, they're more likely to thrive.
So we have three fantastic speakers here that introduce shortly, and they are living proof of this.
Each one of them saw something in the system that wasn't working, and instead of waiting for someone else to fix it, they built a solution.
So let's get started with our conversation.
Let's get to know our speakers a little bit more.
Um, we have three incredible speakers all the way on the right to my, on my right.
Uh, we have Zia Rocker.
She is a founder and CEO of EADS for athletes, a youth led nonprofit dedicated to creating a culture of preparedness surrounding cardiac emergencies through AED access and life saving education.
Next, we have Jake Williams, youth activist and founder of Boxey, a Birmingham based initiative that makes affordable sports equipment accessible to young people through donated and subsidized gear.
And finally, our fabulous speaker, Stephen Saffran, founder and president of Strike Out Kids Cancer, a nonprofit dedicated to bringing baseball and recreational play to children battling cancer and other serious medical challenges.
Now let's get into it.
Into our conversation.
Okay, my friends, uh, let's start with Jake.
Jake, a few moments ago, I talked a little bit about the idea that the design of sports really does matter.
So where we want to start with you, for someone who saw firsthand what happens when the design isn't working.
So the question for you, Jake, is, what was the moment that you realized that sports systems weren't serving young people? And what did young people tell you that they actually needed? Thank you for your question.
Um before I answer that question, I'd actually like to share a story, which I was reminded of a couple of weeks before coming to America.
I'm from the UK.
Um I'm working on a summer camp at the moment as a counsellor.
Um, and back in the UK, one of our biggest supermarket chains is this place called Sainsbury's.
So I know in America you've got Walmart, you've got target.
I'm hoping someone else is in the UK here and is familiar with their yearly Christmas advertisements.
Hello.
Um, yearly Christmas advertisements And the most memorable one for me was from 2014, where it displays a super powerful moment where a soldier called Jim, um, from World War One emerges from the trenches on no man's land with his hands held up in the air, and it ignites this really powerful moment called the Christmas truce, where both sides would come together, they'd share gifts, they'd have conversations, and they'd play a game of football.
I've always loved this advert because whilst its purpose was probably to show British citizens the Sainsbury's product Christmas range they had to offer for cheap prices, it reminded me how, lo, how universal and accessible the sport of football is.
You know, if a football can bring together two sides of a war with different cultures and different borders, that would literally go on to fight for another four years, then why is it becoming so much more difficult now for young people to get involved? And for me, three, the moment that I realised traditional sports systems weren't serving young people was when, in 2022, I joined a panel with the Commonwealth Games, which was hosted in Birmingham, my home city in England.
I got to be a part of this panel, and we were given $65,000 every single month to distribute to young people to help with their mental and physical health, so they could bid for an item.
We could buy them bikes, we could buy them sports equipment.
Um, and week after week, these kids and even youth organisations weren't asking for us to buy them anything spectacular, like fancy new pitches or cutting edge sports technology.
They wanted football boots, hockey sticks, bus fares to training, things I hadn't even thought thought about before, and things that I think most of the audience here and myself would take for granted, whether that's in sport or outside of sport.
And that's when it really clicked for me, because the problem wasn't that young people didn't want to take part in sport anymore.
It was that there were too many barriers in place that were blocking them from playing.
I'd never realised how something as simple as the cost of football sneakers could stop someone from taking part in something that's so important.
Sport should be one of the most accessible and transferable skills in a young person's life that they can take into adulthood.
Yet I started to see firsthand on this panel.
Young people were practically sidelined because of a price tag, the cost of equipment, travel, or clubs.
And that brings me to your second question, pre, because I feel like it's something that the audience already answered because earlier you shared what you think the biggest barrier to sport was, and whether you wrote cost, confidence, time access, or answered any of the questions that were on the board, they all point to the same challenge, which I think simply shouldn't exist.
Young people didn't need sports to become more spectacular.
They're making us they're asking for us to make it easier to play.
Those soldiers didn't need fancy facilities or equipment.
They just needed a football and an opportunity to play.
And these solutions won't look the same in every country.
But I do think young people everywhere are asking us for the same thing, to remove the barriers so they can take part.
Thank you.
Amazing.
Thank you Jake.
I love the story and I love boxing.
And, um, one thing I'm really hearing from your story is that it's easy for us to identify about the barriers, but removing them is just the first step that we have.
We need to get more young people into sports.
But what happens when what happens within the sports matters just as much as removing the barriers? So my next question is for our speaker, Stephen, or as we also like to call him, Dodge, um, who has been working with young people, people facing some of life's greatest challenges.
So, Stephen, my question for you today is, um, you've seen firsthand how trusted adults can transform a young person's experience through sport.
What roles do coaches, mentors, and other adult allies play in helping young people build confidence, purpose, and agency not just athletic skills? Thank you for that question.
I'm very blessed and excited to be here on this panel with you.
Um, first, I think adults and mentors have such a huge impact on young people.
Um, and I really think it starts with the power that adults have to create spaces where young people's thoughts and choices are at the forefront and not in the background, um, while still driving the overall education that we find in sports.
Um, I've played for many coaches in my life.
I'm a lifelong baseball player, but most recently I played here at the City College of New York for Coach Loesch.
Something that he would do for us would he would allow internally voted members of the team, we call them captain practices, where these members of the team would be able to plan, guide and execute practices or other kind of activities with the team.
And what I saw was really just an increase in agency that was found there, because members of the team were able to input what they're actually participating in, rather than just kind of being governed by someone above them.
Um, beyond that, I think trusted adults and mentors often have the social sway in the form of their connections and their experience to open doors for young people that might not be there otherwise.
A couple summers ago, I had the pleasure of working in the Dominican Republic for, um, a Columbia alumni as well named Jay Quinn.
He runs a program called the Baseball Island Foundation that provides free food, water, baseball training, strength training, and English education for young athletes in Las Terrenas.
And really, he has a breadth of experience as an international and domestic player and coach, and he's able to leverage that to open pathways for these young athletes that otherwise wouldn't have access to play in the United States and pursue their dreams of playing collegiately or professionally.
And, you know, that's not for a lack of these young athletes not having the talent or not having the passion or the dedication, but simply sometimes access isn't there around the world or even in America.
And he really exemplifies, you know, once you make it a couple rungs up the ladder, reaching back down and pulling up those behind you as well.
Um, even to this day, he's hired internally from students and student athletes that have kind of gotten a little older.
And his staff are previous student athletes that he essentially raised.
So I think that's super powerful.
Lastly, I really think young people and really all people look to someone for support and reassurance, um, especially in the form of your coach or mentor.
As you mentioned, I founded a nonprofit about ten years ago to bring baseball and recreational play to young people with cancer and other serious medical ailments.
Um, I don't know about all of you, but when I was 13, I hadn't started or founded anything by myself.
Um, and I really think about my dad who's here today.
He was really my support and my mentor through that creation.
Um, really just because he allowed me to exercise that agency, I wasn't boxed in at all.
Um, I had a passion for sports and I had a passion for service.
And he essentially equipped me to go out and enact that dream alive.
Um, he never once let me think that I was incapable of anything.
Uh, to this day, he pushes me to heights that I probably wouldn't be able to reach otherwise.
And I just think that's so powerful that all coaches and mentors have that level of impact on the youth that they serve.
So all in all, youth coaches and mentors absolutely play a huge role.
Thank you.
That was so powerful.
Stephen and I almost had a tear when you were talking about your father.
That's beautiful.
Uh, you had so many incredible, um, adult allies support your journey.
And one thing I love is that they shape identity so much.
The people who are in the sports ecosystem matter just as much as a sport to actually create it, create a positive environment.
But this brings me to a different point that I'd love to shift the conversation to Zia for this is, what does it actually mean for sport to be a safe environment? So, Zia, your initiative started when you saw a gap in how we think about safety and well-being in sport.
What assumptions about mental health are creating safe sporting environments do you think that we still need to challenge? So over to you.
Yes.
Thank you so much.
And thank you all for having us and for joining in on this conversation I think one of the biggest assumptions that many people are still making is that young people are too young to handle or to learn certain things like emergency response or about mental health.
And ironically, that is what leaves us the most vulnerable.
When I was starting AEDs for athletes, I was entering a health related field where experience, degrees and credentials understandably carry a lot of weight.
But I hadn't even graduated from high school yet.
So what really made a difference for me were the adults in my life who chose to advocate for me and for my organization.
My athletic trainer and my health teacher opened doors for me and gave my organization credibility and ensured that my peers and I had a seat in conversations that we definitely would not have had without their help.
So my biggest takeaway for young people is to never assume or accept that something is out of reach, just because no one is teaching it to you or because of your age.
If you see a gap, ask why it exists and how you can change the systems so that it not only benefits you, but also all of those that are to come.
And that kind of is something that we were really focused on when building AEDs for athletes, was that it was never just about donating an AED.
It was about teaching people these life saving skills and helping them to value those skills so they could pass that on to the next generation and create an entire culture of preparedness.
Which leads me to my takeaway for the adults in the room, which is to place emphasis on the skills that you want to see in your young athletes and be the kind of advocate that my mentors were for me, young people, we don't always need someone to lead for us.
Often we need someone that believes in us and will let us into those conversations so that we can lead ourselves.
Incredible.
Thank you.
Zia, listening to all three of you, I'm struck by one thing.
Your initiatives all look so different.
One focuses on access, another focuses on allies, and one focuses on safety.
But underneath it all is the exact same idea that I'm hearing.
And I hope you all are seeing as well that young people thrive when they're trusted with agency, not just invited to participate, but empowering what the environment of sports should look like and what it can look like.
Now I have two rapid fire questions for all of you all.
So I hope you're ready for these two, um, fire breaking questions.
Um, I'm going to start on my side.
We're going to go Steven to Zia for the second question.
We'll go with Zia to Steven.
All right.
So first question, rapid fire 30s or less.
Um, what does innovation in the space look like if young people lead? I think innovation where young people lead is more reflective of what's best for the individual as they are working through, um, their individual sport or whatever they're pursuing.
Um, I think it's just reflected really on truly that reflection of what's best for them, not what someone else might think that is best for them.
Oh, all right, on to you, Jake.
I think innovation in this space, if young people lead, it looks like talking about that sense of agency and getting corporations, businesses, companies to listen to young people capture their voice and make sure that their heart and start of decision making for youth participation in sports.
MM.
Love it.
Over to you.
Yeah.
I mean, it's already been talked about today, which is amazing.
But it's that shift toward preparation from reaction, whether it's a cardiac emergency or mental health, knowing what to do helps athletes to feel safer and more supported and confident, which is something that I've had a lot of feedback toward by teaching emergency response and showing that athlete safety matters.
Coaches have said that it changes the entire culture of the team and the sport because athletes feel like their well-being is valued not just their performance.
Powerful second fire.
Um, uh, fire starter question for you all is finish the sentence.
If there's one thing every sport organization to do tomorrow to better support young people's mental health, it is fill in the blank.
You can start.
Zia.
Yay.
Um, if there's one thing that every organization should do, it is to create environments where young people feel trusted, valued, and most importantly, capable.
Because supporting mental health begins with believing in and not underestimating us.
Jake.
If there's one thing every sport organization should do, tomorrow would be my favorite quote.
Leave the room a better place than when you entered it.
Um.
And you, Steven.
If there's one thing I think all sports organizations should do is really put at the forefront the well-being of the athlete or individual, um, beyond just outcomes on the field, simply because I think sport is one of the most beautiful things we have as humans.
Um, and that shouldn't be taken away from in any capacity.
Oof.
All three powerful.
Now we've heard from three incredible speakers.
Now we of course want to ended by learning more from our audience once again.
So we're going to throw it back to you, my friends.
So the question for you all is what is what? What is the first change you'll take back to your community or something that you recommend or suggest? Once again, I'd love to see those hands up high so you can unmute and share.
We're curious to learn from you all.
Yes, Queen.
One thing I'm going to bring back to my community, which is Montreal, Canada, is what Ziya said about value skills and pass them on.
And I think that's a very important quote.
Oh, powerful, I love that.
Uh, we'd love to hear from 2 to 3 more folks if you'd like.
Yes.
Okay.
Um, my idea will be encouraging youth more to participate the free program again, one of our speaker is from Birmingham and he said, he said, um, the opportunities are less because of the cost.
Any, any sort of um classes or coaches you want to attend.
It costs you money.
So if you can get it free at least a couple of sessions and see if the youth person is interested and performing well, maybe they can we can offer a scholarship or something from the charity organization.
Maybe that would be a good idea.
Encouraging them, not sticking with the social media and the telephone mobiles all the time.
Thank you Wait.
No no no.
Hold those claps.
Two more.
I see another hand in the back.
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
So I would want people to create safe environment.
And it should be more about the joy of learning and wanting to play than competing with that anxiety.
So I think one thing I would want to take back to my community is it's not always about winning.
It's also about enjoying and doing, putting your best foot forward.
Because back at home, everyone is like always wanting to win, competing with each other.
So I think it should be more of a positive.
It should be taken as more of a positive approach to sports than just like an Anxiety stress thing.
Beautiful Okay, now, now we can clap.
All right, all right, my friend Um, we all have such beautiful ideas.
I want to thank our incredible speakers.
I want to thank you, our audience for, uh for also recognizing when young people thrive, when they're trusted with agency, not just to participate, they really are empowered to shape what the environment looks like.
So thank you to our speakers.
Thank you to you all.
And if I can leave you all with one thing, if you are interested to learn more, Ashoka has published a Reimagining Youth Sport playbook on how to embed youth voice and decision making in sport, and we invite you all to learn more and to read more.
But thank you everyone and enjoy the rest of the programming.
Oh.
You pick.
Thank you, Priyanka and all of the young changemakers for reminding us that young people are not simply participants in sports.
They are leaders and innovators, innovators transforming the system around them.
I also love the fact that um, I think one of our biggest tasks as leaders is to be able to transfer those skills that we learned, right? Leave this room and take it home and try to keep helping our communities We now continue with our first fireside chat, which explores how sport can support healing, resilience and community well-being.
Please join me in welcoming our speakers from the center of For Healing and Justice Through Sports and Luta de la Paz.
Good morning and hi everyone.
I'm Gabby Pinero and I am the Director of Partnerships of La Paz, an organization with the aim of fostering the development of children, adolescents and young people living in areas affected by violence and social inequality through our own academies, collective impact and an alliance of partners training our methodologies.
We have reached over 25 countries and impacted, directly or indirectly, more than 250 000 people.
I am here with my Co-panelists, Joe Smith from the center for Healing and Justice through Sport, who builds capacity in individual coaches, deepens impact in organizations, and serves as a backbone infrastructure for collective action in sport.
Joe please.
Thank you Gabby and hi everyone.
It's so good to be with you all.
Uh, we know that right now young people are and adults are struggling.
The theme of today underscores that And the conversations that we've already heard today.
Oftentimes, mental health infrastructure is built to respond to crisis if it even exists.
Sport is one of the most underutilized and preventative tools we have of supporting mental health.
We don't have to wait for the crisis.
The infrastructure is already there in the millions of young people playing and coaches supporting them.
So in a moment, I'm going to ask for your participation, and we're going to show just the power of sport when it is done with intention to support mental health.
So if you are able, I'll invite you to stand.
We've been sitting for a minute.
Uh, so we're going to move our bodies a little bit.
If you don't want to stand, that's totally okay.
I'm going to demonstrate something, and then I'm going to ask you all to turn to a partner and do the same.
All right.
So with someone next to you, I want you to just decide whose partner A and whose partner B go.
If you have three, that's okay too.
Cool.
All right, partner a.
I want you to put your hands out like this.
Palms facing in.
You don't have to lean forward.
This is just because the microphone's here.
I want you to turn and face your palms out Cross your right hand over your left hand, and then interlock your fingers.
We good so far? Y'all look great.
All right.
And then you're going to pull towards your chest so that your fingers are interlocked like this.
Partner B, without touching the finger, you're going to point to a finger that you want partner A to move.
So if I'm partner B and Hailey is partner A, I'm going to point to a finger and have her move it.
Go.
All right partner B, it's your turn to have well, I don't know who had fun, the person pointing or the person trying, but partner B same thing.
You're going to put your hands out palms facing in.
Turn your palms out.
Right hand over left Interlock your arms and pull it through.
Partner A try to get partner sorry, partner B try to get partner A to move their finger.
Is that right? Did I mix that up? I think they got it.
They don't really care, huh Good.
We're done.
All right.
If you can hear me, clap twice.
If you can hear me, clap once.
Or you can keep clapping.
All right, if you can have a seat.
So we didn't do that just to have everyone look a little foolish.
We did do it to have everyone giggle a little bit.
And at the center for Healing and Justice through sport, we truly believe that sport has the power to heal, and sport has the power to create safety and belonging.
And so we did that activity for a few reasons The first is we got the opportunity to connect meaningful relationships with trusted with other trusted humans are what regulate our nervous system.
And there are so many benefits of sport.
But unless we are regulated and unless the coach that's working with us is regulated, those benefits aren't going to come to fruition.
So we need to be able to connect.
The second thing we did is we got to move our bodies a little bit.
And what we talk about often at Chds is we got to move our bodies in sort of a pattern, rhythmic way.
And when we do that, it is also regulating to our nervous system.
So we got to connect, we got to move.
And the last thing, hopefully it was a little bit of stress, but not too much stress, right? If I had brought somebody up here and said, hey, in front of everyone, I'd like you to do this for the first time.
And they're going to question whether or not you can do it.
That might be a little bit more stressful than turning to your partner.
So the right amount of stress, stress that's predictable stress that can be seen coming.
Stress that's not chaotic.
That's the type of stress that builds resilience.
And so when those three things exist, movement, connection in the right type of stress, that's when sport can create the infrastructure for mental health.
That's when sport can be preventative and that's when sport can heal.
And so I want you to keep those things in mind as we have our conversation today.
And with that, I'd like to introduce the other two folks that are up here on our panel.
Um, Kayla, would you like to go first? Yes Thank you and good morning, everyone.
My name is Kayla McCoy.
I am a community school director on a high school here on Staten Island.
And essentially my job is to view the whole child and provide support services, um, for the child and their whole family so that they can be successful in school.
Thank you.
And I'll pass it to Hailey.
Hi, everyone It's really nice to meet you all.
My name is Hailey Mead and I work at Iconiq Capital on our impact team, and we advise ultra high net worth donors on their philanthropic giving.
Um, and in my job, I run a $120 million youth mental well-being initiative.
Great.
And thank you both.
Well, to ground us, I'd love for each of you to briefly share a moment when sports deeply impact your mental health, either in a positive way or in a challenging one.
Kayla, would you like to start? Yes.
So I'm super excited to be here.
As a lifelong athlete, I have started playing sports from the age of like four.
I've done everything from soccer, basketball, track and field.
But in high school, I really honed in on volleyball, basketball, and lacrosse.
So I was playing sports all year round.
Um, being an athlete is a part of my essence, and my core taught me how to lead, taught me how to compete and how to be resilient and work towards a goal.
I think when sports were so powerful and really gave me my confidence, but when it tore me down was when adults took it into their own hands and kind of used me like a cog in the system and didn't see me for who I was, um didn't provide the opportunities that were necessary and kind of made me question if I even belonged in the sport at all.
Um, I think being a young woman in sport, accessibility is everything, and it didn't seem like it was a means to an end, um, at all times for me.
And so as a community school director, working with young people, um, as the young woman up here just said, it's important to empower our young people to empower themselves and to, you know, be the vehicle and be the change that they want to see.
So I advocate for that in my role currently, and really just expanding programming for my students in high school.
Okay.
Um, yeah, so I can share a story as well.
Um, so I too played a sport.
I was a long distance runner in high school.
Um, and Kayla was a talented athlete and I was the exact opposite.
I was horrible at it.
Um, I was very slow and my goal every single race was simply to not come in last place.
And oftentimes that meant I was coming second to last or third to last.
Um, but I'm really grateful for the experience.
I think it taught me vulnerability and getting comfortable with failing publicly right in front of other people.
I think it taught me resilience and the power of, um, showing up for every practice for every race.
And it taught me community, right? Like I had friends and family and coaches cheering me on from the sidelines.
And I learned the importance of showing up in that way for the people that I care about.
Um, and so now as a funder, I'm really glad that I had that experience growing up because I know firsthand how impactful, um, youth sports are um, especially for their well-being.
Amazing.
Thank you both.
Um, I am not the biggest social media person, but on Instagram, there's a sticker and it says, let the youth lead and it's blinking.
And I feel like that's the energy that we're bringing to the space today.
So, um, shout out to all of you, Kayla.
This next question is for you.
Um, in that vein, what role can young people play in positioning sport as a pathway to mental health? Thank you for that question.
I think in my role, I work a lot like I have the pleasure to see young people flourish over the course of four years.
And we all know that ninth to 12th grade is very drastic, right? And so when they come in, we really want to give them the tools to succeed in high school, right? Which means to get involved, to find your tribe and to, to put yourself out there.
And I think a lot of students that I see are reluctant to be vulnerable and to kind of be perceived and to exist in a judgmental state where people are hyper criticizing them or looking at their bodies or commenting or even posting on social media.
Right.
So my task for the young people is to charge them to be brave, right? To be brave and be vulnerable.
Open yourself up to new experiences.
If you see something that you like, try it out.
If you see someone that that you can bring with you, bring them with you.
Because the plethora of opportunity that comes with sports, with activity, with enrichment for our young people is it's unmatched.
And I really want the adults in the room.
Also, it's our job to create and make these spaces safe for you.
Um, but all you have to do is be open to try it and to see where it can take you.
It can take you down any road.
We talk about sliding door moments, and this could be one of those for you.
So open yourself up, open your heart up to that opportunity.
Wow.
Thank you.
Well, um, back to, to Hailey, uh, you shared that, uh, sports was important for you, uh, to deal with your vulnerabilities.
And as you are in the private sector, uh, I wonder what role should private philanthropy and iconic impact co-lab play in scaling this evidence based sport interventions? Yeah.
So I think the first job of private philanthropy is to fund the work that other funders think is difficult, right? So things like healing, resilience, belonging, these things we've been talking about with mental health, these are not things that always move in a straight line.
And they are not things that move in a timeline that a lot of other funders look for.
And so private philanthropy is much more flexible.
And so it's you know, our responsibility as private funders to fill those types of funding roles.
I think also the role of private philanthropy philanthropy is to fund the areas that are overlooked.
And that's exactly what we're talking about today, right? Like our panel is about how these sports are under these sports programs are under utilized.
And I think for funders, um, you know, a lot of funders often look for initiatives to fall within really clear buckets, right? It's clearly a health program or it's clearly a sports program or just an education program.
Um, and so private philanthropy really needs to be filling in the gaps, right? Where youth mental health and sport programs intersect in so many special ways.
And so private philanthropy can find, um, these programs that are kind of falling in the cracks of other funding initiatives and fill that space.
Um, and I also just want to finish up by saying that private philanthropy should obviously be funding this work, but what's so important is the way that we choose to show up for the organizations that we support.
So at iconic, where I work, we provide unrestricted multi-year grants, and we do it in a really trust based way.
And, um, for example, we are proud funders of Gabby and La Paz, and we trust Gabby and her team to do the work that they are fantastic at doing.
They know best what their organizations need, they know best what the young people that they serve need.
Um, we've been talking a lot today about, you know, adults kind of getting out of the way of young people and really letting young people shine.
And I think that also applies to funders as well in private funders, in getting out of the way and letting the organizations do the great work that they do.
Wow.
Thank you.
Hailey, this is so amazing to hear, uh, a funder saying that to us nonprofits, you know, that's the dream of all of us, I think.
So, thank you very much.
Thank you for the support of for all these years and hopefully many more.
So, uh, we know that this is a big topic and we are just scratching the surface.
But what's the exciting is that the recognition of sport as a pathway to mental health is growing.
And we are encouraging you to keep advocating what you want from not just your sport experience, but that anyone, no matter their background or context, can access sport spaces that reinforce them to them that youth mental health matters.
Thank you very much.
And I leave you with Joe for the last information.
Yeah.
And just if you if you'd like to learn more, I think we have some QR codes that we can put up here.
Um, they're from in La Paz.
But again, just want to be thankful for all of our, all of our fireside chat folks and enjoy the, the rest of the sessions.
Thanks.
Please join me in thanking the center for Healing and Justice through sports and for this very inspiring session.
I remember.
Take action.
That's the word that I remember.
I remember for this session.
Uh, don't wait for permission to be there where there is something that is hurting you and your community.
Don't ask for permission.
We now move in to the next segment.
Um.
And I'm now inviting Chantal Gello, coordinator of the special service of the president of the Republic in charge of youth, the fight against violence against women and human trafficking to share experience from Democratic Republic of Congo.
Welcome.
Hello, everybody.
It's so.
De voir tout le monde.
Quand on est la la la de de de.
This is a beautiful event.
It's wonderful to see all these young international people taking part in this, uh, meeting.
I'll talk to you about the situation in the DRC.
In the DRC.
We have learned a truth that is diplomacy.
Manuals don't have enough information in them.
A nation cannot be rebuilt solely through institutions of law or infrastructure.
First and foremost, it is rebuilt by healing the soul of its youth.
For us, mental health through sport is not just a concept, it is a necessity.
It is an investment in peace and it is a human security imperative.
LED by His Excellency, the president of the Republic, Félix Antoine Tshisekedi.
Young people.
The dignity of women are priorities.
National priorities.
For seven years now Since this year, I have learned a crucial lesson.
No lasting reconstruction is possible.
If the trauma of the past is not healed.
In areas affected by conflict, as you know, in the DRC, we do have areas that were affected by war In those places, sport becomes much more than just a physical activity.
A sports field can become a refuge.
A game can restore a sense of belonging.
A team can give confidence to a young person that has lost all prospects for the future.
Through our presidential program called Stand Up Young People of the DRC.
Our ambition is clear.
Strengthening the resilience of our youth against violence, conflict and exploitation networks.
Two days ago.
I witnessed the ability of sport to bring together public, private and philanthropic philanthropic actors around the same goal transforming lives.
This experience confirms what the DRC is coming to share.
Here in New York.
Sport must be recognized as a real tool for prevention, resilience, and social cohesion.
Less than 1% of humanitarian aid throughout the world, however, is allocated to mental health and psychological assistance or psychosocial assistance.
We must rectify this imbalance and move from diplomacy of compassion to a diplomacy of investment in human capital.
Therefore, I am calling on all of us to make sport a strategic driver of financing for mental health, resilience and peace for youth living in crisis situations.
The DRC is prepared to share its experience and to learn from that of others, as well as to contribute to this collective momentum.
As Maya Angelou said.
You can hurt me with your words.
Kill me with your hate.
But like dust I will rise.
LED by His Excellency President Colombo, the youth of the DRC no longer asks permission to rise up.
It is rising and when the youth rises up, it is the entire nation that moves forward.
Thank you.
For those inspiring reflections Our next fireside chat explores the connection between research education and youth leadership in promoting mental well-being through sports.
Please welcome our speakers from Sophia University and the Global Youth Partnership.
Hello everyone.
It's wonderful to be here.
Thank you so much to all of the speakers before us.
It's been an honor to listen to all of you and to, to hear about your projects and your work here.
So important.
So, um, in this fireside chat, it is me and our youth representative here, uh, Steven And maybe, um, we did have some slides to, uh, introduce us.
If not, we'll just go right ahead.
Do you have it? Can we move on? Yeah.
There we go.
There we go.
So, yeah.
So there's Steven, um, our youth representative, and he'll be speaking about his experience with sports.
And then my name is Doctor Dorothy Lucci and I'm chair of the DBA at Sophia University and also chair of the Global Mental Health Conference.
What is different about us is that we really focus about whole person and whole systems education, and we make that part of all of our curriculum.
And also with us is Lin Zhang, and she is a director of our Global College and Global Engagement.
And thank you for having us all here.
So what I want to address is really, um, turn it all around and say, you know, embodied awareness is transforms mental health.
But where are we starting from with mental health? Are we in our heads and that we really need to move into our bodies, the whole entire thing, like where we are starting from is maybe not quite the right premise in general, right? So this is all beyond cognition, conceptual.
We're trying to reach the embodied state to really feel who we are at the depths of ourselves.
It's our direct experience.
So not something that we necessarily learn in the books.
I mean, that is important to or from others or from researchers and.
Yes, yes, yes.
But the question is, does this match our own experience? Is this really the truth for us And then how do we live that in the world and that this then becomes a resilience resource for us, from our bodies, from our experience.
And then that is where we can move into things like authentic leadership, authentic movement, authentic being.
So before we are leaders, athletes or professionals, we're human beings in motion.
So this is this internal, um, Genesis, like this, bringing together right of leadership resilience.
Belonging is in there.
They're not external achievements, but they all begin within the physical self.
Like we're living in our bodies, right? It's not somebody else's body.
I mean, you know, we're really here.
Um, and so the relational bridge comes from our bodies and most of the people here have some sort of relationship to sports.
And we talked about that.
My relationship is swimming.
So I used to swim for the Swiss team.
And and so, you know, that is something that is amazing.
I still go back to that all the time.
If I'm stressed, I you will find me in the pool swimming.
You'll find me in the pool swimming to maintain my mental health.
But then this awareness of the body this movement that creates awareness that's then necessary for meaningful connection.
Because if I'm all out in my head and all over the place, I cannot connect with another human being properly, or are all sorts of narratives might jump in right? Next.
Thank you.
So basically, the body is the foundation of belonging.
This is where we start.
We may not like it.
We may not agree with our body every day, whatever it is, you know, but this is where we start and the movement that we take in that creates the awareness where we are at, which then allows us to connect And that allows us to belong.
And maybe then that belonging becomes something a little bit different than what we thought originally we should belong to, because the premise is different.
Next.
I'll finish this.
Do you want to go ahead, Steven, and share your experience? Yes.
Thank you for having me today and good morning everyone.
I'd like to begin with some something.
Almost everyone has experienced a bad day.
Almost everyone knows what a bad day feels like Maybe a teacher criticizes the work that you try hard to finish.
Maybe one message, one deadline, or one small mistake that becomes the final thing that pushes you over the edge.
In those moments, pressure feels physical.
It sits in your chest and makes a simple problem feel heavy.
I had this like that too.
During my junior year, I often felt pressure from schoolwork, research, leadership, responsibilities, and sports, sometimes all at once.
By evening, I could feel my mind filling with noise.
In those moments, I had a choice.
I could stay in my room and let the pressure grow.
Instead, I usually grab a soccer ball and walk outside with my friends.
At first, I was just trying to get the pressure out of my body I would kick the ball, run, and focus on the next touch.
Slowly my attention moved away from the problem in my head.
The problem was still there, yet I could face them with a clearer mind.
That's how sport first became connected to mental health for me.
Still, movement could release the pressure in my body without having settling my mind.
Later, through mindfulness training, I discovered another way to care for my mental health, which is stillness.
This reminded me of Chinese idea of yin yang yang, two different forces that balance each other.
In practice Sports help me to release pressure from my body, and mindfulness helped me understand the pressure in my mind.
Together, they give me a healthier tool to manage stress After these practices, I started paying attention to the pressure that young people carry.
I work with children facing serious illness through youth mental health programs, including children with brain cancer, and a low income community with young kids and parents in Newberg.
These experiences show me that pressure can look very different from person to person yet the need for support is often similar.
I began to understand support in a more concrete way, noticing the quiet child in the back of the room before the pressure becomes too heavy for them to carry alone.
That's why I believe youth mental health cannot live only in hospitals or therapy offices, and must live in schools, sports teams and families.
From a coach who understand pressure or a teammate who checks in.
My own journey began with sport.
It grew through mindfulness.
It continued through community service.
I learned that resilience is something we practice both for ourselves and with others.
We practice it when we get back up after losing a point.
We practice it.
When we take a breath before reacting, we practice it when we help someone feel less alone because sports can make it easier for them to keep going.
Football is often called a world game, and I think that's exactly why it belongs in a speech and on the stage on a football pitch, everyone learns to trust each other and grow together.
Exactly the way sport first taught me to face my own pressure.
So my call to action is simple today one world, one game and one goal.
Let us treat sports not only as a way to build stronger athletes, but stronger minds and stronger communities.
Let us build build more spaces where young people can move, breathe, and know they're not alone.
And that concludes my speech.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Stephen.
Yes.
So strategic objectives for embodied learning are exactly all of the things that Stephen mentioned, right.
Experience over theory, sport as a vehicle emotional regulation that we've heard from some speakers before The importance of that gives us the place to regulate our emotions as our body and the cultural appreciation that may be ours, the way we are, the way our heart beat moves.
This might be a little bit different than somebody else's, but that's okay.
Doesn't have to be the same.
It's a heartbeat.
So transforming mental health from a topic of discussion into a lived practice of resilience is what we're talking about.
So let's try the the next thing right here.
So we talked about shifting from cognitive to physical presence.
So our first home is our body right here.
So let's try this.
Stomp your feet and feel both of your feet on the ground connected.
And then take one slow breath all the way into your core and breathe back out.
Presence, and then roll your shoulders.
Just notice your posture.
No judgment, not about sitting upright or doing anything wrong or just roll are so before we think, before we analyze, before we explain.
So we breathe, we move.
We feel.
And so how does your body feel right now? And just lean into that.
So simple.
Takes a couple of minutes.
Granted, if you're starting to stomp your feet in a meeting, it might be a little bit weird, but that's okay.
The deep breath is still there.
You can still feel your feet on the ground and the rhythm of your heartbeat.
So the rhythm of your heartbeat is really what you connect to with your mother at first, at very first, when you're born, that's the first rhythm that you hear.
So we'll go more into that after we have a few questions that we're going to exchange.
Yes.
So Doctor Lucy, thank you for sharing your amazing experiences and insights.
So I'd like to ask you a few questions beginning with simple one.
What do you feel most alive and how does movement affect your mood? So I think I feel the most alive when I do get to like, get into that pool and swim and, um, yeah, so we're going to make it fast.
Okay.
Uh.
So second question is what have you discovered about yourself through the medium of sport or dance? Just that I am like a human being, just like everyone else out there.
And that that is what the connection means to me.
And now I'm going to ask you and then we're going to go on resilience How has movement or sport helped you navigate difficult times? It has helped me to navigate difficult times by teaching me how to reset quickly.
Uh, I'm an athlete, so I do fencing, volleyball, and soccer, and every mistake can cause a point and it doesn't mean the game is over, but, uh, yeah.
So I try to focus on the next action instead of carrying the mistake with me.
Yeah.
Wonderful.
Integrated learning.
Okay, next.
So this is our little epilogue, if you will.
Next slide please.
So I want you to go back to what I just said before your rhythm.
So we'll just play different rhythms.
Which one do you associate with the most.
And maybe it's another one, but come and enjoy just feeling rhythm.
So that's the African rhythm.
And feel free to move a little bit too.
And Latin American.
And everybody has theirs, right Like what do you prefer? Maybe it's not this at all, but it doesn't matter.
Um, this is the point.
Okay.
Everybody has one.
Like what is yours? Just ask yourself.
Feel the rhythm here.
And then the Indian tabla is just slightly different.
Again, different so we can all feel it.
So that's again it's moving.
Okay.
So how do you move in the world? It's the same.
How do you move in sports? It's there is no real difference.
Like bring it together.
And it's mental health is youth.
And it is really, I guess, world peace kind of thing.
Thank you so much.
It's a pleasure to be here.
I love this session.
How are we family? I can't hear you.
Vamos We now move into our final spotlight segment, where the focus shifts to basketball as a platform for belonging, leadership and community action LED by the FIFA Foundation and YMCA.
This conversation continues.
Our room focused on youth leadership every day, well-being, and the power of community sport.
Please welcome our moderators, Taryn Bullock, together with today's speakers.
Good morning to all of you in the room and potentially good afternoon.
Good evening to some of you that are following us online.
I want to first thank the United Nations Youth Office for creating this incredible celebration and inviting us here and providing us all with this platform.
My name is Theron Bullock.
I'm born and raised in Switzerland to an American father, a Zimbabwean mother.
And it's amazing to see so many people here from across the world, and especially so many youths.
I'm here on behalf of the Fiba Foundation as well as the YMCA.
I'm not here alone But before I introduce my fellow panelists and experts, this conversation that we're about to have will explore how basketball and community based programs can strengthen youth and well-being, support mental health, and help young people become leaders and changemakers in their respective way all across the world.
Before we start, a quick history lesson, for those of you that do not know, basketball and the YMCA are inseparable.
Invented in 1891 by Doctor Naismith at the international YMCA Training School, now called Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts, not too far away from here, YMCA is not only the birthplace of basketball, it's also a key force behind its global growth around the world.
A true ambassador of the game, the community of the game.
But when we're talking about that community, what are we talking about? Who are we talking about How many people are we talking about? So on the next slide, you'll have a question here to all of you to think about.
Reflect for a couple of seconds How many basketball players do you think there are in the world? Think a little bit.
I'll take a note from pre that was with us a little bit earlier asking people to raise hands.
So I'll go in that route.
So now I've given you a couple seconds to think.
How many people do you think are playing basketball? Let's say between 50 to 100 million.
Raise your hand.
Okay, so I see a couple of hands between 100 to 200 potentially.
Raise your hands.
Okay.
We see a little bit more.
Okay, let's go a little bit bigger between 400 to 500 million.
Okay, a little bit more, over 600 million.
Raise your hands.
Okay, so let's, let's, let's figure it out.
Let's see what's on the next slide.
Okay, so there are 610 million basketball players around the world.
And you see an amazing example of this right here with the great work of the YMCA of Greater New York working together with the Knicks, with some social outreach initiatives.
So that was the players.
But now let's go to something larger.
Let's think about fans, because we say that basketball is unique in its identity and its culture and its impact and its way to connect with youth all around the world.
So how many basketball fans do you think exist in the world? So let's try it again.
Between 500 million to 1 billion, a little bit bigger.
Let's see.
Raise of hands, raise of hands.
Who thinks okay, so you learn.
So you know that now the first option is probably not the right answer.
We got a smart group with us.
So let's see now between 2 to 3 billion, 2 to 3 billion.
Let's raise our hands.
What do you think? Okay.
A large quite number.
More than 3 billion who thinks okay, let's let's see if you're right.
The next slide.
So there are 3.3 billion fans of basketball around the world.
Nearly half of the world is fans of our sport.
And with that comes a tremendous responsibility.
And as one of the main reasons why Fiba, the world governing body of basketball, created its foundation, the Fiba Foundation where we create implement coordinates basketball for good projects around the world, impacting over 375 000 youths every year.
But let's stay on this topic, and that's why I have some incredible teammates with me.
Let's start off with my teammate right next door to me, Lyanna de Sousa, who was born and raised in Rosina, the largest favela in Brazil, came to the US, did her studies, could have done anything she wanted with her life, but went back to Rosina to develop a basketball for good projects.
Mudando Placas developing the next wave of leaders.
Developing the next wave of lianas.
Welcome, Liana.
Next up we have Avery Brown.
Avery Brown, a multi-sport athlete, captain of her softball team, a recent graduate of Kipp NYC High School, and she will attend the University of Albany this fall.
A YMCA young leader.
We're very happy to have her with us as well.
And last but not least, Ibrahim Diakité, raised in Harlem, started his career at the YMCA in 2009, organizing and overseeing many programs, growing to now being the senior youth and family director of Castle Hill Branch YMCA in the Bronx.
Thank you for being with us, Ibrahim.
Okay, that sets the stage.
Let's start it off.
So our first question will be for all of you starting off with Ibrahim Avery Lyanna.
Basketball means something different to each of us.
Can you each share a moment where basketball helped you feel confidence, belonging, hope, and or support during a difficult time in your life? Ibrahim, let's start off with you.
All right.
Thank you again for that.
I appreciate it.
Um, again, good morning everyone.
It's a pleasure to be here.
Happy to be here.
Um, I think for me, you know, this question really starts back when I was in middle school, um, and when I made my first basketball team um, prior to that, I had never played in a really structured situation when it comes to basketball.
I was outside playing street ball or anything like that, playing with my friends.
And I really didn't know if I could make the team right.
So that summer, I really practiced hard and really prepared myself to go out there and try to make it with hopes of making it.
And when I did, I think the first real feeling that I got was a sense of belonging, um, and comfort.
Um, it really made me feel like I found my identity, even though I was in middle school.
Right.
And I was on the right track to to developing some stuff that I didn't know was even inside me at the moment.
Um, so that experience really set me up.
It really boosted my confidence.
And like I said, it was a great uh, sense of belonging for me because I found like, I found my place.
Good morning everyone.
Um, to piggyback off of what Ibrahim said, my eighth grade, we're going to go back to my middle school days, my eighth grade year.
It was a lot going on.
I just came back recently from Covid and there were a lot of new changes.
I was trying to figure out what high school I was going to go through, and it was a lot to deal with.
So I found out later on in my eighth grade year that I had like really bad anxiety.
So my counselor was telling me, I need to find new ways to like cope.
And I, my friend at the time, she.
She was on the flag football team.
She told me, hey you should join.
And I was like okay, I'll see.
And then they started a softball program there.
So my school was very sports heavy.
So I decided to join.
And the sports really helped my anxiety and it created a safe space for me where I was able to make new connections, make new friends, and also have a place where I could just go to, where I could just be calm and erase, like my anxiety.
Yeah.
Great.
This is great.
Um, well, yeah, I will echo here.
Good morning to everyone as well.
It's a pleasure to be here.
Um, and actually this question today, it touches a special place in my heart because um, I don't really come from a family that has a tradition to be engaged in sports.
So honestly, ever since I started to play back in Hosaena, my first sport was actually soccer.
Football, not really basketball.
I always felt like I belonged to that place, you know, I belonged to sports.
Um, even though my family, it wasn't really crazy about it.
Um, I actually got to a point where my mom said it's still in the early age.
She said, you can choose any other sport, but you're not playing football.
Choose another one.
And that's how I transition to basketball.
Um, so yeah, like every, every time I think of that little girl, um, playing during my physical education class, you know, um, I felt like there was a place that I belonged to when it comes to hope and confidence.
Well, I'm not gonna lie.
When I started to play basketball, it wasn't the biggest sport to me.
As I said, my first passion.
So I thought, okay, I will play basketball.
I wanted to become a famous basketball player, earn a lot of money and change my family's situation.
That that was the hope that I had at that time.
Um, now I learned that, yeah, I didn't get rich, didn't get become a famous player, but learned a lot through basketball.
And as you mentioned during my introduction, I went to college I was the first person in my family to attend college.
And basketball gave that to me because of a basketball scholarship.
And honestly, fast forward, if I'm here today, I won't, I won't it to basketball So yeah, it has been the meaning to me of hope, of confidence, of belonging.
And ever since I started, I, I engaged in sports.
So I don't really have like one specific moment, but I guess my journey, um, means that.
Thank you all for that and, and sharing your experiences, being so honest and transparent with us.
Um, let's stay a little bit on that topic.
This next question is for you, Liana and Ibrahim as well.
For the two of you, when we're talking about basketball, we're talking about the basketball court.
What turns that court into more than a place to play? What are the ingredients that are necessary to make young people feel safe, valued and supported? Liana will start off with you.
Okay.
Um, well, basketball became my refuge.
It wasn't my first passion, but it became my refuge.
But yes, it totally goes beyond the basketball court.
Um, when I started off at 12 in basketball project, I found people, you know, I found a welcoming coach, I found welcome teammates.
And if I have to think of one ingredient I mean, the people, the people that make the sport, the people that welcome me, um, my teammates that supported me.
I think we do have the dynamic, um, of, of basketball already.
It's a team sport.
It's a dynamic sport.
We need to play with each other.
We need to collaborate.
But yeah, the special sauce people, people, uh, they, they are the, the, the ingredient to it.
Absolutely.
I agree 1,000% people are very important in this field, especially in this work.
Um, one of the programs at the YMCA offers, um, that really, I feel like speaks to this question a lot is, uh, Saturday Night Lights program, which is a youth sports and violence prevention program that we offer.
Um, it's in partnership with New York City's Division of Youth and Community Development, where we offer programming on Saturdays for the entire community, ages 11 to 18 to come out to get free high quality basketball and sports development.
Um, but through this program, we're able and in support with staff as well.
We're able to really create a very comfortable environment for our participants where not only are they coming in to get training and development, but it feels like almost like a second home to them.
Um, a lot of them come and after doing drills or trainings, they just hang out.
Some of them, you know, get a meal to eat that they may not have access to at home.
Um, other participants who may not be as invested in basketball, but want to get that physical activity.
Um, because we know that's also great for mental health as well.
They just come out and do that.
So through those ingredients, you know, the, the atmosphere and of course, the great people around them, um, we were able to really create a space where not only do they want to be there, but they're interested in coming and they're engaged.
Um, I also believe in very genuine and positive interactions can lead to great gains as well.
Sometimes as adults, we forget that, you know, we were teens or youth at one point in time, and we didn't want someone in our face all the time talking and forcing us to talk.
So having positive and genuine interactions also go a long way You know, when a teen is ready to talk, they will open up to you and speak to you.
Um, so those ingredients, I believe, definitely create the environment where there it's more than just a basketball court.
Thank you both for that.
And I think not, I think I know that the youths that are honored to be working with the both of you and your respective programs are, are very lucky.
You know, when you are entering the session, entering the practice with that type of mindset.
But Avery, I have not forgotten about you.
I want to know What you think about this, you know, from your perspective from a young person's perspective, what makes you wanting to come back to every session, to every practice and especially yourself? Yes, we're talking about basketball, but we're also talking about sport and yourself being a multi-sport.
I want to know.
For me, I think yes, to stay in shape and to be healthy because I do play multiple sports.
So I always try to have that preseason workout before I enter my season.
But also, I think it is like my coaches becoming not just not them being coaches, but them also being mentors to me because I know my freshman year, starting when I started first playing soccer, my soccer coach was my health teacher.
So she was just not only my coach, but also my teacher.
And she was teaching me more than just about soccer and how to kick a ball around.
Same thing with my current softball coach.
Now, he didn't work in my building, but he was an English teacher before he became a softball coach and a gym teacher.
So he was helping me, helping me fix my essays and help with my personal statement.
And it was just not them.
It wasn't just them being a coach, it was them helping me further and outside and not only on the field.
Thank you Avery, thank you very much.
Um, so staying there and you talked all three of you a little bit about this.
But I want to go a little bit deeper.
If every young person had a program like the ones that we have just been discussing over the last few minutes.
What difference could it make for youth well-being and communities around the world? Let's go with the initial order that we did for the first question.
So we'll go Ibrahim.
Avery.
Liana.
So, um, you know, the the potential impact from this is a game changer.
Um, and not, I'm not just speaking as a former athlete, but also as someone that can see this in a day to day work that we do.
Um, I think it's important to understand that the, these experiences, this environment can not only develop you as an athlete, it can work on your mental health, especially coping with it, right? But it can also lead to transferable skills into your life.
A lot of challenges we face in sports, whether it's at the free throw line for basketball game or a penalty kick for soccer, those pressures, those anxieties, those experiences, learning how to manage that can lead into a positive interaction when you get older, when you have a job now and your supervisor or somebody is coming down on you for something, or you have deadlines, or you have family pressures of children, husbands wives.
So a lot of this stuff's really connects with each other You just have to really dig deep a little bit just to figure it out.
But from the youth mental health side of it, I think starting early can really lead to great people when they get older.
Um, so yeah, it's definitely a game changer in my opinion.
For me, I remember when I was talking to one of my, um, freshman teammates and I told her one of the lessons that I learned while playing softball is success is not about talent.
It's about commitment, accountability, and the effort you put in every day.
If you, when playing a sport, you learn a lot of lessons.
I learned about having a routine, having writing down what I need to do for the day, and writing an agenda, and making sure that I was organized and ready to just not only go to practice or step onto the field, but also just for everyday life.
So I really feel like, oh.
Okay.
You're good, you're good.
There you go Yeah.
Yeah.
I think we mentioned here for obvious reasons, right? Like the transferable skills, the even like the health, as you mentioned before.
Um, Avery but I, and it's because I truly believe this, that I started, I went back to Austin and started my, my basketball project there Um, it's because I believe we can make a difference.
Otherwise I couldn't be doing anything else, I guess.
And but I want to, I guess I want to go a little bit further here, like in reinforced what we have been talking about, right? Sport.
Sport creates something that every young person needs, which is a place where they can feel safe, where they belong.
Um, someone that, that believes in them, right? Someone that, that tell them you, you can actually be someone, you know.
Um, and those experiences are the ones that we have been mentioned.
They build confidence, resilience, leadership, the connections that goes far beyond the basketball court.
So when a child grows through sports, even when talking about communities, even the families get engaged.
Right.
Um, back in my program a couple of weeks ago, we actually did a family basketball track three basketball tournament.
And we had father, daughter, son, mother, like all playing together.
And those are the quality times that I feel like we are losing with, you know, a ton of technology out there.
Um we can see young models being role models, you know, young persons being role models.
Uh, we can have all of that through sports.
And it's not just the individual that starts seeing a future or a different perspective or a different future, imagining a different future, but the communities as well.
So I think we need to, to to break down the myth, the stereotype, the idea of when we are investing in sports, we are just investing recreation because it goes far beyond that right? We are investing in people and people that are better equipped to shape a better future.
So when we are talking about, yeah, what is the difference? I mean, the difference, it's all there.
Like it's in the world.
We'll see it.
Yes.
I think that deserved a round of applause for all three of those answers.
And it gets us even emotional to be thinking about that and how global it is and the impact that we're creating day in and day out.
And most importantly, the three of you, uh, you've shared all some very, very powerful stories, um, also about the impact that basketball and the good that it can create on young people across the world.
So in this room online, we have governments, sports organizations, youth organizations, private sector partners, Avery, Lyanna, we have this platform.
Is there anything that you want to say to the audience? Well.
Um, you said it all.
You nailed it.
We, they, they all have heard our stories.
Um, but who needs to listen? Our government, sport organizations, business youth leaders and yeah, I mean, you can change what happens next.
And here's why that matters.
1 in 7 young people have mental health conditions.
Four and five of us don't get enough exercise.
These problems are connected.
What you just heard from us.
It works and it can help everywhere.
Yeah it isn't.
Just let it go.
Um, I think what we are trying to say is that it goes beyond the balls and the jerseys.
Uh, we are actually building spaces where people can grow, right? And we have just six ice.
Number one fun day space.
Not just the sport.
Courts don't build belonging.
Coaches do.
Mentors do.
We have talked about the importance of the people around us, right? So to put young people in the room, programs work better when we help design them.
Three make mental health part of sport, not an extra activity track like you track participation for.
For reach the kids who don't have access yet, not just the ones who are already playing.
Five three community basketball like infrastructure.
It builds leaders just like school do.
Six scale.
What already works.
You heard proof? Don't start from zero.
Every person deserves a place to play, a place to connect, a place to grow.
That's the.
Ad right there.
That's the axe.
That's the invitation.
Yeah.
Good job.
That's their call to action.
That's our call to action to all.
Um, young people around the world do not just need access to sport.
They need access to communities where they feel seen, supported, connected and empowered.
Basketball for good can be a powerful vehicle for creating these exact spaces.
But we never would like to just provide a call to action to all of you.
It's also important for us to know and for you to know what we are doing.
So on the next slide here, and if we can show it up on the presentation, um, from the Fiba Foundation perspective, we have a proposal project platform where we support organizations, basketball for good organizations across the world through grants, equipment, mentoring.
If any one of you is interested, please scan the QR code behind us and we would love to be in contact with you and to see how we can continue to grow this incredible community of utilizing the sport of basketball as a tool for positive impact and for positive change.
Before I finish, I just want to thank once again my incredible teammates, Layana Avery Ibrahim thank you for being here with us.
Thank you for sharing your expertise and most importantly, thank you for what you do day in and day out, making the world a better place specifically for youth, through sports, through basketball.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Friends from Fire Foundation and YMCA Greater New York for reminding us that sports go way beyond performance results.
And it's about creating a safe and belonging space for for us, for people.
To conclude this morning spotlight session.
It's now my pleasure to invite our distinguished representative from CAF development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean to offer closing reflections.
Please join me in welcoming Andres Sarraj, executive of Strategic Programming at CAF.
Thank you.
Distinguished representatives of the United Nations Youth Office, authorities, panelists and friends joining us today.
It has been highlighted that sport today is a universal language, and given that we are gathered in a universal house of languages, please allow me to switch to Spanish to deliver this closing remarks.
But for me, it's a true honor and privilege to take the floor in this historic hall, making this such an inspirational day.
I'm speaking on behalf of the Latin American and Caribbean Development Bank, and on behalf of its president and vice president.
And I'd like to tell you that today we've heard fascinating testimonies and explored how sport knows no borders and how it can transform the well-being of our youth in our communities.
At the end of the day, all of the voices reached the same conclusion, and that is that sport, without a shadow of a doubt, is one of the most powerful motors for social transformation that we have today in our world.
I don't want to bore you with the story of an institution that was founded by six Andean countries in 1978, and that close to 60 years later, today brings together 24 countries from Iberia, America and the Caribbean.
I just want to tell you that a few years ago, we really overhauled our role on the global stage.
Often, when we think that it's a multilateral development bank, we we think about physical infrastructure and infrastructure projects and complex investments.
But we have understood that the most critical infrastructure that can sustain the future of any country in the world is its people, its social fabric.
We can't talk about sustainable development if we don't invest with a sense of conviction in human well-being.
For this reason, sport has ceased to be simply a recreational activity on our agenda, and it has become a central tool for inclusion and equity.
And this is exactly what has led to the alliance that we're building between CAF and UN youth.
We know that the current challenges are too big to address in isolation to address Separately, the UN has a unique capacity to mobilize youth leadership globally and in our organization.
We wish to bring our technical experience and our knowledge from the ground so that this can be turned into real changes in our communities and for our youth.
Luckily, in Latin America and the Caribbean we're not starting from scratch We're lucky enough to have leaders on the ground across the length and breadth of the region.
And it's a point of pride to share this with credible organizations, incredible organizations like football, Mars Football, Con Corazon, and others.
We have a great alliance with them, and we're seeing how every day, how a simple game can bring so many people together.
And all of this is a dear to our hearts.
And we're particularly focused on mental health.
We live in a world full of uncertainty, and we all know that looking after our well-being is something that is absolutely essential.
And in this sense, sport is a great tool to fight against isolation.
Like many of the guests have expressed today in a match, young people don't only run and play.
They find refuge, a place where they can belong and where they can learn to overcome adversity.
As part of a team.
As part of a community, CAF has its headquarters in Venezuela, in Caracas.
And perhaps a profoundly moving example of this.
And we've seen this over the firsthand over the last few days and weeks after the tragic earthquakes in Venezuela, in the midst of all of fear and pain, as we're rebuilding the country, sport has become an essential tool to contain people's emotions and to provide hope for the many young people affected.
That's why our message that we want to share with everyone here is that we should stop seeing sport as a simple pastime and and rather an investment, one of the best investments in mental health and well-being that we can make I don't think there's any better time to make this call that here in New York today.
We're doing.
And in two days we're seeing the World Cup final here.
And this match, we already know that it's going to cause the whole world to stop, to watch it, to watch this sport.
However, the real championship in the world isn't going to be in Sunday in the stadium, but rather in our bid to ensure that a ball reaches every single young person across the length and breadth of the world.
And I wish to quote Saadia, who said that where you see a gap, you should ask why there is a gap and then work to close that gap.
Ask you why and then work to reduce it.
That's the calf.
In calf.
We stand ready to continue to work in this team alongside UN youth, with all of our allies, friends who are focusing today on making this vision a reality And motivating them.
Thank you so much, Andrés.
Muchas gracias for your very important words today.
Um, friends, family, amigos, amigos as we conclude this morning spotlight session, we have heard remarkable stories from young leaders, practitioners, researchers, athletes, and organizations working across different regions and sporting disciplines.
Throughout every conversation, one message has remained constant.
Sport has the power to boost connection, belonging, resilience and hope, making it an important contributor to young people every day.
Mental health.
Well-Being.
You know, friends, I am one of the 17 young leaders for the SDGs.
I was elected among 33,000 people, and last week I was cleaning one of the most polluted rivers in South America.
And today.
I had the privilege to be sharing the Ecosoc chamber with you all.
And to finalize this amazing experience, I would like to to share this little, little reflection.
I celebrate seeing so many young people becoming protagonists of their own present and future.
I come from a place where opportunities and doors are not always open for us.
But I learned that when doors remain closed, us young people, we have an extraordinary ability to build new paths, create new spaces, and inspire new movements that are simply too powerful, too loud to ignore.
The conversation we had this morning matters.
But I think that what what matters even more is what happens after we leave this room.
As someone said earlier today, one of the biggest challenges that we leaders have to be able to bring what we learn in these places into our communities.
On behalf of the United Nations Youth Office and all of our partners, I extend my sincere thanks to our moderators, speakers, athletes, youth leaders, organizers, interpreters, technical teams.
And to each of you for, uh, participation and engagement throughout the morning.
We encourage you to continue today's conversations, be build new partnerships, and carry these ideas into your own organization and communities.
Let's leave this room not only inspired by the conversations, but committed committed to turn it into action.
As we close the spotlight session here at the Ecosoc, we invite you to enjoy the rest of the program of day today at the long and the General Assembly.
Thank you for joining us and enjoy the rest of one world, one game, one goal and have a wonderful afternoon.
One more little thing.
I'm going to please ask all of the speakers to please join me for a photo.
Don't be shy, please.
Come over here.
Help us fill it up.
There's a lot of cameras.
I need you to focus just on this one right here.
Okay? Three, two.
Congratulations.
Bleeding.
All of that.