16/5-2022Empowerment, teamwork, and dedication: GAME held its first-ever Playmaker Camp in snowful Greenland
”It’s fantastic to get all these great tools to promote positive development for young people. It’s an eye-opening project”.
That’s how Inunnguaq Jakob Thorsen Mørch describes being a part of the Playmaker Program in Greenland.
The first step is to train-the-trainer
Two weeks ago, he and several other local street sports coaches gathered to participate in two train-the-trainer sessions in Sisimiut hosted by GAME.
Like at all training events in GAME, smiles and handshakes quickly filled up the room in the Cultural Centre Taseralik, as the coaches met each other in the sports arena. With a mix of presentations, group discussions, and a variety of energizers and drills, they were trained to take up the role of street sports instructors, who can coach future GAME Playmakers.
GAME strives to have local coaches as instructors, who can pass on the Playmaker methodology – and in that context, Inunnguaq Jakob Thorsen Mørch fits right in.
As a dedicated futsal coach and a driver for volunteer work, he is engaged in the local community, knows the language, and has a strong bond with many of the youth who have signed up to become Playmakers.
The next step is to train the Playmakers
After days of training, Inunnguaq Jakob Thorsen Mørch and his fellow coaches were ready to host the first-ever GAME Playmaker Camp in Greenland for young people who are interested in leading trainings for children in the new GAME Zones in Greenland.
The newly trained coaches collected all the gear: GAME t-shirts and hoodies, sign-up sheets, posters of the GAME Empowerment Model, etc., and walked through the snow to a sports facility centrally located in Sisimiut.
Aviaq and Inuk, two of the coaches, kickstarted the camp with different energizers to get everyone moving, to have fun, and to encourage them to do team-building exercises. Then the new Playmakers chose which sports they wanted to be a part of: either street soccer, street dance, or the GAME Girl Zone.
In every sport, GAME Playmakers try out different drills and engage in reflections on life skills and how to make sport inclusive for everyone. They are also engaging in role model workshops and innovation sessions, where they develop activities, that they can incorporate into their future weekly practices for the local children.
After an eventful day, the Playmaker Camp ended up in group pictures, high-fives, and applauses. From the 21st of May, the new Playmakers will lead weekly practices and events for local children and youth and bring their learnings to other spheres of life: school, jobs, friends, and family.
The work of GAME in Greenland: In partnership with the Sports Confederation of Greenland and the Municipality of Qeqqata, GAME has embarked on a 1.5-year pilot project to implement the GAME Playmaker Program in Greenland. One of the core activities of the project is to train youth from Sisimiut and Maniitsoq to become volunteer Playmakers who can lead weekly practices in street sports and street culture for local children and youth in their community.
