First and foremost, a constructive fellowship

In the summer of 2020, a special project was launched with the aim of increasing the participation of children of foreign origin in sports and leisure activities. Hvaleyrarskóli has a diverse student body, and the project was launched there last autumn with the appointment of Einar Karl Ágústsson, who is also a sports coach, to the role. He works on the project alongside his other duties, together with department head Steinar Stephensen. 

The town newspaper Hafnfirðingur I met the lads and one very happy student representative, the Polish Damian Tomalak, who swims at the South Bay Pool for the Hafnarfjörður Swimming Club.

„We made a list of all the students at the school who are of foreign origin and then just went and spoke directly to the children and asked them about their interests. We then signed them up.“ says Steinar. Some of the children were already playing sports. Parents were contacted and were pointed towards the possibilities and opportunities for sports and leisure activities in the municipality, and leisure grants and other options were presented. As the response was positive, a registration process was initiated via the My Pages section on the Hafnarfjörður website, which then proved to be the most complicated part of the process due to the parents' language difficulties and the fact that not all of them had electronic ID cards. „We can't register the kids, only the guardians, and to begin with, the registration system is a bit of a hurdle, but we've guided them and are aiming for them to be self-sufficient when it comes to registrations in the future. We have to have all the necessary information in case anything comes up in connection with the activities.“ says Einar Karl.

^{Leisure activities include, for example, music tuition. Photo/OBÞ}

It's rewarding to see the kids happy.

Today, around 13–14 children from Poland, the Philippines and Thailand, aged 6–12, are actively involved in sports activities thanks to this project. They are followed up with, and assistance is provided if any obstacles arise, through a personal approach, with the hope of a long-term impact on the children's well-being and their participation in the community. „It's very rewarding to see, for example, some of the kids who train swimming twice a week; two girls and two boys. One of the girls is so pleased and she's doing really well. She was soon moved up a few levels in training.“ says Steinar.

^{The girl is so happy swimming and she's doing so well. Photo/Eva Ágústa Aradóttir}

Haukar and FH

Einar Karl coaches a youth group at Haukar and Steinar is connected to FH, so they have good local connections with their clubs for getting kids involved. „There are four lads who play football for Haukar, and when I bump into them when I'm out and about at Ásvellir, they always come running over to say hello.“ Einar Karl says with a smile, adding that when he and Steinar let the children in on the fact that they were both connected to sports clubs, and that they might not even have to pay training fees, some of the children were all ears. „You need to know about grants and sometimes follow up on them to get them. I'm waiting for a reply from BH because they're likely to get a grant for children of foreign origin so they can offer them 10 weeks of training, including a coach, paddles and balls.“

^{Steinar and Einar Karl have good connections with the two largest sports clubs in Hafnarfjörður. Photo/OBÞ}

Follow-up is the most important

Steinar says the project is very good, but the most important thing is the follow-up. „Kids often start hobbies and show a lot of interest in them to begin with, but then the numbers often dwindle as time goes on. The first boy who got started wanted to stop what he'd started and try something else. It's also sometimes a good idea to try things out.“ It is important that the children do something after school, meet other children and practise speaking Icelandic. „That's really the main thing. I see it as us getting this started and then hopefully it will gradually spread and more people will take part. The range of sports and leisure activities in Hafnarfjörður is so diverse. There's so much on offer, but the costs vary between sports and there are even waiting lists. The leisure bus is an example of a fantastic initiative. The children come straight from their after-school club and take the bus to training, and they're more likely to attend as a result.“ says Steinar, and Einar Karl puts the final point to the conversation: „It's primarily constructive company for the kids and getting them to look forward to it, even if it's not necessarily a full-on training session.“

^{Cover photo/OBÞ: Einar Karl Ágústsson, Damian Tomalak and Steinar Stephensen.}

An interview with the fellows was published in Hafnfirðinginn on 9 March 2021.
This article is a collaboration.