It is all about promoting goals and changing lives! Desporto no Bairro second edition kicks off this month

With great achievement comes greater responsibility, as stated by Mayor Rui Moreira, enhancing that this second edition of “Desporto no Bairro”, which kicks-off this month, has the goal of “doing more and better”. As such, until the end of July, from Monday to Saturday, there will be skate and surf lessons, in addition to breaking. The target audience are the youth from Porto, in another six neighbourhoods that will offer classes delivered by over 20 teachers. The investment rose and amounts to circa 100 thousand euros. The presentation session took place at the Parque da Pasteleira, yesterday, 20 May.

In 2020, over 600 participants were taught breaking by Max Oliveira, founder of the Momentum Crew, the first urban dance crew in Portugal. Last December, the first “graduates” took to the stage at Super Bock Arena – Pavilhão Rosa Mota and put on a “memorable show”, enthused Rui Moreira.

“We have overcome our expectations; we wanted to reach 150 youngsters and it was fabulous that we have managed to inspire over 600”, declared Catarina Araújo, councillor for Youth and Sports.

“We did it, without enforcing anything, we just showed up [in the neighbourhood] and gave them the chance to have fun, learn something new and discover a new passion. All it took was a radio and a linoleum floor. The rest is the success that we all know”, emphasized the Mayor of Porto.

“The process of changing lives”, added Rui Moreira, is brought by a project that intends to inspire youth “to finding a path, boosting new learning and social competences, dissolving cultural and geographic barriers” and “making them more self-confident citizens”, and that is “the best merit we can aim for”.

“With the right tools and partners, it is possible to make a difference in the lives of these children and youth, [and also] in the city, Rui Moreira explained.

The second edition of “Desporto no Bairro” will take breaking to the Bairros da Pasteleira, Pinheiro Torres, Ramalde, Campinas, Aldoar, Fonte da Moura, Viso, Cerco and Lagarteiro, and also, this time, to Francos, Contumil, Pio XII, São Tomé, Carriçal and Agra do Amial, in a total of 14 neighbourhoods, divided by six main poles.

Living the dream and aspiring to the Olympics

In addition to breaking, which debuts as an Olympic modality in 2024 and will “continue to be the cornerstone of this municipal programme”, skate will also be part of the “Desporto no Bairro”, in order to promote “healthy sports activities and best practices”, the Mayor of Porto declared.

It is worth highlighting thatthe city has recently hosted the first stage of the Pro Skate League and provides free classes to all ages at Ramalde Skate Park.

“And because the Desporto no Bairro is all about this: discovering, awakening new passions”, youngsters will be able to have surf classes. “We want to demystify the idea that surf is only a sport for the elites, making them truly accessible to all, regardless of their age, gender or social status”, enhanced Mayor of Porto.

Rui Moreira concluded by saying that “that is why we work daily: to building a city that is increasingly open to culture and sports, every day of the year and in all its latitudes, but mainly to a city that we wish to build with everyone and for everyone”.

The councillor for Youth and Sports ensures that the mission "is to continue challenging and inspiring youth, telling them that it is possible to continue dreaming through sports and also enhance their personal and professional competencies. To show them that there is a way and that that way can be taken with us”.

Pedro Flores, coordinator of the Desporto no Bairro surf classes, recalled that the project by the Parish Union of Aldoar, Foz do Douro and Nevogilde, designed by Nuno Ortigão, already provided surf classes to a group of Gypsy origin, which is a programme that can make a difference in the youngsters’ life.

The skater from Porto, João Neto will be in charge with the delivery of surfing lessons, to whom the purpose is to “be able to show youth all the happiness that skate brought me, and how much they will be able to learn and grow with skate”.

Breaking classes, like in the previous first edition, will be coordinated by Max Oliveira. The "b-boy" was really “happy because our city continues to bet, most of all, in changing lives”. “Last year, we have lit a light at the end of the tunnel, a little star that gained life and will reveal a path where many people cannot see that it is there”, he concluded.

The presentation session, in the Parque da Pasteleira, was attended by the vice-Mayor, Filipe Araújo, councillors Fernando Paulo and Pedro Baganha, the chairman of the parish of the Union of the Parishes of Lordelo do Ouro and Massarelos, Sofia Maia, and concluded with a performance by the trainers of the breaking project and a surprise performance by two of the young participants of the previous edition.

The “Desporto no Bairro” is promoted by the municipal company Ágora, whose sports section now provides a rehabilitated space at the Casa de Chá of the Parque da Pasteleira, and that, according to the Mayor of Porto, “is a sign that we want to be present in all spaces in the city and this park, in particular, deserved this attention”.