01 / Model / 01
First there has to be
somewhere to come.
Regular training on a pitch where the children live. No registration, no fees and no requirement to be any good already.
01Why sport of all things
Sport is the only activity where you do not have to persuade a child to turn up. It needs no parental consent, no equipment and no previous experience. It is enough that the ball is rolling.
That is exactly why it is a tool that works even where other programmes fail. A child from an excluded neighbourhood often never makes it to tutoring or an after-school club. To the pitch in front of the block of flats, they do — they are there anyway.
Mongaguá does not start with recruitment. It starts by going outside.
02What it looks like in practice
Six things training
stands on
None of this is a discovery. But it is a set of conditions that have to hold at the same time for a child to come a second time.
01
Regularity
Two or three times a week, always in the same place at the same time. For a child with no regular routine at home it is often the first fixed point of the week.
02
Low threshold
No registration, no membership fee, no requirement to be any good already. Whoever turns up, plays.
03
The jersey as a signal
The original jerseys from Brazilian Mongaguá started the whole project. To this day, getting a jersey means belonging somewhere.
04
Tournaments
Teams from across the towns regularly take part in football and futsal tournaments. For many children it is the first trip outside their own neighbourhood.
05
A step further
The best and most committed players move into football and futsal clubs where they can play organised national competitions.
06
A pitch of our own
Where there is no space, we try to create it. In Krásné Březno the pitch came directly out of the team’s initiative — out of a concrete yard.
2–3×
training sessions a week in every active location
6–18
the age range we work with
CZK 0
membership fee per child
18
teams where training takes place
The figures are based on how the founding location in Ústí nad Labem runs.
03What one team needs
A budget that
fits on one page
Grassroots also means the costs are easy to follow. This is the list that gets written again every time a new location opens.
- a pitch or a surface that can be used regularly
- a set of jerseys and balls — the first thing a new team asks for
- goals, boards and basic upkeep of the surface
- a coach from the neighbourhood and someone who can handle the paperwork
- transport to tournaments, usually the largest single item
- water and a snack for children who bring nothing from home
04Frequently asked
What people ask most often
No. Whoever comes to the pitch at training time plays. We keep records because of grant programme conditions, but it is not a condition of taking part.
Nothing. Mongaguá does not collect membership fees. Equipment and transport to tournaments are paid for from donations, grants and partners.
Yes. We split the groups by age and level, not by gender.
That is most cases. Training is set up so that anyone can join at any time with no previous experience.
Yes, that is the point. You need a surface, one person who takes it on and our help with the start. Get in touch through the contact form.
„I live on the estate and in front of the building there is a yard where children played. I went out and handed the jerseys around. And that is how Mongaguá Ústí nad Labem was born.“
Next part of the model
Sports equipment runs out faster than you think.
Jerseys, balls, goals, transport to tournaments. An in-kind partnership is the fastest way for a company to get involved right away.