Crece Panictacaj project giving opportunities through basketball
Panictacaj (GUATEMALA) - The Crece Panictacaj projects in Guatemala is one of 5 deserving projects that was chosen by the FIBA Foundation to receive Molten basketballs, in order to help them further their Basketball For Good activities.
Crece Panictacaj’s main goal is to use basketball to promote the integral and healthy development of several dozen children from a rural community of Guatemala living in extreme poverty. The children face chronic child malnutrition and have few opportunities. They are between 7 and 14 years old which is the best time to address these problems as both they and the parents are willing to make changes in their lives for the better.
There are around 50 boys and girls directly, and another 100 indirectly impacted by the project in which Basketball is used as a means for the children to have fun and be motivated to transcend in the different areas of their lives.
Each year, Marlon Escobar, the project’s founder, donates school supplies, backpacks and shoes so the students have the means to go through the school year and take part in the basketball trainings that are organized every Saturday.
The recent donation of Molten basketballs allowed Marlon to give each participant in the project their own ball. This will give them an additional motivation to stay active and healthy.
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Through the program, the volunteers keep track of each athlete and their physical, material, economic, educational and social situation. According to their needs, they then implement ways to support them in each area of their life and educate them in habits to improve their health.
In the long term, Marlon hopes to break the circle of poverty in which these children are living by giving them more opportunities to use their abilities and skills.
Marlon is also training community leaders, coaches, teachers and people interested in using sport as comprehensive development tool for children and youth to widen the impact of his project. His goal is for his project to become a model that can be implemented in different schools and communities.
